FELIX THE CAT.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19176, 6 December 1927, Page 3

FELIX THE CAT.

POPULAR FILM CARTOON. THE AUTHOR'S STORY. [THE PRESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, December o. Not so long ago. Mr Par Sullivan, whose birthplace is Sydney, walked the streets of London penniless. At nights he slept on the Thames Enbankment, cold, miserable, tired of life, and starving. He had plenty of ideas, but he had no work. At length he got a job doing posters, but he was still hard up and knew all the hardships of poverty. One night he and his wife were sitting huddled in front of a not very large firo in their little sitting room. The door was ajar, and a black cat walked in with a knowing air. Something about the feline struck Mrs 'Sullivan's fancy, and she said: ''Pat, can't you do something with that eat?" That night, Felix, the drollest cat in catdom, was born. Mr Sullivan went to America, taking Felix with him. Months passed and Felix began to scamper across numerous publications. The people liked his funny ways and in a very short while he jumped from popularity into absolute fame. To-dav the cat is six years old, and has earned more money for his creator than any other cartoon character in the world. Felix has made the whole world laugh.

Mr Sullivan is aboard the Aorangi, bound for Sydney to see his father, who is blind. Standing on the deck of the mail steamer, Mr Sullivan, a quiet, grev-haired, short, middle-aged man, told a reporter a few of lii» exj>eriences. Fortune was slow »n coming, but Felix was the turning point, and ever since that memorable "day the dollars have been rolling in. Not the least popular appearances of Felix have been on the screen. Tn each film there are something like 6000 drawings, and to cope with the work, Mr Sullivan employs a staff of ten men, who draw thousands of Felixes and also over two thousand dollars a week.