Felix the Cat
The very first image ever to be broadcast over TV airwaves was
Felix The Cat. When the engineers at RCA were busily creating TV,
they used a Felix doll as their test model in their very first
transmission in 1928.
Created by Pat Sullivan, Otto Messmer, and John King in 1919, Felix had originally appeared in newspaper comic strips and had
made the transition to the big (movie) screen.
In the 1960s Trans-Lux syndicated serials, Felix was equipped
with a magical bag of tricks that could give even Mary Poppins'
carpet bag a run for its money. Because the bag seemed to hold the
perfect item for every occasion, it was greedily coveted by the
Professor, Felix's cunning, yet usually unsuccessful rival.
The Professor's bulldog sidekick, Rock Bottom, would inevitably
fail in his attempt to steal the bag for his master.
Felix also
spent time helping the Professor's brainy nephew, Poindexter
(whose name left a legacy as the nickname of particularly bright
children for decades).
Also notable were episodes involving the sinister Master
Cylinder, and the bizarre little eskimo called Vavoom, who could cause avalanches by shouting his
own name!
Jack Mercer voiced all the characters on this show.
In 1994 CBS brought the resourceful feline back for a series of
five-second commercial bumpers. The spots sparked a resurgence in
Felix's popularity, and one year later, the cat came back in the
all-new The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat.
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