Felix the Cat was once box office heaven, but his creator left a dark legacy

A promotional image for Felix the Cat from the 1920s. (McLoughlin Bros)

By Tim Callanan

If alternate universes do exist, there is probably one where the dominant cartoon animal (assuming they all have one) is not a mouse named Mickey, but a cat named Felix.

And in this alternate universe it's not Walt Disney who starts one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world, but Pat Sullivan — son of a Sydney cab driver and inventor of Felix the Cat.

Warning: This story contains details of child sexual assault and alcohol abuse.

There was a time a century ago when Felix the Cat was the biggest thing in film — as big as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton — and he made a fortune for his creator.

He was so successful that Walt Disney effectively used him as a template for the cartoon creations that still generate millions of dollars for Disney every year.

But while the likes of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are still household names, Felix the Cat has largely disappeared due to what some entertainment historians put down to a combination of stubbornness, complacency and tragedy.

And the dark legacy of his creator, Pat Sullivan, is one of a man convicted of raping a child, and an alcoholic, now barely known outside the world of animation history.

Pat Sullivan found success with Felix the Cat, which was the most popular animated character of the 1920s.

The son of a Sydney cabbie

Pat Sullivan — or Pat O'Sullivan, as he was born — did not take a conventional path to film industry success.

Born in Sydney in 1885 to an Irish immigrant father who made a living driving a horse-drawn cab, Sullivan did not come from wealth but would certainly experience it later in life.

As a teenager, Sullivan drew cartoons for The Worker newspaper before moving to London, where he struggled to make ends meet as an illustrator.

For a time he slept rough on the banks of the Thames, but also tried his hand at boxing and vaudeville — without much success at either.

What little money Sullivan made he spent on booze, which may have accidentally led to one of the best moves of his life.

According to Sullivan's recollection in the Sydney Mail many years later, he was seeing off friends onboard a freight ship and drank so much that he passed out.

When he came to, the ship was already at sea and on its way to New York.

It was not the first time that Sullivan's drinking had directed the course of his life and it would certainly not be the last.

In America, Sullivan joined the cartoon studio run by Canadian animator Raoul Barre but was fired after less than a year.

He started his own small animation studio producing cartoons including animated Charlie Chaplin shorts.

Sullivan's timing couldn't have been better. Animated films were exploding in popularity and he was in the perfect position to capitalise.

But there was trouble on the horizon. 

A horrendous crime goes unreported in the papers

In 1917, Sullivan met the love of his life — cabaret performer Marjorie Gallagher — but before the pair tied the knot, the Australian cartoonist was arrested.

A portrait of Marjorie Sullivan painted by artist and animator Raoul Barre.

Sullivan was charged with the imprisonment and rape of a 14-year-old girl.

The court records of the case are held in the City of New York Municipal Library and make for grim and sordid reading.

Sullivan, then aged in his early 30s, plied the minor with alcohol before raping her in his New York apartment.

He was reported to police by a female co-worker who feared Sullivan may have given the girl a venereal disease.

Sullivan protested his innocence but was found guilty. It should have been the end of his career and his relationship, but somehow both flourished. 

he case wasn't reported in the papers, which is remarkable given Sullivan was a rising star in the entertainment industry even at that stage.

His wife Marjorie stood by him. The pair was engaged just weeks after Sullivan's arrest and Marjorie wrote to the judge in the case to plead for leniency.

Her words may have carried some weight as Sullivan was sentenced to less than a year in prison for a crime that carried a maximum term of 10 years.

The emergence of Felix the Cat

Fresh out of jail, Sullivan resumed his work. He appeared to avoid any kind of professional setback as a result of being a convicted child rapist.

In late 1917, his studio released the animated short film The Tail of Thomas Kat, which was moderately successful. 

Two years later, "Master Tom" as he was now called, returned in Feline Follies.

In his second screen outing, Tom woos a female cat who, it turns out, already has a litter of kittens. When Tom discovers this, he takes his own life.

They were different times, obviously.

Less than a month later, Tom returned as "Felix" and the rest, as they say, is history.

Felix the Cat was enormously successful and appeared in dozens of films over the next decade, becoming one of the biggest box office drawcards in cinema.

Pat Sullivan poses with silent movie star Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle. (Paramount Magazine)

First published at ABC News, January 23, 2005

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