I'd just like to take a minute of your time to point out that Krazy Kat was the great-great-great-grand father of Mickey Mouse.
Here, from the Library Of Congress's Youtube channel, we have an original Krazy Kat animation, Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the Circus, directed by George Herriman himself in 1916, nearly 100 years old!
While I'm a huge fan of the comic strip, I find that much of the charm of the cartoon is lost in its translation to the screen, alas.
Anyways, there weren't too many Krazy Kat animations, but Krazy begat Felix.
The above cartoon, Feline Follies, directed by Otto Messmer for Sullivan Studios in 1919, features the first appearance of the cat who would eventually go on to become Felix. In this one he's called Tom (as in Tom Cat--get it?) Notice the resemblance to Krazy. Also notice that Tom-cum-Felix's tail can morph into other things, like exclamation points. This is something that would become Felix's trademark. Animation was still in its infancy, and animators didn't really know what they were doing. That didn't matter too much because audiences were still struck with the novelty of moving pictures. It was about this time that they had just figured out transparent cels and registration. It was Messmer who elevated the game, and turned Felix into a superstar.
This cartoon is called Felix Turns the Tide, also directed by Messmer. This one is a few years later, 1922, and is a reference to the First World War. Felix learns of imminent war with the mice so he quits his job at the butcher shop, tells his fiancé he loves her and, with dreams of glory, enlists. The battle doesn’t go so good for the cats until Felix unleashes the secret weapon: a legion of hateful sausages. The Freudian imagery is striking: a phalanx of phalluses. I imagine this picture planting the seed of dreams of world domination in the head of a young and closeted Adolf.
You'll notice that Felix has rounded out quite a bit. This is because animators discovered that it's much easier to animate circles than blocks. You'll also find that the black body/ white face motif caught on with a lot early cartoon characters because 1) it makes the face stand out more and seem more expressive and 2) it's a lot easier to animate the bodies if there are no outlines.
Here's one more Felix cartoon: Felix Finds 'em Fickle, by Messmer in 1924. In this one he demonstrates the pluckiness and ingenuity that audiences have grown to admire in the character.
I love the comments by the Youtubers: "I would be all like "FUCK YOU BITCH!" and walk away."
Anyways, Felix begat Julien.
Who is Julien? Behold:
Julien is the blatantly derivative cat in the above cartoon, Alice's Egg Plant, directed by Walt Disney in 1925. At this point in his career, Disney was just some guy making some not very creative cartoons. The creativity in his work wasn't in his storytelling; it was in the way he used technology to advance the medium. But that's a whole 'nother blog post.
Anyways, Julien begat Oswald.
The above is Great Guns, directed by Disney in 1927. This is another Great World War cartoon. You can see how derivative it is of Felix Turns the Tide. While the animation is much cleaner, the premise is pretty much identical.
It was soon after the conception of Oswald that Disney had a falling out with his studio. I forget the details. At the time, the animations studios were all based in New York. Disney said, "Fuck you. I quit. And I'm taking my rabbit with me." The studio said, "Actually, fuck you, we own the rabbit." So Disney walked out and he took his right-hand man, Ub Iwerks (such a cool name) with him. On a cross country train ride, Walt and Ub took off the rabbit ears, put on mouse ears and viola.
Anyways, Oswald begat Mickey.
This, of course, is Steamboat Willie, directed by Disney in 1928. This is the cartoon that made Mickey and Disney, and pretty much finished off Felix. Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon with synchronized sound; it was the first "talkie". This cartoon really encapsulates what made Disney so great. Watching it, you can tell, the story's not the thing. It's the sound. You can see Disney being like, "Look! The sound a pictures go together!" Sullivan Studios continued to make Felix cartoons, but Sullivan was an irascible drunk and a reprobate. He scoffed at the new sound-synced cartoons as merely a fad and refused to upgrade his studio accordingly, which spelled the doom for Felix and Sullivan Studios.
So, there you have it: the lineage of Krazy Kat and his descendants. Krazy is like the Abraham of cartoon animals.
