Pat Sullivan (film producer) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pat Sullivan
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From a 1920 magazine
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Patrick Peter Sullivan
22 February 1885 Paddington, New South Wales, Australia
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| Died | 15 February 1933 (aged 47) New York City, United States
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Notable work
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Felix the Cat |
Patrick Peter Sullivan (born February 22, 1885 – died February 15, 1933) was an Australian artist. He was a pioneer in creating animated cartoons and a film producer. He is best known for making the first Felix the Cat silent cartoons.
Contents
Pat Sullivan's Early Life
Pat Sullivan was born in Paddington, New South Wales, Australia. He was the second son of Patrick Sullivan, who came from Ireland, and Margaret Hayes, who was born in Sydney.
Pat Sullivan's Animation Career
Around 1909, Pat Sullivan left Australia. He spent a few months in London, England, before moving to the United States in 1910. He worked as an assistant to a newspaper cartoonist named William Marriner. Sullivan also drew four of his own comic strips.
When Marriner passed away in 1914, Sullivan joined a new studio that made animated cartoons. This studio was started by Raoul Barré. In 1915, Barré fired Sullivan. But in 1916, William Randolph Hearst, a big newspaper owner, started his own animation studio. He hired the best animators from Barré's studio.
Sullivan decided to open his own animation studio. He created a cartoon series called 'Sammy Johnsin'. This series was based on a comic strip by Marriner that Sullivan had worked on. After that, he made a series of short cartoons starring a character called The Tramp.
Felix the Cat and Sound Cartoons
By late 1928, Mickey Mouse cartoons with sound were becoming very popular in theaters. For years, Sullivan had said no to adding sound to Felix the Cat cartoons. But he finally agreed to try it.
Unfortunately, Sullivan did not prepare well for this change. He added sound to cartoons that his studio had already finished making. By 1930, Felix the Cat was not as popular as before and faded from movie screens. In 1933, Sullivan announced that Felix would return with sound. However, he died that same year before any new cartoons could be made.
Pat Sullivan's Death
Pat Sullivan passed away on February 15, 1933, in New York City. He was 47 years old. His death was due to health problems caused by pneumonia.
Characters Pat Sullivan Created
Pat Sullivan created several cartoon characters. The most famous one is Felix the Cat.
- Felix the Cat (some people disagree about who created him)
- Great Idea Jerry
- Old Pop Perkins
- Johnny Boston Beans
- Obliging Oliver
Who Created Felix the Cat?
There is some debate about whether Felix the Cat was created by Pat Sullivan or by his main animator, Otto Messmer. Some people who study animation believe Messmer's claim. This is because he was the main animator for the Felix series.
However, Pat Sullivan was drawing cartoons for Paramount Magazine by 1919. In March 1920, he signed a contract with Paramount Studios as an animator. One of the characters mentioned in his work history was a black cat named Felix. This cat first appeared in Paramount Magazine as "Master Tom" in a cartoon series called Feline Follies. This information seems to support Sullivan's claim that he created Felix.
There are also stories from people who were there. For example, Australian writer Hugh McCrae shared an apartment with Pat Sullivan before Felix was created. In 1953, McCrae remembered that Sullivan suggested they work together on a Felix film. Sullivan would provide the ideas, and McCrae would do the drawings. McCrae said he refused and always regretted it.
Many Australian cartoonists do not believe Messmer's claim. Messmer came forward many years after Pat Sullivan's death. He said Felix was his idea and that he created the character at his own house, not at his boss's office. He completely left out Pat Sullivan.
However, the handwriting in the early Felix cartoons matches Pat Sullivan's style. Also, in Feline Follies, a cartoon kitten says "MUM". This is the Australian/British spelling, not "MOM," which is the American spelling. It is less likely that Messmer, an American, would have written "MUM."
Images for kids
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Roscoe Arbuckle holding Lasky Studio cat "Ethel" as model for Pat Sullivan to draw his Felix the Cat for the Paramount Magazine, on page 78 of the 12 March 1921 Exhibitors Herald.
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A sketch for a fan by Pat Sullivan. Samples such as this were used to match Sullivan's lettering in the initial works of Felix.
See also
In Spanish: Pat Sullivan para niños
