Pat Sullivan (film producer)

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Patrick Sullivan (2 February 1887, Sydney, New South Wales – 15 February 1933, United States) was an Australian film producer, best known for producing the first Felix the Cat silent cartoons. Sullivan became a film producer after moving to the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. It is a matter of dispute whether Felix was created by Sullivan or cartoonist Otto Messmer. Felix was the most popular cartoon character in theatres prior to Walt Disney's and Ub Iwerks's joint creation, Mickey Mouse. As Mickey Mouse was gaining popularity among theatre audiences through sound cartoons by 1929, Sullivan, after years of refusing to convert Felix to sound, finally agreed to use sound in Felix's cartoons. Unfortunately, Sullivan did not carefully prepare to convert Felix to sound, and put sound in cartoons that the studio had already completed [1]. By 1930, Felix had faded from the screen[2]. Sullivan relented in 1933, and announced that Felix would return in sound, but died that year before production began.

[edit] External links

• Short biography with illustrations
• New evidence that supports Pat Sullivan's claim that he created Felix
• Biography and Pat Sullivan exhibition