Otto Messmer was born August 1892 in West Hoboken, New Jersey. He was inspired by one of the earliest animators Winsor McCay and began drawing cartoons for local papers as young as fourteen. He studied at the Thomas School of Art in New York City, and amongst his earliest work were illustrations for fashion catalogues. In 1912 he met his future wife, Anne Mason, to whom he would remain married for the rest of his life.
In 1915 Otto Messmer started work as a scenery painter for the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. However, his talent was evident from his early sketches and he was given the opportunity to produce a short test film called ‘Motor Mat’ with Jack Cohn, who would later go on to found Columbia Pictures.
After briefly working as an assistant to Hy Mayer, Otto Messmer was then approached by producer Pat Sullivan. It was their partnership that would make his name with ‘Felix the Cat’.
At the start of World War I, Otto Messmer was drafted in to active service in France. After the war he returned to work with Pat Sullivan and their biggest success was born out of a short film called ‘Feline Follies’. Initially called ‘Master Tom’ in the first few episodes, the lucky cat was renamed ‘Felix’ and quickly became a beloved character. In 1928 Marcel Brion of the Academie Francaise wrote "He has escaped the reality of the cat; he is made up of an extraordinary personality." He was frequently compared to Charlie Chaplin, the feline equivalent of a silent star. ‘Felix the Cat’ featured in over 150 cartoons as well as inspiring lines of popular global merchandise. It has been estimated by the Whitney Museum of American Art that at one time, three quarters of the world population had seen ‘Felix the Cat’ or knew him by name. However, Pat Sullivan’s initial hesitation to incorporate sound into the cartoons meant that by the early 1930’s Felix was surpassed in popularity by characters such as Mickey Mouse.
As owner of the studio and character rights, Pat Sullivan was billed as the creator of ‘Felix the Cat’. It is even said that he passed round a story of his inspiration for Felix from a local street cat. In later years, these claims became controversial. Otto Messmer worked at the Sullivan Studio until Pat Sullivan’s death in 1933, after which he began to seek and gain recognition for his creative work on Felix. This was substantiated by a number of colleagues who admitted Pat Sullivan, a known alcoholic, was often too drunk to contribute creatively and left the character in Otto Messmer’s hands. Although never owning the rights to the character, he continued to personally draw Felix comic strips for newspapers until 1954.
Joe Oriolo, a long-time assistant for Otto Messmer, was one who actively worked to credit his mentor. In 1958 Joe Oriolo went into business with Pat Sullivan’s brother William to form Felix the Cat Productions under new copyright. A television series starring Felix ran in to the 1960’s, with full credit to Otto Messmer. With a ninth life for Felix on television, Otto Messmer continued to develop the character until his retirement in 1973.
In 1976 the Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of Otto Messmer’s work, honouring the “virtually unknown” creator of ‘Felix the Cat’.
Otto Messmer died of a heart attack, aged 91, in October 1983, New Jersey. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
