
Born: Otto James Messmer
Birthday: August 16, 1892
Location: West Hoboken, NJ, U.S.
Alma mater: Thomas School of Art
Occupation: Animator, Director
Years active: 1915-1983
Died: October 28, 1983
Otto Messmer drew his own comics for local papers by the age of 20, but he really wanted to explore the emergent new artform; animation. Otto was mesmerized by the early cartoons like Winsor McCay’s.
In 1915, Messmer signed a deal to create a character called Motor Mat for Universal Studios. He made a test film and although it was never released, it garnered the of attention of professionals like cartoonist and animator Henry Mayer, and animator/film producer Pat Sullivan.
Messmer collaborated with Mayer on an animated series “The Travels of Teddy,” based on the life of Teddy Roosevelt. Their series was successful, leading Otto to collaborate with Pat Sullivan, who ran the business while letting Messmer lead the creative work. In 1919, Messmer created a cartoon called Feline Follies at Pat Sullivan’s animation studio. It was innovative because it was the first to use captions for dialogue and sound effects like those used comics, instead of the usual title screens expected in silent films.
The star of Feline Follies, Master Tom evolved and grew eventually becoming Felix the Cat. As Felix’s star ascended in popularity, he got his own newspaper comic strip In 1923, which also drawn by Messmer initially, and later by Joe Oriolo running until 1966.
Otto’s Felix animated cartoons began to lose popularity in the late 1920s as they competed with the sound cartoons of other studios like Walt Disney’s and Fleischer’s. Sullivan was slow to get with the times. By the time Pat Sullivan incorporated sound, the damage was done. The studio shut down in 1932.
Messmer went on to produce Felix comic books through the ‘40s and ‘50s for as Dell Comics, Toby Press, and Harvey Comics. Otto also animated for Famous Studios before retiring.
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