Felix Goes Under the “Blanket Code”
Felix this time is reprinted from 19331120 to 19331203. Felix is once again hired out as a mascot to Mr. Doremi Fasola, the Operatic “Barren Tone”. Mr. Fasola cruelly kicks poor Felix, resulting in yowls and moans that sound like music to Fasola. In the 11-30 and 12-1 strips, the Depression really comes to the fore. In the 11-30, a dog remarks to Felix: “..busy as usual on the recovery drive?”, to which Felix replies, “Yeah, I’m operating under the blanket code”. The Blanket Code was an early version of the National Recovery Re-employment Act, which was generally adopted in July, 1933. Among other reforms, such as making child labor a crime, it set minimum wages at between .35 to .40 cents an hour in most jobs. It’s hard to even conceive of wages that low in our inflated age, but that’s what they were. By August 1933, the NRA code “Blue Eagle” signs were printed and posted in merchant’s and employer’s windows to show that they honored the minimum wage standards and the other labor standards covered in the Blue Eagle guidelines. These helped put a floor under the plunging economy in the mid-1930s. By the end of the thirties, the Blue Eagle was no more, ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. You can look it up. In movies of the 1930s, you will often see the NRA Blue Eagle at the beginning and end of a feature picture. In the Sunday pages, Felix and Danny emerge from the woods and their adventures with the bear family, to intercept a little fox being chased by hounds. Felix shows his cartoon license and breathes in oxygen and exhales helium in to balloons which he attaches to the little fox, lifting him out of the hounds’ path. The fox has one word of dialog: “Saved”. In the 12-3, Felix distracts the hounds with pepper, but the huntsman decides to pursue Felix instead of the Fox. If you want to see the comics larger, just pass your mouse over the comics and right-click to reveal the command: “Open image in new window”. When you have a new window with the comic in it, you can enlarge it and read it more easily. Enjoy!
Paul Groh says:
Evidently Felix was in great demand as a mascot. I know that he’s been the official mascot of Logansport High School in Logansport, Indiana, for nearly a century.
At a contemporary music concert in the 1980s I heard an electronic piece that contained some very weird, unearthly moaning sounds. The composer later explained that they were obtained by recording his pet kitten as he poked it repeatedly with a pencil, and then slowing down the tape two octaves. I guess from now on avant-garde music will have to come with a disclaimer: “No animals were harmed during the composition of this work.”
Mark says:
Very good comments as always, Paul! I didn’t know that Felix was Logansport High School’s mascot. The Logansport Morning News is a great historic newspaper that carried the early Thimble Theatre, they had good taste in comic strips. That’s also a very appropriate anecdote about the electronic piece you heard that used a kitten’s mews as a basis for distortion. Jibes perfectly with Mr. Fasola doesn’t it?
Mark says:
Thanks Paul for the great anecdotes about Logansport High School. I’ll bet Felix is the mascot of many other schools as well. Also your story about the kitten’s mews being the basis of distortion for electronic music jibes perfectly with the story of Mr. Fasola! Thanks again, Mark