Felix Has CURIOS-ity
Hello again dear Readers, this time we have Felix from 19320703 to 19320716. In the Sundays, Felix finally returns from his long ocean voyage in the 19320710 page, but nearly goes on another voyage immediately! The dailies continue Felix’s attempts to please his new master, the proprietor of the Curio Shop. “Golf Widows” referred to in the 0707 and 0708 strips, were women who didn’t see much of their husbands because of the hubbies’s addiction to the sport of golf. I single out the 0713 as Felix tries to carry an invisible pane of glass that Kitty smashes with her purse, and the 0716 in which a new dog character is introduced named “Fibbo”. Fibbo sounds like a refugee from “Hawkshaw the Detective” by “Watso” (Gus Mager). I like Felix’s ingenuity in foiling Fibber’s fish story. Please continue to enjoy the best year of Felix, 1932! Comically, Mark
Joe Cabrera says:
But how did the little boy in the second Sunday topper know the parrot’s name was Laura?
Mark says:
HI Joe,
Otto Messmer must have been half-awake when he wrote this episode of Laura. The little boy had never seen Laura before when he adopted her, then once he was sent to bed with a “cold”, he remarks: “I’ve still got Laura!” Maybe the kid read the masthead title in some other strip, perhaps he’s kin to Danny Dooit? Very observant of you to point out the discrepancy.
Mark
Joe Cabrera says:
It was an easy mistake to make. Messmer gets so many other details right, like Laura often inspecting something with a side glance (it’s not like her eyes are on the forward part of her face) that it’s easily forgiven. Thanks so much for offering all this goodness all these years. (And thank god Felix is finally away from those animals!)
Mark says:
You’re Welcome, Joe! We’ll see what Otto comes up with next in the Sundays, since he won’t need any more animal gags for awhile.
Mark
Paul F. Etcheverry says:
Thank you, Mark – these are outstanding comics! IMHO, the later revivals of Felix from the Van Beuren Studio and Joe Oriolo Productions, while entertaining and enjoyable, just don’t possess the dynamism of these strips.
Mark says:
Thanks for your comment, Paul.
The Van Beurens try to turn Felix into Mickey, and the Oriolos put Felix’s transformational powers, removing his tail, removing his head, etc., into the Magic Bag! Felix loses a lot of his survival instincts in the later cartoons, I like him as an intermittently homeless cat, getting involved in picaresque adventures with random personalities he meets on his travels. Happy reading, Mark