With a printed card announcing a signing for the book at the Howard Lowery Gallery.

The story of Otto Messmer, Pat Sullivan and Felix the Cat, the wonderful wonderful cat.

From the dustjacket:

Handsomely illustrated - with more than 150 black-and-white photos and color inserts - Felix is a stylishly written account of the scandal and intrigue behind the creation and marketing of the most popular, best animate, and financially most successful cartoon of the silent era, as well as an illuminating study of film animation in the years before Walt Disney.

From 1919 to 1933 Felix was internationally celebrated, as popular throughout the world as Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

The producer of his films, Pat Sullivan - a journeyman artist, chronic alcoholic, and convicted rapist - claimed credit for creating and developing Felix, yet in truth it was Otto Messmer, Sullivan's brilliant, self-effacing production manager, who conceived, animated and directed more than two hundred Felix films during the height of the cat's popularity. Messmer never saw any of the enormous profits from his creation, and until the mid-seventies, his importance to the art of animation was unknown to all but a few.

This came from the library of Burny Mattinson (1935-2023), an animator, director, producer, and story artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios, from 1953 until his death in 2023. Mattinson directed Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Great Mouse Detective. He was named a Disney Legend in 2008 and was the longest serving employee of The Walt Disney Company, with a career that spanned almost 70 years. His extensive library included numerous subjects and especially large collections of books on Disney, animation, and classic comic strips.

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