hey say cats have
nine lives, and Felix seems to have been no exception. Nearly
thirty-five years after his first show, the wonderful,
wonderful cat was meowing his way into the 1990s. CBS was so
convinced that Felix should be welcomed aboard the Saturday
morning lineup that they rushed out 55 five-second bumpers for
the 1994 season. Unable to get a whole show out on time, the
network was still able to introduce a new audience to the
tricky feline by having him appear between established
cartoons.
But the proud Felix, for whom confidence was never a
problem, marched up to the executive in charge of children’s
programming and demanded his own show. After all, he’d been a
star since the '20s. He wasn’t going to play second fiddle to
a bunch of grungy, slacker 90's toons with no sense of
panache. The network gave in - rumors at the time suggested
Felix had a couple of connected guys in his bag of tricks -
and in 1995, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat debuted.
Responding to its star’s demands of high quality, CBS
employed Don Oriolo, son of original co-creator Joe Oriolo, as
co-executive producer.
Twisted Tales, hard as it is to believe, surpassed the
surreal quality of the silent films from Felix's earliest
days, in which anything could happen and often did. In the
new seven-minute episodes the most bizarre events were
commonplace, and the series truly earned its title "Twisted
Tales." Felix once again made use of his magic bag of tricks,
which was introduced in the 1959 Felix the Cat series, as well
as his trademark magic tail, an amazing appendage that could
transform itself from a flashlight to a grappling hook to a
sword and more, always coming out none the worse for wear.
Felix caught on with 90's kids, but not in the same way he
had in decades past. After a successful two-season run, the
cat retired again; but given his propensity for comebacks, who
can say how long he will remain out of work this time.
