In 1911, G. Harriman created Krazy Kat, whose characteristics were described earlier. Krazy Kat was one of the most poetic characters in cartoons.
Created in 1920 by Otto Messmer, Felix, one of the first stars of talking cartoons, was a huge success. A picture portraying a couple of Felix's pranks was even used as one of the official tuning test patterns for the TV network NBC from 1928 to 1930. Lindbergh also chose Felix as his mascot for his aeronautical undertaking.
According to Marcel Brion, French science-fiction author, "Felix is not just a cat, he is THE cat." The famous feline lives in a world of fantasy, where everything is possible, from filling the coal cellar with music notes from a saxophone, to offering the birds chirping overhead to two little old men he runs into who are sad because their canary died. He is constantly amazed. His whole world revolves around two signs springing from his head: the exclamation mark and the question mark.
A cheerful character, he takes pleasure in scoffing at life and is proud of his ability to get by on his own. He is as bold as he is mischievous and as lucky as he is ingenious.
During World War II, Fritz Freleny and Chuck Jones created the characters Sylvester and Tweety Bird for Warner Brothers, a studio looking more for gags than for a picture of reality. The protagonist in the story is Sylvester, a big pussycat who is constantly scheming to catch the little bird, often through acts of kindness.
The couple is similar to the Metro Goldwyn Mayer characters, Tom and Jerry, created by Fred Quinky, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The audacious mouse always wins following a frantic chase by the clumsy Tom. However, the big cat evolved over the years into a quiet father, scolded by the frisky Jerry - an anthropomorphism of the characters.
Fritz the Cat was born out of a cartoon. Ralf Bakshi first presented this hero, created by Crumb, in 1971. Fritz is a cat full of flaws, though he could have easily been any other animal.
In the world of Walt Disney, cats are often treacherous when they play supporting roles. The two Siamese cats in "Lady and the Tramp" are terrible liars, and the cat in "Cinderella" is none other than Lucifer himself.
In "Pinocchio", Gepetto lavishes care on an adorable, happy pussycat, while Pinocchio is betrayed by a deceitful and hypocritical cat, who is the accomplice of the fox.
Cats play good guys when they have a leading role such as in "That Darn Ca"t and the "Aristocats", which gives an extraordinary image of a cat world (or a human world?) where the aristocrat cats (Duchess, etc.) are portrayed as being just as benevolent as the proletarians (Romeo, etc.).
Walt Disney also devoted other films to cats such as "The Cat from Outer Space."
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