Julius the Cat is a fictionalanthropomorphiccat created in 1922 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. He first appeared in the very first animated series created by Disney, the Alice Comedies, making him the predecessor of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse. Julius is an anthropomorphiccat, appearing intentionally similar to Felix the Cat. A bold and inventive hero, he gradually became the primary focus of the Alice Comedies, to the point Disney abandoned live action for pure animation on subsequent projects.
Julius was the first of Disney's animated protagonists to battle Pete, their oldest continuing character.
[edit]Julius and Alice (Anne Shirley) in a scene from Alice's Egg Plant (1925).
The character first appeared (nameless) in eight of the ten animated shorts created by Disney's first studio effort, Laugh-O-Gram Studio, the last of these being the pilot of the Alice Comedies, Alice's Wonderland.[1]: 14 After a trial run as "Mike" (inAlice the Peacemaker), he would receive his permanent name of Julius in Alice's Egg Plant,[2] making him Walt Disney's first named animated character.[3]: 302 The primary motivation for the creation of the character was that Charles Mintz wanted to have the greatest possible visual gags in the series.[1]: 14 Since the young Alice, first played by Virginia Davis, then only seven years old, could not be relied on for the comic role, she needed a partner, and Julius the Cat filled that role.[1]: 14 Throughout the course of the Alice series, the animated Julius was increasingly made the central focus, over the live action Alice.[4]
Julius was bold, resourceful and ingenious, playing the role of the hero, frequently rescuing damsel-in-distress Alice. He often used his prehensile tail to his advantage, as a crane, unicycle, ladder, or other useful tool. Ub Iwerks' unique animation style resulted in smooth, fluid movement.[7]
In the early days of animation, Felix the Cat, who was created on November 9, 1919, by Otto Messmer for Pat Sullivan's studio, was the template for a successful animated character.[8][9] Julius' similarity to Felix was not accidental, but due to Margaret Winkler urging the reluctant Disney to copy him. She had been the distributor for Felix the Cat, but was constantly fighting with Sullivan, eventually leading to a split, so she turned to Disney to fill the void. Like Felix, Julius would pace and detach his tail. When he was in a quandary, visible question marks would form over his head. The New York Times went so far as to call Julius a "blatant clone... from the rubber-hose-and-circle design to the detachable body parts."[10][11]
animation
