What if cartoon royalty like Colonel Heeza Liar reappeared today?

Specialists in human biology have recently estimated that the upper limit of our life spans is 118 years (assuming ideal conditions and no intervening circumstances). This impressive span represents one of the longest in the animal kingdom and by all indices; more people are reaching the century mark than ever. In the world of American animation there have been some notable records for longevity as well. This month we will take a look at some of our longest-lived characters and where they stand in the Methuselah derby. Some of the names might surprise you.

Estimating the longevity of an animated character is not without certain difficulties: the two most problematic are continuity and audience recognition. If an animated character is revived after, say, 40 years by some capricious director, can it be reasonably argued that said character has really been around in excess of 40 years? What about the intervening span in which every animator that ever worked on the character has gone to that great Inkwell in the Sky? What about the generation or two of youngsters that have no familiarity with the character and are literally seeing it for the first time? If Bobby Bumps, Old DocYak or reappeared today, could they be considered elder statesmen amongst animated characters?

I would think not. In order for animated characters to be considered for longevity records, it would be imperative that two conditions are met and these are what I believe they should be: One, characters must have been animated in one medium or another (including advertising, cinema, television, or independently) on a more or less continuous basis. No more than 30 years or one generation should pass in which a given character does not appear in animated form. Two, the characters must have sufficient recognition among casual audiences who can readily identify the character from past ads, shorts or films. It's a fair bet that animation historians such as Michael Barrier, John Canemaker or Jerry Beck could recognize the aforementioned Colonel Heeza Liar were he to suddenly be revived; I doubt that the average customer standing in line at the local Starbucks could. However, if that same java junkie was shown a picture of the Pink Panther, Yogi Bear or Felix the Cat, the recognition factor would be near perfect. Popularity is, in many cases, synergistic with longevity.

To put things into perspective, the characters considered in this column are indeed exceptional examples of longevity. When one considers that animation itself is roughly 110 years old, then a 55-year-old character has been around for half of that time. Thirty years is a generous amount of time to allow a character to make a comeback; that's nearly one-third of animation's history. For example, an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures that aired on Nov. 2, 1990 featured the long-forgotten Warner character Honey, best remembered as the girlfriend of Bosko, the studio's first "star." Honey first appeared in 1930, bit the dust in 1933 and disappeared for 57 years between appearances. This obscure and long-dormant character cannot be said to possess a "life span" of sixty years.

When will Felix explode into the mainstream again? © Felix the Cat Prods.

The oldest and most famous continuing cartoon character produced in America is Felix the Cat. The feline first appeared in 1919 (although he was not yet named Felix) at Pat Sullivan Studio, and, under the direction of animation legend Otto Messmer, continued on through 1930. After the demise of Sullivan and his studio the character rights to Felix were obtained by the Van Beuren Studio in 1936. Burt Gillett was appointed to direct new theatrical shorts starring the mercurial cat but managed to turn out only three desultory color cartoons.

In 1958 Joe Oriolo (best known as the creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost) obtained the rights to Felix and brought the character to television. This redesigned version of Felix starred in 260 fondly remembered cartoons from 1959-60, and Oriolo's son produced a full-length movie featuring the popular cat in 1985. Ten years later, Felix resurfaced at Film Roman in a new cable TV series. The animators went back to Messmer's rougher, earlier design for the cat and presented surrealistic scenarios that harkened back to Felix' seminal days. The series ended in 1997, but the record is indisputable: Four resurrections, hundreds of cartoons, and 85 years of production for one of the most iconic characters ever created. Felix is truly the grand old cat of the animation community.