Felix in the Swim
| Felix in the Swim | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Otto Messmer |
| Produced by | Pat Sullivan |
| Animation by | Otto Messmer |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Pat Sullivan Studios |
| Distributed by | Margaret J. Winkler |
Release date | July 1, 1922 |
Running time | 8:31 (probably) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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Felix in the Swim (also known as Cat in the Swim) is a 1922 short featuring Felix the Cat with his friend Willie, who first appeared in Felix Saves the Day and his mother.
Plot
Felix climbs out of a trash can to seize the day and hears a distress call. Felix realizes it was Skiddoo, his enemy mouse trapped in a mousetrap. Felix takes the opportunity to eat Skiddoo, and the mouse asks the cat to free him. Felix takes pity on Skiddoo and frees the poor mouse, and the two make up. Skiddoo tells Felix he can call him when he needs to, and the mouse returns to his house.
Felix goes to the "old swimming hole" and finds a frog. The frog invites Felix to swim, and Felix runs to Willie's house, the house of his friend.
Felix asks Willie to go to the old swimming hole, and Willie accepts, but asks Felix to be silent, with his hands, because he is practicing the piano, but his mother, doing the laundry, does not want Willie to stop playing the piano. Willie's mother catches him coming down from the roof and, very angry, tells him to go back to practicing the piano, and the boy, sulking, goes to play his piano again, and the cat, angry at Willie's mother and worried, takes his "Felix pace" to a lonely place.
Skiddoo sees Felix sad, in his corner, and the mouse asks the cat what the problem is. Felix says why, and the two also do the cat step, until Skiddoo comes up with the idea of calling his brothers and pretending to be Willie playing the piano while the cat and boy bathe in the old swimming hole.
Willie is in a lot of agony playing the piano, and the boy even stops playing to talk to himself; it's so boring, but that doesn't last long, obviously, because his mother screams his name and he starts playing again. Felix arrives at Willie's house with Skiddoo and his brothers and tells him their plan, but the cat has too much attention on Willie's mother doing the laundry. Finally, Felix and Willie leave the house for a swim in the old swimming hole, and the mice play the piano pretending to be the boy. The mice play so well that Willie's mother is even more than proud and starts dancing, but who couldn't stay out of these songs? Clothes hanging on the clothesline!
Felix and Willie arrive at the old swimming hole, and the boy takes off his clothes behind a tree, but the cat notices that there is a lady on a bench near them, and she is embarrassed. Felix also notices that Willie forgot (or he didn't have) his swimming clothes. Felix steals them a pair of swim trunks and has that classic cat joke putting on a pair of swim trunks with a hole for his tail to fit through. The two go to the lake and dive.
Willie's mother decides to give her son a piece of pie as he is playing well, when it is actually the mice playing. It doesn't take long for Willie's mother to realize it was the mice playing the piano, and she gets quite angry.
The scene cuts back to the two of them in the lake, and Willie, before diving in again, notices that a goat is swallowing his clothes. The two end up scaring the goat away and get angry.
When the two return to Willie's house at night, they come back inside a barrel, since they are without clothes. Willie tries to enter the house but is caught in the act by his mother and beaten. Skiddoo goes to Felix and asks if he fixed his problem, and probably Felix punches the mouse.
Dialogues
1- When Skiddoo asks Felix for help because he's trapped in a mousetrap, he says:
- Spare me!
2- When Felix frees Skiddoo, and the mouse says he can call on him for any help, he says:
- Anytime I can do you a favor Felix - call on me!
3- When the frog in the old swimming hole invites Felix, he says:
- Come on in, the water is fine!
4- When Felix asks Willie to come with him to the old swimming hole, he says:
- Come on down to the old swimmin' hole!
5- When Willie's mother catches him going down on the roof and she angrily tells him to go back to practicing his piano lesson, she says:
- You go right downstairs and practise your piano!
6- Before Felix does his pace, he says:
- That put the kibosh on the swimmin' hole!
7- When Skiddoo sees Felix in his corner and asks him what's wrong, he says:
- What seems to be the matter?
8- When Skiddoo had his idea (full idea on the plot), he says:
- I've got a scheme! I'll get my brothers to help you!
9- When Skiddoo calls out to his brothers, he says:
- Come on fellers!
10- Before Willie's mother dances the song out of pride to her son, who was actually the mice playing the piano in her son's place, she says:
- Gracious me! But that boy is improving!
11- When Felix notices that Willie is not wearing swimming clothes, before he leaves to steal some swimming trunks, he says:
- I'll fix it, you wait right here!
12- When Willie's mother decides to give him a piece of pie because she is proud of how he learned to play the piano, when it was actually the mice playing the piano, she says:
- Bless his heart. I'll give him a piece of pie!!
13- When Willie's mother realizes that it was mice playing the piano instead of her son, she says:
- Can you beat that!
EXTRA
Before Felix and Willie return to the boy's house, a message appears from the studio itself saying:
- That night
14- When Willie is beaten by his mother and Skiddoo comes up to Felix asking if he solved his problem, he says:
- Didn't I fix it for you?
Felix punched Skiddoo?
The best-known copy of this short film is the 3-minute one, but a copy has been posted that has several scenes not in the 3-minute copy. This copy video with the scenes was posted by mejo kallamthanam, and thanks to this channel I created this Wikipedia page. The copy of this channel may have the scenes that don't exist in the other copy, but it is still incomplete, because in the end it doesn't have the complete scene of Skiddoo and Felix's dialogue as in the other copy, but in the 3 minute copy it looked like Felix was going to raise his hand, but a copy posted by Vintage Vinyl Via Valves and Public Domain Stuff, which is 6 minutes long, made it more likely that Felix was going to punch Skiddoo.
Comparison
References
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