by Pier Jackson

Created on: January 28, 2009

Oh, how we love our cats! Cats have been honored and held in high esteem since, at least, ancient Egyptian times. So it's only natural that we all have a favorite cat that we follow in print and/or cinema. Since cinema is a relatively new media, this article will concentrate on the top ten cats that have influenced 20th century culture. There is no way to set up a comparison to rate their influence and popularity so I will just list them as they came into existence.

1.) Krazy Kat was created by cartoonist George Herriman. The comic strip ran from October 1913 to June 1944. Its first shorts were produced in 1916.

The three main characters in the comic strip are Krazy Kat, Ignatz Mouse and Officer Pupp. Krazy Kat is an androgenous, simple-minded cat who imagines himself in love with Ignatz mouse. Ignatz does not feel the same. As a matter of fact, Karzy kat aggravates Ignatz and often provokes him into throwing a brick at Krazy kat's head. But Krazy Kat only sees that as Ignatz Mouse's way of displaying his love for Krazy K and when Ignatz is not around to abuse him, Krazy kat is sad and looks for his love. Officer Pupp's role in the comic strip is to foil Ignatz's plots to hurl bricks at Krazy Kat. But Krazy Kat is so simple-minded that he does not realize that Officer Pupp is trying to help him. When he sees Officer Pupp chasing Ignatz, he thinks that they are playing a game of tag with Officer Pupp always being it.

Herriman's comic strip was mainly noted for its background scenery, his writing style and his unconventional page layouts. His work was so admired that it influenced future cartoonists such as Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes) and Patrick McDonnell (Mutts). Charles Schulz (Peanuts) said he was drawn to cartooning partly because of the impact Krazy Kat made on him as a child. Chuck Jones' background visuals for Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner were inspired by Herriman's Coconino county, Arizona setting for Krazy Kat.

2.) Felix the Cat first appeared on film in November 1919, but wasn't named until his third film which came out in December 1919. Although Pat Sullivan owned the Felix the Cat character, Otto Messmer is generally credited with creating Felix. It's Messmer who told the story about how Felix got his name. After the first two shorts were so successful, Sullivan and Messmer decided to name their "star".Thy chose Felix because of the Latin words for cat is "felis" and lucky is "felix". Felix was a cat that had a knack for creating the fantastic

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