Copley Pictures was a distributor of Felix the Cat cartoons.
History[]

Announcing the release of new Felix sound shorts from Copley Pictures
With the advent of synchronized sound in The Jazz Singer in 1927, Educational Pictures, who distributed the Felix shorts at the time, urged Pat Sullivan to make the leap to "talkie" cartoons, but Sullivan refused. Further disputes led to a break between Educational and Sullivan. Only after competing studios released the first synchronized-sound animated films, such as Fleischer's My Old Kentucky Home, Van Beuren's Dinner Time and Disney's Steamboat Willie, did Sullivan see the possibilities of sound. He managed to secure a contract with First National Pictures in 1928, but for reasons unknown, this did not last, so Sullivan sought out Jacques Kopfstein and Copley Pictures to distribute his new sound Felix cartoons. On October 16, 1929, an advertisement appeared in Film Daily with Felix announcing, Jolson-like, "You ain't heard nothin' yet!
Felix's transition to sound was not a smooth one. Sullivan did not carefully prepare for Felix's transition to sound and added sound effects into the sound cartoons as a post-animation process. The results were disastrous. More than ever, it seemed as though Disney's mouse was drawing audiences away from Sullivan's silent star. Not even entries such as the Fleischer-style off-beat Woos Whoopee or the Silly Symphony-esque April Maze (both 1930) could regain the franchise's audience. Kopfstein finally canceled Sullivan's contract.
Filmography[]
Sound Reissues[]
17 Re-releases
Title | Release date |
---|---|
Arabiantics | 1928 |
Outdoor Indore | 1928 |
The Oily Bird | 1929 |
Felix Behind in Front | 1929 |
The Non-Stop Fright | 1929 |
Daze and Knights | 1929 |
Eskimotive | 1929 |
Astronomeows | 1929 |
Futuritzy | 1929 |
In- and Out-Laws | 1929 |
Uncle Tom's Crabbin' | 1929 |
Felix Switches Witches | 1929 |
No Fuelin' | 1929 |
The Smoke Scream | 1929 |
Japanicky | 1929 |
Whys and Other Whys | 1929 |
Flim Flam Films | 1931 |
New Releases[]
12 Cartoons
Title | Release date |
---|---|
False Vases | 1929 |
One Good Turn | 1929 |
Romeeow | 1929 |
The Cat's Meow | 1929 |
April Maze | 1930 |
Woos Whoopee | 1930 |
Forty Winks | 1930 |
Hootchy Kootchy Parlais Vous | 1930 |
Oceantics | 1930 |
Skulls and Sculls | 1930 |
Tee Time | 1930 |
unknown title | 1930 |