The Oily Bird is a 1928 Felix the Cat short produced by Pat Sullivan.
Plot[]
Felix is sleeping peacefully when a marauding hen, driven by her hunger to desperate acts, steals some jewelry from Felix's mistress. Accused and dispossessed, Felix sets out to track down the thief. To gain inside information about a goat, he feeds the animal an electric lamp that illuminates the inner workings but reveals no loot. Felix claims a bag carried by a passing stork, but the black cat flees to safety when he finds the bag full of kittens.
But Felix gets a clue by holding a candle in an egg. The cat searches for the hen that laid it. Felix chases the guilty hen, but the culprit is digging deep into the ground and safe when the cat catches her. Felix recovers the jewelry, and the hen's digging maneuver uncaps an oil well in his mistress's backyard.
Consequently, the black cat is not only forgiven, but rewarded.
Trivia[]
- The short was re-released with sound by Copley Pictures
- The chicken protagonist of the short was designed and animated by Raoul Barré