Pat Sullivan (film producer)

Patrick Pat Peter Sullivan was an Australian cartoonist, pioneer animator and film producer, best known for producing the first Felix the Cat silent cartoons. Even though he made his animator Otto Mesmer animate all Felix cartoon, he put his name on all of them as the sole creator. He did ownmake the studio, contracts, distribution and the staff. Mesmer wrote, did the art, directed, and animated.

Sullivan was born in Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales, the second son of Patrick Sullivan from Ireland and his Sydneyborn wife Margaret, ne Hayes. Sullivan arrived in the United States around 1910, after spending several months in London. He worked as assistant to newspaper cartoonist William Marriner, and drew four strips of his own. When Marriner died in 1914, Sullivan joined the new animated cartoon studio set up by Raoul Barre. In 1915, Sullivan was fired by Barre for general incompetence. In 1916, William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate, set up a studio to produce animated cartoons based on his papers strips and hired Barres best animators. Sullivan decided to start his own studio and made a series called Sammy Johnsin, based on a Marriner strip on which he had worked.

Source: Wikipedia