Robert Crumb's Fritz the Cat.

Fritz the Cat is an underground comic book fictional character created by Robert Crumb. The character first appeared in printed form during the height of the underground comix movement of the 1960s, and has since appeared in two films inspired by Crumb's comics. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (721x642, 167 KB) Summary My personal scan. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (721x642, 167 KB) Summary My personal scan. ... Mr. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Alice, a fictional character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Robert Dennis Crumb, often credited simply as R. Crumb (born August 30, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a U.S. artist and illustrator recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream. ...

History

Fritz.

Fritz the Cat was one of the first characters Crumb created, and the first to see print in a professional publication. In the liner notes for the Fritz the Cat film soundtrack, Thomas Albright describes Fritz as "a kind of updated Felix with overtones of Charlie Chaplin, Candide and Don Quixote." Fritz was originally created as part of a series of comic books that R. Crumb and his brother Charles drew when they were children. In the earliest stages of the character's form, Fritz was just a normal house-cat named Fred.^[1] "Fritz," as the character became, later developed into a more humanesque character as Crumb grew up, and finally into the character's final form during Crumb's teen-age years. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Fritz the Cat OST is the 1972 soundtrack album to the animated film of the same name. ... The famous Felix pace as seen in Oceantics (1930) Felix the Cat is a cartoon character from the silent-film era. ... “Charles Chaplin” redirects here. ... Candide, ou lOptimisme, (Candide, or Optimism) (1759) is a picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. ... (IPA: , but see spelling and pronunciation below), fully titled (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ...

Crumb occasionally injected elements of his own biography and sexual misadventures into the strips, although the character increasingly became a parody of would-be poets and other middle-class bohemian types who profess to be seeking cosmic truths when they're actually more interested in chasing girls. In early strips, collected in The Complete Crumb Comics series, Fritz has adventures as a James Bond-like secret agent, has an incestuous tryst with one of his sisters and generally behaves in ways somewhat out of character with his persona in his later, published stories. The character's first published story appeared in Help! #22 (January 1965). The story was called Fritz Comes on Strong. In it, Fritz brings a young (cat) girl home, and strips all of her clothes off before getting on top of her to pick fleas off her. While Harvey Kurtzman agreed to publish the comic, he told Crumb that he did not know how he was going to "publish it without getting arrested."^[2] Bohemians, or gypsies, are inhabitants of Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. ... Flemings commissioned image of James Bond to aid the Daily Express comic strip artists. ... Help! Harvey Kurtzmans longest-running magazine project after leaving Mad Magazine and EC Publications, Help! (1960-1965) was a chronically underfunded but innovative magazine published by James Warren, who was also publishing successful monster-movie and horror comics magazines simultaneously. ... Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924 - February 21, 1993) was a U.S. cartoonist and magazine editor. ...

Fritz the Cat's adventures were published in magazines and comic books such as Cavalier, Fug, and The People's Comics throughout the years. He acquired his own title in 1969. These comics have been reprinted interspersedly in The Complete Crumb Comics Vol. 1 through 8, published by Fantagraphics, as well as several "complete collections", currently out of print. Fantagraphics Books is an American publisher of alternative comics, underground comics, classic comic strip anthologies, magazines, and graphic novels located in the Maple Leaf neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. ...

Films

Main articles: Fritz the Cat (film) and The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat

Poster advertising a double feature consisting of Fritz the Cat and The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat.

The popularity of the character of Fritz the Cat led up-and-coming animation director Ralph Bakshi to make Fritz the star of his first animated feature film. The animated film is a satire on college life of the 1960s: while Fritz does not attend any classes during the movie, he participates in major social upheavals based around the popular college protest movement of the time. Released to theaters in 1972, Bakshi's film Fritz the Cat was the first animated feature film to be rated X, something that had been unheard of in American movies up until this film. Fritz the Cat is a 1972 animated film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi. ... The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat is an R-rated animated film from 1974. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 400 × 599 pixels Full resolution (580 × 869 pixel, file size: 176 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Poster advertising a double feature of Fritz the Cat and The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 400 × 599 pixels Full resolution (580 × 869 pixel, file size: 176 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Poster advertising a double feature of Fritz the Cat and The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat. ... Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. ... Ralph Bakshi (October 29, 1938) is an American director of animated and occasionally live-action films. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... X-rated, X certificate, X classification or similar terms are labels for movies implying strong adult content, typically pornography or violence. ...

The idea for making a film based on Fritz's comics came when film producer Steve Krantz discovered a large paperback book containing three stories starring the character. Later that year, Krantz and Bakshi got in touch with Crumb and paid his way from his home north of San Francisco to New York, in order to talk with him about getting the film rights to the characters.^[3] Steve Krantz is a film producer and writer who was most active from 1966 to 1996. ...

After several meetings, Krantz received a contract, signed by Crumb, in the mail, and that in return Crumb received twelve thousand five hundred dollars, which was supplemented by a percentage of the film's gross proceeds. Crumb later claimed that he left New York without giving his approval to the film, and never signed a contract.^[3]

During production, the film's original distributor, Warner Bros. pulled out of the project after viewing a presentation reel featuring a few minutes of finished animation, pencil tests, and shots of some of Bakshi's storyboards. Following this, Bakshi and Krantz left for San Francisco to raise funds from Fantasy Records, the label releasing the film's soundtrack. While there, they invited Crumb to a private screening of the presentation reel. Crumb said of it, "It wasn't bad [...] That fragment was better than Yogi Bear, but it wasn't Walt Disney."^[3] Warner Bros. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Fantasy Records is a United States based record label, which was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. ... Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is a fictional anthropomorphic bear who appears in a series of animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. ... For the company founded by Disney, see The Walt Disney Company. ...

In 1970, Cinemation Industries agreed to release the film. When Crumb saw the final product, he was displeased. Crumb later stated in interviews that he never wanted the film made, and that "I wrote them a letter telling them not to use any more of my characters in their films."^[3] Cinemation Industries was a New York City-based film studio and distributor. ...

Despite Crumb's objections, Fritz the Cat was a box office smash hit, drawing in audiences as much for its shock value as for its appeal to the "love generation" of the 1960s, and was the first independent animated film to gross more than $100 million at the box office.^[4]

The film's success also led to a brief fad within the adult film industry of producing pornographic animated short films, or inserting animated sequences into their live-action films, and releasing them to adult movie theaters with the slogan "X-rated and animated!" Pornographic movies Pornography (Porn) (from Greek πόρνη (porne) prostitute and γραφή (grafe) writing), more informally referred to as porn or porno, is the explicit representation of the human body or sexual activity with the goal of sexual arousal. ...

A sequel was released by American International Pictures in 1974, entitled The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, directed by Robert Taylor, and written by Taylor, Fred Halliday, and Eric Monte. The early AIP logo. ... Eric Monte is a television writer who has written for some of the most successful shows in TV. Montes first big break was a script written for and accepted by All in the Family. ...

In both films, Fritz was voiced by Skip Hinnant. Skip Hinnant (Born September 12, 1940 in Chincoteague Island, Virginia) is an American actor. ...

Death

Crumb's displeasure with the film version of his character led him to kill off the feline in an attempt to stop the making of any future films.

Fritz's death scene from 1972.

The story, Fritz the Cat "Superstar", published in 1972, depicted Fritz as a pompous and arrogant famous Hollywood movie star, being exploited by a pair of film producers and his agent who cast him in endless sequels. The producers are caricatures of Ralph Bakshi (portrayed as a parrot) and Steve Krantz (portrayed as a hog with sunglasses). Fritz's agent is portrayed as a wolf. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... ... It has been suggested that True parrots be merged into this article or section. ... Hog is a domestic or feral adult swine. ...

While driving down Sunset Boulevard, Fritz picks up a young female rabbit fan of his and rapes her. After dropping her back off where he found her, Fritz tapes an episode of a television talk show hosted by a caricature of Johnny Carson. On his way home to watch himself on television, he is approached by Andrea Ostrich, a neurotic ex-girlfriend of his, who urges him to "take me home and fuck me!! Just once more for old times' sake!!" Sunset Boulevard (officially known as West Sunset Boulevard, except in Beverly Hills) is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades. ... A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit. ... For other people named John Carson, see John Carson (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Struthio camelus Carolus Linnaeus, 1758 The present-day distribution of Ostriches. ...

Fritz at first refuses, but then goes with her when she tells him that he can "do anything you want to me!" At her apartment, he ignores her as he watches the television show. When the show is over, Fritz finds her hiding her head under the chair. He gives her a kick in the pants before leaving. As he walks out of the apartment commenting "ha ha ha ha ha! Foolish female!", She walks up behind him and stabs him in the back of the head with an icepick. A caption pointing to Fritz's dead body reads "violence in the media." An icepick is a tool used to pick or chip at ice. ...

After having killed off Fritz, Crumb never drew another story featuring the character.^[1]

Characters

Fritz is a trouble-making, anti-establishment, college-age figure whose adventures consisted of having sex with as many anthropomorphic female animals as possible, while staying one step ahead of the law. In one of his stories, Crumb describes Fritz as "a sophisticated, up-to-the-minute young feline college student who lives in a modern 'supercity' of millions of animals...yes, not unlike people in their manners and morals....." Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (721x642, 167 KB) Summary My personal scan. ...

Recurring characters include Fritz's girlfriend: the ever-oppressive Winston the Fox, the city's piggish cops, negro crows, and Fritz's college buddies, Fuzzy the Bunny (also a former character from the comics Crumb drew as a child) and Heinz the Swine. This article is about the animal. ... This article is about the pig genus. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Species See text. ... Genera Pentalagus Bunolagus Nesolagus Romerolagus Brachylagus Sylvilagus Oryctolagus Poelagus Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. ...

List of stories

• Fritz Comes on Strong—first published in Help! #22, January, 1965
• Fred, the Teen-Age Girl Pigeon—first published in Help! #24, May, 1965
• Fritz Bugs Out—first serialized in the February to October 1968 issues of Cavalier
• Fritz the Cat—first published in R. Crumb's Head Comix, 1968.
• Fritz the No-Good—first published in the September/October 1968 issue of Cavalier.
• Untitled—created in 1964; first published in R. Crumb's Comics & Stories, 1969
• Fritz the Cat, Special Agent for the C.I.A.—created March/May 1965; first published in R. Crumb's Fritz the Cat, 1969.
• Fritz the Cat, Magician—created summer 1965; first published in Promethean Enterprises#3, 1971.
• Fritz the Cat: "Superstar"—first published in The People's Comics, 1972.

References

2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... American actor, best known for appearances on Star Trek: The Original Series. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Variety is a daily magazine for the entertainment industry. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the Anno Domini (common) era. ... January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Fritz the Cat at the Internet Movie Database
• The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat at the Internet Movie Database
• Fritz the Cat (unofficial website)
• Toonopedia on Fritz
• The Official R. Crumb Website