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MonJun20

Felix Kept on Walking....

So I’m driving back from dropping off some artwork to Rory who’s doing some slide footage for a new song ‘ Dream So Cool’ that I wrote for SOMEGIRL” with Phil Adams; when some graffiti catches my eye on a brick wall near Wood Green tube station.

 

Felix the CatAs I slow down to take a closer look, immediately the drivers behind me become impatient so I pull in and park the car.

The image just leaps out at you from the brick wall. You can see the picture here, it’s of Felix the Cat a well know cartoon character created by a New Jersey cartoonist Otto Messmer in 1919.

It has a special relevance to me because I met the songwriter Hubert David (Mickey to his friends) when he was ninety-two at a music industry lunch. What a man... within minutes we were in deep discussion about song-writing and he told me his Father had been a hit songwriter in the early years of the twentieth century and that he (Hubert David) had written a hit song in 1919 called ‘Felix kept on Walking’ when he was only seventeen. It sold two million copies of sheet music!

Felix Kept On Walking - Sheet MusicHis energy for the industry was boundless and his stories about the Tin Pan Alley days were really exciting.

I was so intrigued by Hubert that I met up with him again and I asked if I could produce a documentary about him and his Dad. The result was on Radio Two ‘ Are We downhearted NO!’ and it got 75 fan letters, all down to Hubert and his great PR . (In his later life he had became a Record Plugger)

I’d love to know who the graffiti artist was for this picture, it certainly cheered up my day and I was happy to see that in Wood Green at least ....Felix is still walking!

I found this clip of a recording of the song: (It’s the wrong date on the clip though)

Media

Stanley Kirkby - Felix Kept On Walking