After 85 years, the Felix the Cat balloon is returning to the parade in New York ... One year later, he would be upstaged by a big-eared rival. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED ...

when a Felix the Cat balloon that was released from the parade later drifted into telephone wires and caught fire — the severity of the 1997 incident caused then-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to ...

In 1927, Sarg developed the idea of the first parade balloon. The balloon depicted cartoon character Felix the Cat and stood about 15 feet tall. Unlike today’s balloons, Felix was filled with ...

Seeing the parade’s first balloon, a giant and not at all spooky Felix the Cat, was probably big stuff. It all went swimmingly until it came time to deflate the dang thing. Apparently everyone ...

One of the highlights of the big event can also be one of the most dangerous ... fiascos in the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Felix the Cat was the parade's first-ever balloon, ...

George Rinhart/Corbis/Getty Images The inaugural parade in 1924 featured live animals, including lions and camels, from the Central Park Zoo. The first-ever "character balloon" was Felix the Cat ...

However, it wasn't until 1927 that the first balloon Felix, the cat made its iconic debut ... a blustery day in the Big Apple. During that parade, winds reached more than 40 miles per hour ...

How many Ohio locations are left? The first balloon used for the Macy's parade was Felix the Cat, according to I Love NY. The character, created in 1919, was featured in animated shorts during the ...

But as Thanksgiving approaches, millennials who grew up watching the big purple ... See the Biggest Balloon Blunders at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade: From a Runaway Felix the Cat to the ...

Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The first-ever Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon was Felix the Cat, which made its debut 97 years ago in 1927.