Felix talked since the advent of Talkies, so it shouldn't be too strange. Most people seem to remember him from the King Features cartoons, and everything in the franchise seems to be a direct nod to that. Other than the Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat (and even in that case, Poindexter was in one episode of that series), the villains from the King Features series seem to follow in every production. They were integral characters in the 90's Black and White comic series. Not to mention the weird NES video game.