Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (partially lost series of Walt Disney animated short films; 1927-1928): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:50, 25 March 2016

Oswald ending card from the Disney era.

Status: Lost

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is a series of shorts from the late 1920's. After the failure of his Laugh-O-Grams and Lafflets, and the minor success of the Alice Comedies, Disney started to compete with stronger cartoon characters of the era like Felix the Cat. After successfully pitching Oswald, Winkler Pictures gave him a talented animation staff and a budget.

Walt began production on the shorts in 1927. The rabbit was well received and became the first Disney character to have his own tie-in merchandise. Oswald's success over his competition was more ambitious, innovative, and raunchy animation and humor. Despite the success of the films, around 26 shorts in,^[1] the budget was cut by more than half and nearly half of Walt's animation team was moved to other projects. Disney soon quit working at Winkler and starting his own animation studio with some of his most talented Oswald staff. He lost the rights to Oswald, so created a new character named Steamboat Willie.

After Disney left Winkler, Oswald's shorts were animated by many rising animation legends, such as a young Tex Avery. Oswald evolved into the color and sound eras, but was ultimately discontinued in 1943 due to his fall in popularity.

In 2005, Oswald's copyright expired and Universal (the umbrella company that Winkler was under) gave the Walt Disney company the rights to Disney's original Oswald shorts. A DVD collection was released in 2006 containing 13 of the original 26 shorts. Two more emerged in 2007, but 11 of the shorts are still missing. Some of the later Oswald shorts are missing as well.^[2] With Oswald's role in the video game, Epic Mickey and its two sequels, new interest has sparked in the character.

UPDATE: 11-5-15: One of the missing shorts have been found! The 1928 short 'Sleigh Bells' was found by a member of the British Film Institute. Reportedly, the short will be screened on December 12th, in London.

References

↑ Oswald series overview on Disney Wikia. Retrieved 25 Mar '16.
↑ Oswald filmography on Wikipedia. Retrieved 25 Mar '16.

[1] Oswald series overview on Disney Wikia. Retrieved 25 Mar '16.

[2] Oswald filmography on Wikipedia. Retrieved 25 Mar '16.

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:OzzieEnd 3174.jpg|thumb|300px|''Oswald'' ending card from the Disney era.]]
+{{InfoboxLost
-Long before Disney was animating a wacky mouse, he was experimenting with various types of animation, as the medium was still new at the time. With his failed ''Laugh-O-Grams'', [[Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney shorts; 1920s)|''Lafflets'']], and the slightly popular ''Alice'' Shorts, Disney needed something that would really catapult him into getting his career started. He decided to focus on competing with strong cartoon characters such as Felix The Cat and Koko The Clown. He came up with a character named '''Oswald The Lucky Rabbit'''. Impressed with the idea, Winkler Pictures (Disney did not have his own animation studio at the time) gave the project a green light and gave Walt a budget and a talented animation staff.
+|title=<center>Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (shorts)</center>
+|image=OzzieEnd 3174.jpg
+|imagecaption=''Oswald'' ending card from the Disney era.
+|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
+}}
-Walt began production on the shorts in 1927. The rabbit enjoyed a modest success and became the first Disney character to have his own tie-in merchandise. What Oswald held above his competition was more ambition and raunchy, sometimes sexual, humor. Walt grew more and more creative with each short he made. Around 26 shorts in, he decided to try to talk his producer, Charles Mintz, into a budget increase and a higher staff count. Despite the rabbit's success, Mintz not only declined the budget increase, but cut the budget by more than half and threw nearly half of Walt's animation team into other projects.
+'''''Oswald the Lucky Rabbit''''' is a series of shorts from the late 1920's. After the failure of his ''Laugh-O-Grams'' and [[Lafflets (lost series of Walt Disney shorts; 1920s)|''Lafflets'']], and the minor success of the [[Alice Comedies (partially lost series of Walt Disney shorts; 1920s)|''Alice Comedies'']], Disney started to compete with stronger cartoon characters of the era like ''Felix the Cat''. After successfully pitching ''Oswald'', Winkler Pictures gave him a talented animation staff and a budget.
-Disney responded to this by quitting his deal with Winkler, stealing some of his most talented Oswald staff, and starting his own animation studio. He lost the rights to Oswald, but created an Oswald rip-off character named Mickey Mouse. He never again allowed someone else to own the rights of any of his characters or works.
+Walt began production on the shorts in 1927. The rabbit was well received and became the first Disney character to have his own tie-in merchandise. ''Oswald's'' success over his competition was more ambitious, innovative, and raunchy animation and humor. Despite the success of the films, around 26 shorts in,<ref>[http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Oswald_the_Lucky_Rabbit_(series) ''Oswald'' series overview on Disney Wikia.] Retrieved 25 Mar '16.</ref> the budget was cut by more than half and nearly half of Walt's animation team was moved to other projects. Disney soon quit working at Winkler and starting his own animation studio with some of his most talented ''Oswald'' staff. He lost the rights to ''Oswald'', so created a new character named Steamboat Willie.
-Oswald floundered onward, progressively fading into obscurity. His future shorts were animated by many then up-and-coming animation legends, such as a young Tex Avery. Oswald evolved into the color and sound eras, gaining a voice and different color scheme. The character was discontinued in 1943 due to his fall in popularity.
+After Disney left Winkler, Oswald's shorts were animated by many rising animation legends, such as a young Tex Avery. Oswald evolved into the color and sound eras, but was ultimately discontinued in 1943 due to his fall in popularity.
-In 2005, Oswald's copyright finally expired and Universal (the umbrella company that Winkler was under) gave Disney all the shorts back, with exception of the non-Disney produced ones. A DVD collection was released in 2006 containing 13 of the original 26 shorts. Two more emerged in 2007, but 11 of the shorts are still missing. Also missing are some of the later-era shorts, including a couple that were animated by Avery. With Oswald's role in the video game, ''Epic Mickey'' and its two sequels, new interest has sparked in the character.
+In 2005, Oswald's copyright expired and Universal (the umbrella company that Winkler was under) gave the Walt Disney company the rights to Disney's original ''Oswald'' shorts. A DVD collection was released in 2006 containing 13 of the original 26 shorts. Two more emerged in 2007, but 11 of the shorts are still missing. Some of the later ''Oswald'' shorts are missing as well.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_the_Lucky_Rabbit_filmography ''Oswald'' filmography on Wikipedia.] Retrieved 25 Mar '16.</ref> With Oswald's role in the video game, ''Epic Mickey'' and its two sequels, new interest has sparked in the character.
-UPDATE: 11-5-15: One of the missing shorts have been found! The 1928 short 'Sleigh Bells' was found yesterday by a member of the British Film Institute. Reportedly, the short will be screened on December 12th, in London.
+UPDATE: 11-5-15: One of the missing shorts have been found! The 1928 short 'Sleigh Bells' was found by a member of the British Film Institute. Reportedly, the short will be screened on December 12th, in London.
+==References==
+<references/>
 [[Category:Lost animation]]
 [[Category:Lost films]]