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Portrait of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

General knowledge · Film, TV & games

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Created 1927

Animation — Walt Disney's first cartoon star, and the one he lost

The long-eared cartoon rabbit created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures, distributed through Charles Mintz of Winkler Pictures. He was Disney's first genuine star, but the contract left the character in Universal's hands: when Walt went to New York in 1928 to renegotiate, Mintz demanded a cut in the budget and revealed that he had already signed away most of Disney's animators. Walt walked out, and with Iwerks devised a mouse he would own outright. Oswald passed to Walter Lantz, and did not return to Disney until 2006, in a trade for a sports commentator.

How to spot them

  • ▸A black-and-white rabbit with long floppy ears and a lucky rabbit's foot, whose limbs come off as gags
  • ▸Made for Universal in 1927–28, distributed by Charles Mintz; Walt Disney did not own him
  • ▸The loss that produced Mickey Mouse
  • ▸Reacquired by Bob Iger in 2006 in a swap for a broadcaster's contract

Key facts

'Trolley Troubles', released 5 September 1927 — the first cartoon of the series to reach cinemas (1927)

The runaway trolley short that made the character a hit for Universal

'Poor Papa', the pilot Universal rejected for sloppy animation and a hero who looked too old and too fat (1927)

It was made first but released later, after the character had been redrawn younger

A 1928 trip to New York at which Walt Disney learned that Universal owned his star and Charles Mintz had poached most of his animators (1928)

Only Ub Iwerks and a handful stayed loyal; on the train home Disney began sketching a mouse

Handed by Universal to Walter Lantz in 1929, who kept the character going for years afterwards (1929)

Mintz lost him in turn, as Disney had; Lantz later gave him colour and a softer design

Traded back to Disney in February 2006 in exchange for releasing the sportscaster Al Michaels to NBC (2006)

Bob Iger's deal with NBCUniversal; Michaels went from ABC and ESPN to NBC's Sunday Night Football

A 2010 video game casting the character as the embittered elder half-brother of a mouse, ruling a wasteland of forgotten cartoons (2010)

Epic Mickey, directed by Warren Spector for the Wii

A new Disney short in 2022, the studio's first with the character in 95 years (2022)

Made for the company's centenary, in the black-and-white style of the originals

Quick-fire facts

  • •Created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures, at the request of producer Charles Mintz
  • •Disney's studio made around twenty-six shorts with the character in 1927–28
  • •'Poor Papa' was produced first but rejected; 'Trolley Troubles' was released first, on 5 September 1927
  • •Universal, not Disney, owned the character — the discovery that led directly to the creation of Mickey Mouse in 1928
  • •Charles Mintz hired away most of Disney's animators, including Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising and Friz Freleng
  • •Universal took the series from Mintz in 1929 and gave it to Walter Lantz, later the creator of Woody Woodpecker
  • •The Walt Disney Company regained the character in February 2006 under Bob Iger, in exchange for Al Michaels's contract
  • •Oswald appeared as a major character in the 2010 video game Epic Mickey
  • •Disney produced a new Oswald short in 2022 for the studio's centenary — its first in 95 years
  • •The 1927 shorts entered the United States public domain in 2023

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Sources