Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s. The majority rights to the character are currently held by The Walt Disney Company, with exceptions of Winkler and Walter Lantz cartoons that starred Oswald, which are owned by Universal. Oswald is the main protagonist of the cartoon series.

Creation under Disney
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was introduced in 1927 after Disney's series of Alice Comedies had run its course. Disney signed a new contract with Universal Studios head Carl Laemmle where he would produce a series of cartoons for Charles Mintz and George Winkler. The first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa, was rejected by the Universal studio heads due to poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald. After this, Disney, together with Ub Iwerks, created a second cartoon called Trolley Troubles featuring a much younger, neater Oswald. The short officially launched the series and proved to be Disney's greatest success yet. Poor Papa was finally released a year later.

In the spring of 1928, with the series at a good start, Disney asked Mintz for an increase in salary. Thinking about cutting costs due to economic concerns, however, Mintz figured Walt should take a 20 percent budget cut, but promised some changes if the studio's finances showed some improvement. Disney refused Mintz's offer and parted ways from Universal. He could not take Oswald with him because the studio owned the rights to the character. While most of Disney's colleague's remained to work with Mintz, the others such as Iwerks, Les Clark and Wilfred Jackson joined in Disney's departure.

Upon finishing the remaining Oswald cartoons, Disney and Iwerks created another character who would become The Walt Disney Company's lasting symbol: Mickey Mouse (a slightly altered Oswald the Rabbit to avoid litigation), the most famous of Walt Disney's characters.

Universal takes direct control
Mintz, meanwhile, opened his own studio consisting primarily of former Disney employees, where he continued to produce Oswald cartoons, among them the first Oswald with sound, Hen Fruit (1929). While things were going in Mintz's favor, animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising asked Laemmle to remove Mintz, suggesting they would be the ones to continue the Oswald series. But Laemmle denied their requests and even terminated Mintz's contract, opting to have the Oswald cartoons produced right on the Universal lot instead.[2]

By a coincidence, Disney and Mintz each produced nine cartoons the first year and 17 the next before Oswald was taken over by others. Laemmle selected Walter Lantz to produce the new series of Oswald shorts (the first of which was 1929's Race Riot). Lantz consulted Disney about Oswald and he gave Lantz his blessing to continue the Oswald series as the Mickey Mouse shorts had become more successful so the two became close friends.

Over the next decade, Lantz would produce 142 Oswald cartoons, making for a grand total of 194 films that the character starred in, spanning the work of all three producers. After Lantz took over production in 1929, the character's look was changed to some degree over the following years: Oswald got white gloves on his hands, shoes on his feet, a shirt, a "cuter" face with larger eyes, a bigger head, and shorter ears (pictured left). With 1935's Case of the Lost Sheep, an even more major makeover took place: the character was drawn more realistically now, with white fur rather than black, shoes are removed, plus wearing suspenders instead of a shirt and shorts. This new Oswald model was adapted directly from a non-Oswald bunny in another Lantz cartoon: the two-strip Technicolor Fox and the Rabbit (1935), released some two months earlier as the last of the early Cartune Classics series.

The cartoons containing the new, white-furred Oswald seemed to be different from their predecessors in more than one way, as the stories themselves became softer. Minor changes in the drawing style would continue, too. With Happy Scouts (1938), the second-to-last Oswald film produced, the rabbit's fur went from being all-white to a combination of white and gray.

Unlike the Disney shorts, in which Oswald did not speak, Lantz's cartoons began to feature actual dialogue for Oswald, although most of the cartoons were still silent to begin with. Animator Bill Nolan did the voice of Oswald in Cold Turkey, the first Lantz cartoon with dialogue, and the following year Pinto Colvig, who was working as an animator and gag man at the studio, started voicing Oswald. When Colvig left the studio in 1931, Mickey Rooney took over the voicing of Oswald until early in the following year. Starting in 1932, Lantz ceased to use a regular voice actor for Oswald, and many studio staff members (including Lantz himself) would take turns in voicing the character over the years. June Foray provided Oswald's voice in The Egg Cracker Suite, which was the final theatrical short to feature the character.

Oswald made a cameo appearance in the first animated sequence with both sound and color (two-strip Technicolor), a 2½ minute animated sequence of the live action movie The King of Jazz (1930), produced by Laemmle for Universal. However, it was not until 1934 that Oswald got his own color sound cartoons in two-strip Technicolor, Toyland Premiere and Springtime Serenade. The Oswald cartoons then returned to black-and-white, except for the last one, The Egg Cracker Suite (1943), released as a part of the Swing Symphonies series. Egg Cracker was also the only Oswald cartoon to use three-strip Technicolor. But before he was permanently retired, Oswald made a final cameo appearance in The Woody Woodpecker Polka (1951), also in three-strip Technicolor, which by then had become the rule in the cartoon industry.

Return to Disney ownership: the Al Michaels trade
In February 2006, a number of minor assets including the rights to Oswald were acquired by The Walt Disney Company from NBC Universal as part of a deal that sent sportscaster Al Michaels from Disney's ABC and ESPN to NBC Sports. At the time, ABC had lost its contract for NFL broadcast rights, and despite recently signing a long-term contract with ESPN, Michaels was interested in rejoining broadcast partner John Madden at NBC for the Sunday night package. Universal transferred the copyright in a cartoon character to Disney, and in exchange, Disney released Michaels from his employment contract, allowing him to sign with NBC.

The deal includes the rights to the character and the original 26 short films made by Disney (namely, most of the Oswald films produced from 1927 to 1928). Rights to the Lantz/Universal-produced Oswald films and other related products were not included, and therefore Oswald appears in both Disney releases and in Universal's Woody Woodpecker and Friends collection.

Walt Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller, issued the following statement after the deal was announced: “ When Bob [Iger] was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word. Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun. ”

Around the same time, the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets made a similar deal, the Chiefs giving the Jets a draft pick as compensation for releasing coach Herm Edwards from his contract. Referring to this trade, Michaels said: “ Oswald is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice. I'm going to be a trivia answer someday. ”

In January 2007, a T-shirt line from Comme de Garçon seems to have constituted the first new Disney Oswald merchandise. Following in December was a two-disc DVD set, The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, included in Wave Seven of the Walt Disney Treasures series. Several Oswald collectors' figurines and a stuffed animal appeared shortly after the DVD set's release. The Disney Store has also begun to introduce Oswald into its merchandise lines, including a canvas print and Christmas ornament that became available Fall 2007 and a plush toy that was made available in late 2010.

2004 Oswald toy craze in Japan
Not long before Disney reacquired Oswald, Universal was marketing the character actively overseas. In 2004 and 2005, Oswald products were popular in Japan, and were primarily made available as prizes in UFO catchers. Typically manufactured by Taito and/or Medicom, these products included puppets, inflatable dolls, keyrings, and watches. They were generally based on a navy-blue version of the original Disney/Iwerks character. Oswald made his first Disneyland appearance at Tokyo Disneyland on March 31, 2010 as an Easter float.

2010 Epic Mickey appearance
Oswald plays the role of one of the central protagonists, as well as the older half-brother of Mickey Mouse as he is, in the Wii video game Epic Mickey, which was released in 2010. The world of Epic Mickey is called "Wasteland" and it is similar to Walt Disney World, but it is for forgotten Disney characters, including Oswald who rules the place. Actually, Oswald fashioned it after Disneyland, but he put images of himself in the place of Mickey in the statue with Walt Disney and other places throughout the town. Oswald was the first cartoon character to be "forgotten" and inhabit Wasteland. Oswald dislikes Mickey for stealing his popularity that he felt he deserved. Oswald tries to make Wasteland a better place for forgotten characters, especially his "bunny children" and his girlfriend Ortensia. The Blot, the main villain of the game, put Oswald's girlfriend in suspended animation by soaking her in thinner. At the end of Epic Mickey, Oswald's girlfriend "Ortensia" is revived by a rain of paint caused by the death of the Blot, Oswald and Ortensia kiss and cuddle. Both Mickey and Oswald have also reconciled becoming more like true brothers. And it has been confirmed that Epic Mickey will have a sequel in which Oswald will also be playable.

Theatrical appearances
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Theatrical cartoons) (1927-1943)

Comic appearances
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Dell Comics) (1935-???)

Video game appearances
Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau (Woody Woodpecker's Frustrated Vacations) - Sega Mega Drive and Sega Master System (cameo) (Brazil only) (1996)

Epic Mickey - Wii (2010)

Epic Mickey 2 - Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 (???)