kingdomhearts45 469 Posted October 12, 2015 (Sorry for the long wait everyone! I got lazy and busy. DX Anyways....) Welcome to Disney's Lost Files, where your host, KH45, will be going back in time to uncover the lesser known and even unknown past creations of Disney. Today, we shall look into the history of one of the first iconic cartoon characters ever created by the man himself. Only two words would describe this character: Lucky Rabbit.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFAFR20BEIE Oswald The Lucky Rabbit. One of the first characters to ever appeal to the audience just by his personality. The guy was a major star back in the day before Mickey Mouse came in. But what happened during those times? Let us see.... In 1927, Universal was in the beginning of entering the cartoon business, seeing how much people were entertained by it and how it was the talk of the decade. But they needed a character of their own. So Disney's distributer, Charles Mintz, told Disney and his friend Ub Iwerks to create a character for Universal and sell it to them. Wanting to make cartoons in a all-animated look, Walt Disney signed a contract with Universal Studios, allowing him to crate the cartoons of Oswald and thus, making Universal's first character. Disney chose a rabbit since there were so many cat characters at the time. And heck, there still is a lot of them today. The first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa, was rejected by Universal Heads because of the poor production quality and sloppiness and the age of Oswald. Soon later, Disney and Iwerks made a second and better cartoon, Trolly Troubles, featuring a neater, younger Oswald. The storyline for Poor Papa was later reused for a Mickey Mouse short, Mickey's Nightmare. In Spring of 1928, Disney traveled to New York City in hopes of negotiating a more profitable contract with Charles Mintz. But because of the economic problems at the time, He figured Disney should settle with a 20% cut, although large turnarounds were promised. Because of this, Disney and his team quit his job. But as a result, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was left in Universal. Oswald was still getting attention, getting a new, childish design by Walter Lantz, the creator of Woody Woodpecker. He and Disney became close friends at the time, for Disney gave Lantz his blessing to continue the Oswald series while he was busy with Mickey Mouse. Oswald was given a voice during that time, but not just one voice. His voice actor changed from cartoon to cartoon, even Lantz voiced Oswald. The Egg Cracker Suite was the final cartoon Oswald starred in made by Lantz, with him being voiced by June Foray. In February 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger initiated a trade with NBC Universal which got the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit into The Walt Disney Company in exchange for sending sportscaster Al Michaels from ABC to NBC Sports. Soon, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was officially revived in the Epic Mickey series, being the Main Guy in Wasteland. He has shown to have a dislike for Mickey because the mouse stole his popularity, but later, they became close friends. In the sequel, Oswald was given the voice of Frank Welker. So that's the history of the Lucky Rabbit. Was a big star back in the day. And to fans, he still is today. That's it for this week's Disney's Lost Files. Next Week, we will go WAAAAAAAY back. You'll see what I mean next time. This has been another edition of "Disney's Lost Files". 10 Psychic_Ketchup, FlyingEggplant, The Transcendent Key and 7 others reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lostmemory123 1,056 Posted October 12, 2015 HOLD IT! As a fan of the rabbit himself, I feel that it should be mentioned that Oswald's last appearance wasnt the Epic Mickey games. His last appearance was in a short played before the movie Frozen when that film was still in theaters, called "Get a Horse!" 3 The Transcendent Key, Hargleblargleboo and Philip Ellwell reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kingdomhearts45 469 Posted October 12, 2015 HOLD IT! As a fan of the rabbit himself, I feel that it should be mentioned that Oswald's last appearance wasnt the Epic Mickey games. His last appearance was in a short played before the movie Frozen when that film was still in theaters, called "Get a Horse!" I saw that too! It was cool to see that Disney still cares about the Lucky Rabbit. To Be honest, I wish Disney would someday use the character in a Disney Afternoon styled TV show! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Transcendent Key 12,109 Posted October 13, 2015 Oh wow, this is awesome! I mean, I had heard about Oswald before, but I had never got this into detail about the character! Wow, so he ended up being Universal's property for a time! No wonder Mickey was the one who became the face of Disney and not Oswald! Imagine how things would have been like if they had played out differently! But yeah, it's a good thing that Oswald's back in the House Of Mouse, and I hope the character enjoys a prosperous future! And here's hoping that he gets to appear in Kingdom Hearts one day! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hargleblargleboo 979 Posted October 13, 2015 I love me some animation history, even if I already knew about it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Movies798 1,361 Posted October 13, 2015 It would be awesome to see Mickey's older half-brother in the Kingdom Hearts series. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
