The Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia: Cartune Profiles:
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Disney and Iwerks were frustrated with Mintz for having pulled the rug out from under them. The two rebuilt their studio from scratch and began creating shorts starring a new, more familiar character – in the form of a mouse. Mintz, meanwhile, consigned the new Oswald shorts to be produced under his brother-in-law, George Winkler. The first short released under Winkler was High Up, debuting July 23, 1928.

A plug for "Race Riot" from the December 21, 1929 issue of "Universal Weekly" trade magazine. Courtesy of Del Walker. Click to enlarge.

Though lowered budgets were evident in a few ways, the Winkler Oswald shorts were not dramatically different from the product of Disney's. The films still had the traits of crude barnyard jokes and Iwerks mechanical humor. The Winkler cartoons were fairly successful themselves. In addition to the Disney refugees, Winkler expanded his staff further with a select handful of young gagmen from the Mack Sennett comedies, including the extremely talented Pinto Colvig (who would begin as an inbetweener) and unpaid intern Walter Lantz (who served as a director starting with Mississippi Mud).

Meanwhile, Disney transformed the entire industry with just one film, 1928's Steamboat Willie, featuring the character he created and developed along with Ub Iwerks – Mickey Mouse. The idea of the animated film was a novelty as it stood, but the addition of sound broke endless boundaries, and now Winkler and Mintz had to catch up. So beginning in February 1929, Winkler began releasing his cartoons in optional sound and silent prints, starting with Hen Fruit. These early films have very crude soundtracks. Bert Fiske would provide the musical accompaniment and synchronization, while Winkler's staff would use the "pots and pans" method of creating sound effects; "It was funny how we did it," Lantz once recalled. "We had a bench with all the props on it—the bells, and so on. And we'd project a cartoon on the screen and all of us would stand there in front of the cartoon. As the action progressed, we'd take it and make sound effects, dialogue, and all. We never prescored these films. We did everything as we watched the picture. It was the only way we knew how to add sound." Oswald's voice was provided by a slide whistle.

Things were going smoothly for Winkler as well as Mintz, but two former Disney staffers, Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising, had other plans. Harman and Ising decided to edge out Mintz in the same manner as he had previously done to Disney. They made a proposal to Universal to produce the films themselves. The two men also planned for an additional series to be produced with sound – that of their self-created character, Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid. Not only did Universal reject such offers, but company founder Carl Laemmle also terminated the Winkler-Mintz contract as well, preferring to have the Oswald films produced directly on the Universal studio lot.

A promotional drawing of Oswald by Bill Nolan c. 1929. Click to enlarge.

Historian Tom Klein speculates that Walter Lantz was actively involved in Laemmle's decision. Lantz was interested in controlling Oswald himself, and was not able to do so from within the Winkler studio framework. When the moment came, Lantz ultimately obtained the rabbit – and the studio that would eventually become Walter Lantz Productions – just by simply being at the right place at the right time. Lantz placed a bet in a poker game with Laemmle, with Oswald as the prize, and won.

Lantz's first operation was to form his new studio. Some new staffers came and went rather quickly. Two Winklerites, Tom Palmer and R. C. Hamilton would leave for Disney and Harman-Ising in early 1930. Pinto Colvig would leave for Disney in 1931, making a name for himself there as a gagman and voice artist. The former Winkler musical director, Bert Fiske would remain aboard until he departed the studio in September 1929, when he was replaced by David Broekman.

Perhaps the best move Lantz made in shaping his studio was acquiring Bill Nolan. Lantz still sought more staff members and, like Disney, raided the East Coast for talent. Nolan left Mintz's New York Krazy Kat studio the previous year. Disney approached him after that time; but the first offer Nolan accepted was Lantz's. Lantz had the advantage because he previously worked with Nolan in New York and the two were friends. In a sense, speedy animator Nolan became Lantz's Ub Iwerks. In addition, Lantz also came across several young and creative staffers who would later give his studio its unique character. Many such as Manuel Moreno, Fred "Tex" Avery, Ray Abrams, Clyde Geronomi, Laverne Harding, Sid Sutherland, Virgil Ross, Fred Kopietz, and Lester Kline started out as inbetweeners. Lantz's staff immediately got to work, turning out a handful of cartoons in late 1929. Race Riot, which premiered on September 2, 1929, was the first cartoon released by the studio.

A story sketch for an early Oswald cartoon (quite possibly 'Cold Feet') produced by Walter Lantz c. 1930. Click to enlarge.

The earliest Lantz Oswald cartoons from 1929 were built around set plots and stories, in the tradition of the earlier Disney and Winkler shorts. The conversion of turning the Oswald cartoons into musicals was a different matter completely. However, Lantz and staff had finally achieved their goal. Unfortunately, in the process Oswald's personality became less consistent. It could and did change drastically to fit a particular gag. Lantz's musical directors changed as well. Replacing David Broekman, Lantz brought in James Dietrich, a member of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, who would remain as the permanent studio musical director until 1937.

The studio began to expand and change after Nolan became codirector and head animator in 1930. The Oswalds produced throughout this year featured Nolan's distinctly New York flavor of animation – wild, boozy, unpredictable and fundamentally abstract. Nolan pitched the most outrageous gags, while the rest of the animators created funnier and more violent humor in imitation. So it comes as no surprise to see a hippo customer shoving a horse down Oswald's throat, forcing him to assume its shape (The Hash Shop); Oswald using a cow's teat as a record needle (Snappy Salesman); Oswald singing an obscure German drinking tune (The Fowl Ball); Oswald turned inside out by a vacuum (Henpecked); or Oswald tearing off Pegleg Pete's wooden leg and beating him with it (Alaska). Clearly, the humor in these films was ahead of its time.

A gag concept for an Oswald cartoon c. 1931. Click to enlarge.

In 1931 Lantz faced economic difficulties and was forced to make cutbacks; shortening the lengths of his films and post-synchronizing a handful of the early Disney Oswalds. Another way out of the hole was to gain attention by creating a secondary series of shorts featuring a new star, Pooch the Pup. Lantz and Nolan would now divide the studio into two separate units. Lantz would direct the Pooch cartoons, while Nolan would work on the Oswalds.

The stories of the Oswald cartoons were basically just comprised of several gags wrapped around one simple premise. One of the most frequent gag-pitchers, animator Tex Avery, began to rise in prominence. By mid-1930, many Oswalds had already shown heavy Avery influences; The Singing Sap, Hells Heels, and The Prison Panic (all 1930) among them. Nolan noticed this trend and soon designated Avery and Ray Abrams as head animators on the Oswald cartoons (a promotion that would also be given to Manuel Moreno and Lester Kline on Lantz's Pooch cartoons). More Avery-flavored gags began to appear. In The Zoo (1933), cruel zookeeper, Pegeleg Pete opens a can of moths on a bear. The moths consume the bear's fur coat, leaving the bear in his underwear. Instead of the traditional shocked reaction, the bear looks at the audience and calmly states "Well, imagine that!" Such a classic deadpan gag would later be reused in one of Avery's later Warner efforts, Porky the Rain-Maker (1936).

An Oswald model sheet c. 1932. Click to enlarge.

In 1933 the Pooch series ran its course. Lantz returned to Oswald, but he and Nolan remained in charge of separate units – occasionally switching off, from mid-1934, as to which director managed which. As director, Lantz got off to a good start with the Academy Award-nominated Merry Old Soul (1933). Shortly after, however, Lantz's main objective became beating Disney, and as a result, many of his Oswalds from this period come off as too cutesy.

There continued to be exceptions, though. The cartoons Lantz directed with Nolan's animators tend to be funnier; Chris Columbus Jr. (1934) is a good example. The film involves another well-known Avery gag, where pirate Louie the Lug gets his wooden leg stuck in a lit cannon. Avery was assigned to animate a scene ten feet long – but ended up extending it to cover sixty feet of film!

As for Nolan himself, he continued directing in good form for a while. Confidence (1933), for instance, is a patriotic classic. In it, the Great Depression haunts the world, leaving Oswald's chicken ranch in horrible condition. After searching wildly for a doctor, Oswald finally decides to ask President Franklin D. Roosevelt for a solution. Roosevelt gives Oswald great encouragement to spread 'confidence' throughout the entire country. Unfortunately, Confidence was one of Nolan's last hurrahs at the studio. As time went on, Lantz began to consider Nolan's rubbery style of animation outdated. Then came a serious rift. Manuel Moreno told Milt Gray and Michael Barrier that Nolan "didn't get the deal he was supposed to get, and that Lantz forced him out to replace his directorship with less expensive directors." Tom Klein points out that "Nolan's contract was either not renewed, or a renewal was offered at a lower wage than Nolan found acceptable." For whatever reason, Nolan left the Lantz studio for Fleischer in 1935, his last Oswald being The Hillbilly codirected by Tex Avery.

Moreno's Oswald c. 1936. Click to enlarge.

With Nolan's departure, Lantz now had control of all the animators, regrouped once more into a single unit. But the unit didn't stay together for long. Tex Avery followed on Hillbilly by codirecting Towne Hall Follies (1935) with Lantz, but he then left the studio – taking with him key ex-Nolan animators like Sid Sutherland, Virgil Ross, Joe D'Igalo, and Jack Carr. Lantz himself would instigate other sweeping changes at the time. Carl Laemmle was recently forced out of Universal and a power struggle ensued. Capitalizing on the chaos, Lantz asked permission to split his studio off from the greater company, and on November 16, 1935, the arrangement took effect. It was also now that Lantz named the talented Victor McLeod his top storyman, a position McLeod would retain until 1940. Another major change came when Lantz assigned Manuel Moreno to redesign Oswald, because "Disney was also changing his characters." The result was a cuter, white-furred, and more lifelike rabbit.

Unfortunately, the cartoons with the "new" Oswald were not as appealing as the previous ones had been, and the least interesting element was Oswald himself. With the product slowly becoming bland and unfunny, new supporting cast members were added to spruce things up. The first of these was Elmer the Great Dane, Oswald's dog – Lantz was fond of Great Danes himself so the choice of breed was obvious. Next came the Stooge-esque monkeys called Meany, Miny and Moe (who had a small, but successful run in their own series). Other costars included Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey the ducklings, Snuffy Skunk, and the Dumb Cluck – a character devised by Charles Bowers during his brief stay at the studio in 1937. However successful these new characters were, they could not disguise the fact that Oswald wore out his welcome at Universal.

An Oswald comic book cover. Click to enlarge.

By the late 30s, Lantz needed not just supporting characters, but a new star. At first, Andy Panda was it; then, in Andy's fifth cartoon, the public would be exposed to a certain screwy woodpecker. All things considered, though, Oswald was not washed up completely. Lantz decided to give the rabbit one last encore in 1943 with The Egg-Cracker Suite – the 195th Oswald cartoon to be released. And while Oswald left the screen after that, he continued on as an active star of Walter Lantz comics; joining Lantz's top-notch stars of the time, Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, and Chilly Willy.

The comics added some new elements to Oswald's life. Starting out in 1942, the rabbit's print run initially depicted him as a humanized stuffed toy in the Winnie the Pooh mould. Like Pooh, Oswald lived in a forest with toy pals – Toby Bear, Maggie Lou the wooden doll, and Hi-Yah Wahoo the turtle Indian. The Pooh parallels vanished, though, as Oswald and Toby soon moved to an all-funny-animal city. Later, Toby too disappeared, and Oswald became guardian of two adopted sons, Lloyd and Floyd. In this final form, the rabbit's adventures continued to be a part of Lantz comics as recently as 1991.

In the early 1950s, a large package of black and white Lantz cartoons – including most Oswald releases from The Singing Sap onward – was released by Guild/Firelight to the television market. The series may have played in some markets into the sixties. Since that time, the Oswald shorts have had little to no domestic television or home video exposure. However, this trend is due to change.

In February 2006, as part of a deal to secure sportscaster Al Michaels for NBC Sports, NBC Universal sold or sublicensed the 26 Disney-produced Oswald cartoons to The Walt Disney Company. Disney has also acquired character rights to its version of Oswald. There is no doubt that Disney has big plans for the rabbit, with the existing Disney Oswalds scheduled for a Walt Disney Treasures DVD release in fall 2007 and a new line of character merchandise beginning to appear.

Nevertheless, the fate of the 26 Winkler Oswalds and the 140 Lantz Oswalds remains in question. Universal included six Lantz Oswald shorts on its Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection DVD box released in July 2007. That said, the chosen cartoons comprise just a handful, with more than 125 staying on the shelf. Meanwhile, the Winkler shorts seem to have slipped through the cracks entirely, with no release plans imminent at all.

Regardless of one release plan or another, one thing is certain: with a career spanning countless adventures, twists and turns, Oswald remains one of the most memorable and important characters in American animation history.