Oswald and other silent Disney animation

films, DVDs, games, parks, etc.

Postby Daniel73 » Fri May 11, 2007 12:03 pm

From DCML:

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Oswald outside the United States (slightly OT)
David Gerstein [ramapith at verizon.net]
Thu May 10 05:25:17 CEST 2007

Hey all—

As some of you may know, one of my hobbies outside my Gemstone work
is researching Disney's silent period— the precomics days, with
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

These days I'm attempting to chronicle information about the Oswald
films' appearance outside of the United States in the 1920s. Thanks
to the great German reference IM REICH DER MICKY MAUS, by Dreßler and
Storm, I have the relevant information for Germany. But who released
them in Italy, Brazil, Britain, Mexico, Finland, France, Poland,
Holland and so forth?
Nearly half of the Disney Oswald films are missing today, so knowing
their history "abroad" would be useful in tracking down actual prints
of the others.
But there's a difficulty: it would help to know what the individual
cartoons were named in various foreign languages, as well as what
Oswald himself was called. In many countries, Oswald had one name in
the old days and another name now. For example, in Germany, he is
referred to today as "Oswald, der lustige Hase" (Oswald, the funny
hare). But I don't want to know what he's called now; in 1928, his
name was "Oswald, der verrückte Karnickel" (Oswald, the crazy
rabbit). In some countries, his original name may not even have been
Oswald.

I suspect that many countries have local Disney history books that
are their equivalent of IM REICH, and that these books might say
something about the Oswald cartoons' local titles and release
history. Might anyone be able to give me some pointers?
Thus far I only know a little—

Germany: Oswald der verrückte Karnickel, distr. Matador Filmverleih
Netherlands: Oswald, distr. ?

Feel free to contact me privately. Anyone whose information I can
make use of in my research will be properly credited, natch!

David Gerstein

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source: http://nafsk.se/pipermail/dcml/2007-May/date.html
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Postby Egg » Fri May 11, 2007 10:56 pm

Here's an example of an 'Oswald the Lucky Rabbit' animated cartoon from Disney's silent period. At YouTube.

Oswald the lucky rabbit: Oh, What a Knight (Disney, 1927)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbMoT9yBDUk
05:40. b/w. "Universal presents Oswald The Lucky Rabbit in "Oh What A Knight". "A Winkler Production by Walt Disney".

Information at Wikipedia:
By 1927, Charles B. Mintz had married Margaret Winkler and assumed control of her business, and ordered a new all-animated series to be put into production for distribution through Universal Pictures. The new series, "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit", was an almost instant success, and the Oswald character, first drawn and created by Iwerks, became a popular property. The Disney studio expanded, and Walt hired back Harman, Ising, Maxwell, and Freleng from Kansas City.

In February of 1928, Disney went to New York to negotiate a higher fee per short from Mintz. Disney was shocked when Mintz announced that not only he wanted to reduce the fee he paid Disney per short but also that he had most of his main animators, including Harman, Ising, Maxwell, and Freleng (notably excepting Iwerks) under contract and would start his own studio if Disney did not accept the reduced production budgets. Universal, not Disney, owned the Oswald trademark, and could make the films without Disney.

Disney declined Mintz's offer and lost most of his animation staff. The defectors became the nucleus of the Winkler Studio, run by Mintz and his brother-in-law George Winkler. When that studio went under after Universal assigned production of the Oswald shorts to an in-house division run by Walter Lantz, Mintz focused his attentions on the studio making the "Krazy Kat" shorts, which later became Screen Gems, and Harman, Ising, Maxwell, and Freleng marketed an Oswald-like character named Bosko to Leon Schlesinger and Warner Bros., and began work on the first entries in the Looney Tunes series.

It took Disney's company 78 years to get back the rights to the Oswald character. In a move that sent sports broadcaster Al Michaels to NBC Sports for their Sunday night NFL coverage, the Walt Disney Company reacquired the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from NBC Universal in 2006.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney#Oswald_the_Lucky_Rabbit
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Postby Egg » Sat May 12, 2007 2:17 am

Egg wrote:Oswald the lucky rabbit: Oh, What a Knight (Disney, 1927)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbMoT9yBDUk

According to a filmography at Wikipedia, 'Oh What A Knight' is from 1928.
All Oswalds from the Disney years (1927-1928) are listed as silent. The first Oswald with sound, 'Hen Fruit' (1929), is from the Winkler years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_the_Lucky_Rabbit
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Postby Rockerduck » Sat May 12, 2007 11:32 pm

There are more Oswald-cartoons to be found on YouTube. For example, here's Oh, teacher! (1927), this time with sound added to it --afterwards (because as we all know, 'Steamboat Willie' from 1928 was the first cartoon with sound to it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJPaTEYc ... ed&search=
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Postby Egg » Sun May 13, 2007 1:13 am

Rockerduck wrote:There are more Oswald-cartoons to be found on YouTube. For example, here's Oh, teacher! (1927), this time with sound added to it --afterwards (because as we all know, 'Steamboat Willie' from 1928 was the first cartoon with sound to it).

When has this soundtrack been added and by who? It sounds authentic, as being added only a few years afterwards. In the late 1920s or the 1930s. The sound effects are synchronic with the animation.

The cat character that appears at 01:44 reminds Egg a bit of Felix the Cat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_the_Cat

Where do these copies of Oswald The Lucky Rabbit Disney cartoons come from? Have they been released on DVD? Wikipedia says that it took Disney's company 78 years to get back the rights to the Oswald character. Could this mean that the Oswald cartoons will be part of the 'Walt Disney Treasures' DVD series?

Have the black-and-white cartoons of Mickey Mouse (1928-1935) been released in that DVD series?
Egg has only seen 'Mickey Mouse in Living Color' volume 1 and 2, starting at 1935.
And what about the black-and-white 1929(?)-1932 Silly Symphonies, from before 'Flowers And Trees'? Egg has only seen one DVD of 31 Silly Symphonies. Mostly color cartoons. With only a few black-and-whites as bonus, like 'The Skeleton Dance' (1929).
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Postby Flintheart Glomgold » Sun May 13, 2007 3:24 pm

Could this mean that the Oswald cartoons will be part of the 'Walt Disney Treasures' DVD series?

According to this source, yes:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/walt- ... live-again
Have the black-and-white cartoons of Mickey Mouse (1928-1935) been released in that DVD series?

There are two sets: Mickey Mouse in Black and White 1 and 2
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/mmblackwhite.html
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/mmblackwhite2.html
And what about the black-and-white 1929(?)-1932 Silly Symphonies

Some more black-white-Sillies are on More Silly Symphonies
http://www.ultimatedisney.com/moresillysymphonies.html
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Postby Rockerduck » Sun May 13, 2007 6:01 pm

Egg wrote:When has this soundtrack been added and by who? It sounds authentic, as being added only a few years afterwards. In the late 1920s or the 1930s. The sound effects are synchronic with the animation.

On YouTube, user 'laughland' writes:

"Yes, it was originally released as a silent film. I think it was around 1931 that it was rereleased with the music and sound effects - that is what you are hearing in this clip."

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet? ... 6search%3D

However, he/she is commenting on another Oswald-cartoon, Trolley Troubles (which can be watched at YouTube following the link above), but one can assume Disney put sound to his older cartoons all at the same time. The cartoon 'Trolley troubles' is the second Oswald-cartoon. In 1927, Mintz asked Disney to develop a new leading character. He didn't tell Walt that he wanted to enter Universal Pictures with the new cartoon. After Ub Iwerks developed Oswald (he got his name later, though), Mintz told Walt about his plans with Universal and promised to pay him $2250 per cartoon short. The bidders liked the character, but didn't like the first short, 'Poor papa'. Walt worked hard on a new, improved short, 'Trolley troubles', and it was accepted. The contract with Universal was signed.

(Source: 'Mou$e Entertainment' by Rein van Willigen, SUN, The Netherlands, 1999: 24-25.)
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