Sunday, March 1, 2015

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

If you haven't been to Disney's California Adventures lately, or you merely haven't noticed, there has been a new character roaming around Buena Vista Street. 
Resembling the looks of Mickey Mouse but with longer ears, Oswald was one of Walt Disney's first successful animated creations.

In the 1920's, Universal Studios wanted a new cartoon character; a rabbit. Charles Mintz, Disney's film distributor at the time, suggested that Walt complete the task of creating a lovable character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. On September 5, 1927, Oswald starred in his first short film, "Trolley Troubles." Oswald later went on to star in 26  animated short films and generate the first ever sold merchandise for Walt Disney. To Walt's dismay, however, he later found that Mintz and Universal Studios owned the rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Upset at their possession of his beloved creation and multiple other unfair factors on the part of Mintz, he gave up his rights to Oswald and created a much more beloved character that he would never let any other company get their hands on... MICKEY MOUSE!!!
In 2006, the Disney Company won back the rights to Oswald when they traded sportscaster Al Michaels from ABC and ESPN to NBC Universal. Disney acquired full rights to Oswald's 26 short black and white films as well and began selling Oswald merchandise in 2007. Oswald is also featured in Disney's game "Epic Mickey" and is now a meet and greet character inside Disney's California Adventure. 

In the end, Disney's experience with the greed of the film industry taught him a valuable life lesson and led on to the world famous Disney Characters we know today, starting with Mickey Mouse himself. 

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