1. How Disney Got Their Luck Back
Before Goofy, before Minnie, Before Mickey Mouse himself, there was Oswald The Lucky Rabbit. In 1927, Walt Disney and animator Ub Iwerks were working under producer Charles Mintz as artists for Universal Studios. There, they created their first original character, a black and white rabbit named Oswald. Looking for a contender against various cartoon cats such as Felix and Julius (of the Alice Comedies), Universal commissioned Disney and his team of animators to create something new. Thus, Oswald was created. He was quite a popular character, relying on physical humor and personality rather than gags. But due to backdoor deals with the studio and contract rewrites, Universal received all rights to Oswald, minus Disney. For years, Oswald remained property of Universal until 2006 when Disney traded ABC sports announcer, Al Michaels, for the rights to Oswald. That’s right, a living person was traded for an animated rabbit. As strange as that may sound, that’s how Oswald The Lucky Rabbit came back home under the Disney name. Now he can be seen in the Epic Mickey series of video games, as well as having his own Meet and Greet in Disneyland. Oswald is one lucky lapine, and Disney fans can’t get enough of him.
Photo Credit: Disney
