Who's Who Wednesay- Oswald The Lucky Rabbit

Who is Oswald? Well, Oswald was developed by Walt Disney and his friend and colleague Urb Iwerks. They had just signed a contract with Universal Pictures to create a new character and cartoon. This was in 1927, around the same time that Felix the Cat came about. Oswald's first appearance was in the cartoon Poor Papa. The cartoon didn't go over very well with producer, Charles Mintz. He wanted a "younger" version of Oswald. Disney nd Iwerks worked it out and came up with Trolly Troubles. Mintz liked this one so much that he released it as a cartoon series and it began doing very well and ran on into the 1030's. It did so well, in fact, that Walt felt he deserved a raise. Mintz, on the other hand, felt differently. He told Walt that he as making cuts in the company and if he (Walt) didn't like it, he could leave and Mintz himself would take over Oswald. That is exactly what happened. While other employees of Disney stayed behind with Mintz, Walt and Iwerks left to start thei

r own venture. Oswald was now the property of Universal, so they had to come up with a new character. Sega company released a video game in Brazil that was called Woody Woodpecker's Frustrated Vacation, featuring Oswald. In 2006, the Disney company regained the rights to Oswald through a trade offer. A Disney Treasure set was later released that contained all of the old Oswald cartoons. Another Oswald video game release was made by Nintendo in 2010 called Epic Mickey. This game was released for Nintendo's Wii gaming system. It was a highly popular game during the holiday season and the special edition came with a paintbrush shaped Wii remote. This game tells the story of Oswald and other forgotten Disney characters, including Oswald's wife, Ortensia. Oswald is a mischievious character. He and his wife have 420 children! Oswald is called the lucky rabbit because he has removable feet that he can rub forgood luck. He is quite jealous of his step-brother Mickey's fame and fortune. This jealousy is resolved in the Epic Mickey game. Oswald does't have many park appearances, mainly due to the fact that the Disney Company just recently got back the rights to his image. However, if you look closely, he is starting to pop up more and more. In 2010, Tokyo Disneyland featured an Oswald Float in a parade. At the Magic Kingdom, there is a poster in Town Square, where guests can go to meet Mickey, that features Oswald. I am sure that there will soon be more memoribilia of Oswald available, as without him, the most famous character of all wouldn't be. Next week on Who's Who Wednesday...