Disney compra a Oswald

[arturo_gtz]

esto publicó mercurynews:

Al Michaels deal reunites Disney with original animated character
GARY GENTILE
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - In exchange for allowing sportscaster Al Michaels to leave ABC early for a job at NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Co. is getting back a piece of its history - the first animated character created by Disney and the forerunner to Mickey Mouse.

His name was "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," and the cheeky bunny was created by Disney and his chief creative partner, Ub Iwerks, in 1927 at the request of Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures.

Before Oswald, Disney and Iwerks had made a series of animated and live action shorts based on "Alice in Wonderland." The films were distributed by Charles Mintz.

Disney cranked out 26 of the silent Oswald cartoons. The character proved popular and soon began appearing on merchandise.

In 1928, Disney traveled to New York to negotiate a renewal of the contract to produce the Oswald series.

Mintz balked at paying more for the series and instead suggested that Disney fold up shop and come to work for him.

Disney refused. But what he didn't know was that Mintz had secretly hired away most of Disney's key animators - except Iwerks. Universal owned the rights to Oswald and would continue to create cartoons without Disney.

The result, while devastating to Disney at the time, was historic.

Legend has it that on the train ride back to Los Angeles, Disney decided his next character would be a mouse named Mortimer. His wife, Lillian, suggested he change the name to Mickey.

But according to animation historians and Leslie Iwerks, Ub's granddaughter who wrote a book about Ub titled "The Hand Behind the Mouse," what most likely happened is that on his return to Los Angeles, Walt and Ub huddled, considered various options, then settled on a mouse, whose name Lillian Disney indeed suggested.

Iwerks created two silent films featuring Mickey, which, not surprisingly, looked a lot like Oswald with shorter ears. The third cartoon was made with a soundtrack and marked Mickey's big screen debut - "Steamboat Willie."

"It was not just a crucial turning point for Walt Disney, but for popular culture," film critic and historian Leonard Maltin said Thursday.

"If he hadn't been forced to create a new character, who knows what we'd be seeing on all those T-shirts and wristwatches today."

Universal continued to make Oswald films from 1929 to 1938. One of the earliest voices for the character was actor Mickey Rooney.

Oswald also continued to appear in a comic book from 1943 to 1962.

In the deal announced Thursday, Disney will get the rights to the Oswald character plus all 26 shorts created by Disney. The deal, which also includes some sports content, does not includes the films and other products produced by Universal. Disney has not said what it will do with the cartoons, but a DVD release is likely.

"When Bob (Disney president and CEO Robert Iger) was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word," Walt Disney's daughter Diane Disney Miller said in a statement Thursday. "Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun."

para los fans de la animación clásica, es una excelente noticia... no dudo que en 2007 tengamos un Walt Disney Treasure con este personaje