Run Time: 5 minutes. Studios: Universal Studios, Winkler Productions Director: Walt Disney. Writer: Walt Disney. Producers: Charles Mintz, George Winkler. Animators: Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harmon, Les Clark, Friz Freleng, Ben Clopton, Norman Blackburn, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton.
Now probably anyone who reads my blog knows I am a huge fan of Walt Disney. I am not only in love with Walt's popular feature films, but also his obscure ones, his theatrical cartoon shorts, his TV programs, and of course Disneyland itself. Being a huge fan of Walt, it is only natural that I have a special fondness for his early work. This is not only because I get to watch him evolve as a filmmaker, but because I also get to see him work as an actual film director (something he would not do much in his later career). Now with all this it should come as no surprise, that I am one of the many devotees to the great character of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (it is so cool I can say one of the many now as I couldn't before Disney regained the rights to the characters).
Before making his first Oswald cartoon, Walt Disney was making a series of shorts known as the Alice Comedies. This series was a reversal of what the Fleshchier Brothers had done with their Out of the Inkwell cartoons. In the Out of the Inkwell shorts, the animated Koko the Clown would enter into the real (live action) world. In the Alice Comedies a live action Alice, would enter an animated world. Walt had felt this series had run its course and wanted to make a fully animated series. For this series he created a rabbit known as Oswald.
Poor Papa was the first Oswald cartoon made but the 21st released. This was because Walt's distributors at the time (Universal and Charles Mintz) did not care much for the film. In one letter Mintz laid out four reasons for not liking the film. The first was that he felt the animation was too jerky, the second was that too much action was repeated, the third was he didn't like the character of Oswald because as he put it, "he has no outstanding trait", and lastly that the film just centered around gags with not enough story. Walt responded in another letter. He disagreed with the first point stating that maybe Mintz had watched the film at the wrong speed. On the third point he stated that Oswald was never supposed to have a recognizable trait, but rather his personality was meant to be stressed through his whole manner of acting. On the fourth point Walt said that he couldn't in the amount of time given for a one reel short film, make much of a detailed story and still make the audience laugh. Walt continued by stating that all the gags did in fact revolve around the storyline.
In this cartoon Oswald deals with a massive problem. The storks are constantly bringing him babies (a big problem for rabbits as you know) until it just becomes too much for poor Ozzie to handle. Oswald then decides he needs to take action.
Despite Mintz's objections this is an excellent cartoon. The humor is fast paced and quite funny. There are some imaginative ideas in the comedy such as Oswald's way of cleaning the young rabbits. The character animation here is fantastic and the characters really come to life through it. Even the small rabbits have slightly different personalities all displayed expertly through great animation. Though Oswald here is a bit of a different character than he would later become (he is definitely older and less energetic), he is still a great character that is very relatable and full of personality.
Resources Used
Oswald The Lucky Rabbit The Search For The Lost Disney Cartoons by David A. Bossert.
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