Editing Walter Lantz Productions (section)

=== 1928–1935: Early years as Universal Cartoon Studios ===
Lantz began his career at the art department of [[William Randolph Hearst]]'s ''[[New York American]]'' during the 1910s, having his start in the cartoon industry at Hearst's [[International Film Service]], which in 1918 transferred its entire staff to [[Bray Productions]]. By the mid-1920s, Lantz was directing (and acting in) the studio's top cartoon, ''[[Dinky Doodle]]'', also becoming a producer as Bray attempted to compete with [[Hal Roach]] and [[Mack Sennett]] by making live-action comedies. Bray Productions closed shop in 1928, and Lantz moved to Hollywood, trying to start a studio while trying to make a living in a succession of odd jobs, including driving Universal owner [[Carl Laemmle]]'s limousine. The chauffeur job also landed Lantz at the Winkler Studio, which produced cartoons for Universal.

In early 1929, Universal was distributing the ''[[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit]]'' cartoons by [[Charles Mintz]] and George Winkler (but created by [[Walt Disney]]). However, the popularity of the series was beginning to decline because of the lower quality of the output. Laemmle then fired Mintz and Winkler and was now looking for someone to head an in-house animation studio. Lantz won the studio in a poker bet with Laemmle. The first Lantz-produced "Oswald" cartoon was ''[[Race Riot (film)|Race Riot]]'', released on September 2, 1929. The first animators for the studio included Winkler veterans Rollin Hamilton, Tom Palmer and "rubber-hose" pioneer Bill Nolan. Bert Fiske scored the first cartoons, having done this for the few Winkler sound "Oswalds". Additions to the staff included [[Pinto Colvig]] and [[Tex Avery]].

The earliest Lantz cartoons from 1928 were built around set plots and stories, in the tradition of the earlier [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Disney]] and [[Margaret J. Winkler|Winkler Productions]] shorts. The conversion of ''Oswald'' cartoons into musicals was a different matter, but by mid-1930, Lantz and his staff achieved this goal. In the process however, Oswald's personality became less consistent. It could and did change drastically to fit a particular gag. Lantz's musical directors changed as well. To replace David Broekman, Lantz brought in James Dietrich, a member of the [[Paul Whiteman]] Orchestra, making the jazz-era sound of the 1920s a quintessential element in the early Lantz cartoons. He remained as the permanent studio musical director until 1937. Lantz and Nolan worked in a character called "Fanny the Mule" for a 13-cartoon series announced by Laemmle in early 1930; these cartoons were never produced.

In 1931, Lantz faced economic difficulties and was forced to make cutbacks, shortening the lengths of his films and post-synchronizing a handful of the early Disney Oswald's cartoons. Another way out of the hole was to gain attention by creating a secondary series of shorts featuring a new star, [[Pooch the Pup]]. Lantz and Nolan divided the studio into two separate units. Lantz directed the Pooch cartoons, while Nolan worked on the Oswalds, with both series referencing the dire straits of [[the Depression]]. Pooch never became very popular and the series was dropped in 1933. The following year, Nolan left the studio, and the ''Cartune Classics'' series of Technicolor shorts began, lasting for a year.