Editing Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (section)

===Creation===
In 1927, because of cost and technical restrictions, Disney and his chief animator [[Ub Iwerks]] ended their work on the [[Alice Comedies]] and [[Julius the Cat]]. Around the same time, [[Charles Mintz]] got word that [[Universal Pictures]] wanted to get into the cartoon business, so he told Disney to create a new rabbit character that he could sell to Universal, because there were too many cat characters ([[Krazy Kat]], Felix the Cat, etc.). After Oswald was created, Winkler signed a contract with Universal on March 4 the same year, which would guarantee 26 ''Oswald the Lucky Rabbit'' cartoons.<ref>{{cite web |title=Universal Announces Release Of "Oscar, the Rabbit" Cartoons |publisher=[[Moving Picture World]]|date=1927-03-12 |url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor85marm/page/n123 |access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref><ref name=bbc>{{cite news |title=Could Oswald the Lucky Rabbit have been bigger than Mickey?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19910825 |newspaper=BBC |date=December 3, 2012 |access-date=April 4, 2013}}</ref><ref name=PW>"Oswald Comes Home" (DVD). (2007). ''[[Walt Disney Treasures]]: The Adventures of Oswald The Lucky Rabbit'' (Disc 1). Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney |last=Barrier |first=Michael |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-520-25619-4 |page=51 |url=https://archive.org/details/animatedmanlifeo00barr/}}</ref> Work on both the character and series began soon after Disney moved his studio to Hyperion Avenue.<ref name="SusaninMiller2011"/>

[[File:Trolley Troubles (Walt Disney, 1927).webm|thumb|left|thumbtime=310|Oswald's first appearance in ''[[Trolley Troubles]]'' (1927)]]
The Universal studio heads rejected the first Oswald cartoon, ''[[Poor Papa]]'', for its poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald.<ref name=bcdb>"[https://archive.today/20130117234643/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/5401-Poor_Papa.html Poor Papa]". [[Big Cartoon DataBase]], April 13, 2012</ref> Disney, together with Iwerks, created a second cartoon titled ''[[Trolley Troubles]]'' featuring a much younger, neater Oswald. The short, released on September 5, 1927,<ref name="SusaninMiller2011">{{cite book |last1=Susanin |first1=Timothy S.|last2=Miller |first2=Diane Disney |title=Walt Before Mickey: Disney's Early Years, 1919–1928 |date=April 7, 2011 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-60473-960-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgwbBwAAQBAJ |access-date=September 4, 2012}}</ref> officially launched the series and proved to be Universal's greatest success to date. Poor Papa was later released in 1928 and the storyline was reused in a Mickey Mouse short five years later, in ''[[Mickey's Nightmare]]''.<ref name=bcdb/> Oswald the Lucky Rabbit became Universal's first major hit in 1927, rivaling other popular cartoon characters, such as Felix the Cat and [[Koko the Clown]].<ref name=PW/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Rukstad |first=Michael |author2=David Collis |title=The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King |journal=Harvard Business School |date=January 5, 2009}}</ref>

The success of the Oswald series allowed the Walt Disney Studio to grow to a staff of nearly twenty. Walt's weekly salary from the series was $100 while [[Roy O. Disney|Roy Disney]]'s was $65. The Disney brothers earned $500 per Oswald short and split the year-end profits, with Walt receiving 60% ($5,361), and Roy receiving 40% ($3,574).<ref name="SusaninMiller2011"/> With income gained from the Oswald series, Walt and Roy purchased ten acres of land in the desert. They also invested in an oil-drilling venture. Iwerks also invested his income in several stone mills to crush paint pigment he used to make paint formulas that were utilized by animators for decades.<ref name="SusaninMiller2011"/>

[[File:Rival Romeos (1928) Poster.jpg|thumb|right|upright|A 1928 poster of short film ''Rival Romeos'']]
Oswald's success also resulted in Universal and Winkler signing another contract in February 1928, guaranteeing three more years of Oswald cartoons.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/motionnew37moti#page/n579/|title=Universal Signs for 3 More Years of Oswald |publisher=[[Motion Picture News]]|date=1928-02-18 |access-date=2020-04-27}}</ref>

As time passed, Disney feared that Mintz would forgo renewal of the contract, partly due to Iwerks informing Disney that George Winkler, at the behest of Mintz, had been going behind Disney's back during pick-up runs for Oswald reels and hiring away his animators. Eventually, Disney traveled with his wife [[Lillian Disney|Lilly]] to New York to find other potential distributors for his studio's cartoons, including Fox and MGM, prior to meetings with Mintz. As Walt later recalled, he placed two Oswald prints under one arm and—feeling "like a hick"—marched "one half-block north" on Broadway to MGM to visit [[Fred Quimby]]. During this period, Walt and Lillian attended the premier of the Oswald short ''Rival Romeos'', which debuted at the Colony on 53rd and Broadway.<ref name="SusaninMiller2011"/>

In February 1928, Disney traveled to New York City in hopes of negotiating a more profitable contract with his producer Charles Mintz. As economic problems were apparent at the time, Mintz figured Disney should settle for a 20% cut, although large turnarounds were promised if the studio's finances showed considerable growth. While most of his fellow animators left for Mintz's studio, Disney quit working on the Oswald cartoons. On his long train ride home, he came up with an idea to create another character, and retain the rights to it. He and Iwerks would go on to develop a new cartoon in secret, starring a new character which would soon become the most successful cartoon character in film history and later became the foundation of a global entertainment empire. The first [[Mickey Mouse]] cartoon to be filmed was ''[[Plane Crazy]]'' in the summer of 1928, but it was produced as a silent and held back from release. The first Mickey Mouse film with a synchronized soundtrack, ''[[Steamboat Willie]]'', reached the screen that fall and became a major hit, eclipsing Oswald. ''Plane Crazy'' was later given its own synchronized soundtrack and released on March 17, 1929.<ref>{{cite web |title=Plane Crazy |website=The Big Cartoon Database |url=https://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/cartoon.cgi?film=3821 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130905165545/http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/cartoon.cgi?film=3821 |archive-date=September 5, 2013 |access-date=September 25, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://d23.com/a-to-z/plane-crazy-film/|title=Plane Crazy (film) |website=D23}}</ref>