Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 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. Mintz, meanwhile, opened his own studio consisting primarily of former Disney employees, where he continued to produce Oswald cartoons, among them the first Oswald with sound, "Hen Fruit" (1929). While things were going in Mintz's favor, animators
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit or Oswald Rabbit) is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Walt Disney for cartoon animal films and distributed by Universal Studios in the 1920s and 1930s, serving as the Disney studio's first animated character to feature in their own series. A total of 27 animated Oswald one-reelers were produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios (the Walt Disney Studio at the time). In 1928, Charles Mintz took the rights of Oswald from Walt Disney and claimed Oswald as an official Universal Studios character. In