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
Empty Socks Empty Socks Empty Socks (1927) is a short animated film made by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks that was considered a lost film until its rediscovery in Norway in 2014. The film stars Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Disney lost the rights to the Oswald character to Universal Pictures, and then reacquired the rights from Universal in 2006. The film was directed by Walt Disney while working for M. J. Winkler Productions. This short is considered Disney's first Christmas-themed cartoon. "Mickey's Orphans" (1931) is considered a remake of "Empty Socks" with a similar story line. In December 2014, an almost complete