Lost Disney film featuring Mickey Mouse precursor ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’ uncovered in Japan
- Originally titled ‘Neck ‘n’ Neck’, the cartoon features a dog policeman on a motorbike chasing Oswald and his girlfriend around valleys and along roads
When Yasushi Watanabe bought a cartoon film decades ago as a high school student in the Japanese city of Osaka, he had no idea he was purchasing animation history.
But the modest reel he bought for just 500 yen (US$4.40 in today’s money) has been revealed as a rare lost cartoon produced by Walt Disney featuring a character that led to the creation of Mickey Mouse.
The discovery was reported by Japan’s Asahi newspaper, which Watanabe contacted after reading a book about the history of “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit”, the character Disney created in the 1920s.
While Disney created the character, complete with oversized ears and a button nose, he lost the rights to another company, prompting him to develop a new cartoon figure: Mickey Mouse.
We’re absolutely delighted to learn that a copy of the lost film exists
The book said seven of the 26 short films featuring Oswald that Walt Disney produced were missing, and Watanabe remembered his childhood reel.