It’s a little known fact, but the Walt Disney Company almost wasn’t the company built by a mouse. The original creation by Uncle Walt was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The character was stolen from Walt – part of the reason he became so possessive about all rights attached to Mickey and company later down the road.
Last year Walt Disney Studios reacquired the rights to Oswald for the first time since the late 1920s. The trade was huge to Disney fans because it meant the return of Walt’s original creation (and because the trade was rumored to be for sportscaster Al Michaels, although that part of the deal was a bit inflated by the press).
The original 1926 and 1927 silent Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts are now coming to DVD in wave seven of Disney’s “Walt Disney Treasures” collectable sets. Other subjects for the two-disc sets featured in collectable tins include “Chronological Donald, Volume 3” which features more of everyone’s favorite Disney duck, and “Disneyland: Secrets, Stories, and Magic” which includes a new documentary about Disneyland with both new and archival footage and Walt’s own words about the park.
Don’t rush out to stores right now. Wave seven of the “Walt Disney Treasures” won’t be in stores until December 11, 2007. Yes, that’s a long ways away, but at least Disney’s giving you enough notice to build up some goodwill with Santa Claus in time for the collectable set’s release.
