153-480: Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures since 1940. Woody's last theatrical cartoon was produced by Walter Lantz in 1972. Woody, an anthropomorphic woodpecker , was created in 1940 by Lantz and storyboard artist Ben "Bugs" Hardaway , who had previously laid
306-527: A bad guy named "Ben Buzzard" who bears a strong resemblance to Buzz Buzzard , a Lantz character introduced in Wet Blanket Policy (1948), who eventually succeeded Wally Walrus as Woody's primary antagonist. In 1947, contract renewal negotiations between Lantz and Universal (now Universal-International) fell through, and Lantz began distributing his cartoons through United Artists . The UA-distributed Lantz cartoons featured higher-quality animation and
459-490: A 2013 throwback-style Mickey Mouse cartoon, Get a Horse! While only 19 of 26 cartoons were previously known to have survived, a couple of Oswald's lost cartoons were found in the 2010s. In 2015, the British Film Institute 's National Archives were found to hold his Sleigh Bells (1928) footage. The BFI and Walt Disney Animation Studios worked to restore the short. Long-term Disney animator David Bossert wrote
612-461: A Service Station at Disney's California Adventure (near the entrance) that only sells exclusive "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit" merchandise including Oswald ears, hats (baseball caps), shirts, t-shirts, plates, coats, cups, mugs, plush toys, key-chains, and much more. The Oswald character showed up at the parks in Florida and California on the day Disney reacquired Oswald, but made no further appearances at
765-474: A better place for forgotten characters, especially his "bunny children" and his wife Ortensia. Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is a video game that was released on November 18, 2012. Unlike the previous game, Epic Mickey 2 features full voiced cut-scenes with Frank Welker (Welker had also provided Oswald's vocal effects and the Shadow Blot in the previous game) as Oswald's first voice actor in an Oswald
918-573: A book, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons which was released in 2017. A Japanese man, Yasushi Watanabe, read the book and discovered that he had a missing 1928 Oswald cartoon, Neck & Neck , since he was a teenager. A series centered on Oswald was in development with the project announced in 2019 for a potential release on Disney+ . Disney Television Animation veteran Matt Danner revealed that
1071-412: A cartoon about the bird, and thus Woody was born. However, according to Lantz's biographer Joe Adamson , Ben Hardaway and L.E. Elliott had written a story where Andy Panda and his father, Papa Panda , experienced roof troubles caused by a rainstorm. Lantz took one look at the storyboard and found it "too expensive". He needed a roofing problem that was easier to animate, and suggested a pesky bird like
1224-407: A drawing". Not only were gags used, but his humor differed in terms of what he used to make people laugh. He presented physical humor , used situations to his advantage and presented situational humor in general and frustration comedy best shown in the cartoon The Mechanical Cow . He would use animal limbs to solve problems and even use his own limbs as props and gags. He could be squished as if he
1377-421: A dubious story given the fact that Woody's first appearance predated Lantz and Stafford's honeymoon. A noisy acorn woodpecker outside their cabin kept the couple awake at night, and when heavy rain started, they learned that the bird had bored holes in their cabin's roof. Walter and Gracie told Dallas attorney Rod Phelps during a visit that Walter wanted to shoot the bird, but Gracie suggested that her husband make
1530-502: A forest together with other anthropomorphized toys. These included Toby Bear, Maggie Lou the wooden doll, Hi-Yah Wahoo the turtle-faced Indian, and Woody Woodpecker —depicted as a mechanical doll filled with nuts and bolts (hence his "nutty" behavior). In 1944, with the addition of writer John Stanley , the stuffed animal motif was dropped, as were Maggie Lou, Woody, and Wahoo. Oswald and Toby became flesh and blood characters living as roommates in "Lantzville". Initially drawn by Dan Gormley,
1683-499: 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. 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
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#17328442930841836-512: A hint of Tex Avery's style and influence in terms of humor, and that's what gave Walter Lantz studio its fame. Curiously enough, Avery himself never directed a Woody Woodpecker short while at the Walter Lantz studio. Animator Emery Hawkins and layout artist Art Heinemann streamlined Woody's appearance for the 1944 film The Barber of Seville , directed by James "Shamus" Culhane . The bird became rounder, cuter, and less demented. He also sported
1989-614: A home for "forgotten" Disney characters, including Oswald, who rules over the environment. Oswald fashioned Wasteland after Disneyland, although it is darker and distorted. He implements his likeness into areas Mickey Mouse normally appears, such as the iconic Partners statue with Walt Disney and other imagery throughout the town. Oswald was the first cartoon character to be "forgotten" and eventually lose his relevance, now inhabiting Wasteland. Oswald also dislikes Mickey for stealing his popularity that he felt he deserved. Despite his resentment, Oswald tries to maintain peace and make Wasteland
2142-573: A limited edition grayscale plush toy appeared shortly after the DVD set's release. The Disney Store also began to introduce Oswald into its merchandise lines, starting with a canvas print and Christmas ornament that became available in Fall 2007. A standard-issue color plush toy matching Oswald's appearance in Epic Mickey appeared in late 2010. This was followed by an ongoing roll-out of clothing and other products at
2295-1054: A line of products developed by Disney and Givenchy . Restored public domain versions of the shorts Trolley Troubles and All Wet (both 1927) were released on Disney+ in September 2023. Shortly after the rabbit starred in his black-and-white animated silent shorts between 1927 and 1928, he sold merchandise for Universal: a chocolate-covered marshmallow candy bar, a stencil set, and a pin-backed button. In 2004 and 2005, Oswald products became popular in Japan and were primarily made available as prizes in UFO catchers and as official merchandise in Universal Studios Japan , manufactured by Taito and/or Medicom, these products included puppets, inflatable dolls, keyrings, and watches. Oswald made his first Disneyland appearance at Tokyo Disneyland on March 31, 2010, as an Easter float. As of October 2017, Oswald has
2448-519: A member of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, making the jazz-era sound of the 1920s a quintessential element in the early Lantz cartoons. He remained as the permanent studio musical director until 1937. Lantz and Nolan worked in a character called "Fanny the Mule" for a 13-cartoon series announced by Laemmle in early 1930; these cartoons were never produced. In 1931, Lantz faced economic difficulties and
2601-432: 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
2754-468: A new character similar in appearance to Oswald as a replacement: Mickey Mouse , who went on to become one of the most famous cartoon characters in the world. In 2003, Buena Vista Games pitched a concept for an Oswald-themed video game to then-Disney President and future-CEO Bob Iger , who became committed to acquiring the rights to Oswald. In 2006, The Walt Disney Company acquired the trademark of Oswald (with NBCUniversal effectively trading Oswald for
2907-531: 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. Work on both the character and series began soon after Disney moved his studio to Hyperion Avenue. The Universal studio heads rejected
3060-577: A new series of Woody Woodpecker cartoons began streaming exclusively for YouTube , simply titled Woody Woodpecker . In August 2023, MeTV acquired the broadcast rights to Walter Lantz cartoons from 1934 to 1972 to air The Woody Woodpecker Show on Saturday morning on September 2, marking the return on TV after 25 years. The Woody Woodpecker Show was named the 88th best animated series by IGN . Walter Lantz and movie pioneer George Pal were good friends. Woody Woodpecker cameos in nearly every film that Pal produced or directed; for example, during
3213-458: A peg for gags. Instead, his stated intention was "to make Oswald peculiarly and typically OSWALD". 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
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#17328442930843366-411: A profit, Lantz himself decided to shut down company operations, and threw a farewell luncheon with his staff at the announcement on March 10 the same year, with him handing Woody watches to them. In 1985, Lantz sold everything outright to MCA Inc. He painted landscapes in retirement and still lifes of his cartoon characters. Since then, Universal has continued to used Woody and also used Woody in
3519-532: A semi-regular character as Woody's primary love interest. Like Woody, Winnie was redesigned to look almost exactly like Woody did from 1950 until 1972, the obvious differences being that she was a female woodpecker and had blue eyes. Woody's primary antagonist was Wally Walrus, who became Woody's neighbor (Woody lived in a tree house in Mrs. Meany's front yard, and Wally lived next door). Buzz Buzzard often appeared, as did Mrs. Meany and several other older characters. In 2018,
3672-520: A series was in development as a follow-up for the team behind Legend of the Three Caballeros , but that they "got broken up and scattered to the wind". He expressed hope that the series could still be revived in the future and further hinted that another team would develop it, because Disney was still heavily invested in wanting to revive the character. On December 1, 2022, an online hand-drawn animated Oswald short by Walt Disney Animation Studios
3825-400: A shirt and shorts. Both redesigns were done by Manuel Moreno, who recalled that in the 1935 redesign that Lantz said to make Oswald cute and to get rid of the black on him, because Disney was also changing his characters. The cartoons containing the new, white-furred Oswald seemed different from their predecessors in more than one way, as the stories themselves became softer. Minor changes in
3978-567: A simplified color scheme and a brighter smile, making him much more like his counterparts at Warner Bros. and MGM . Nevertheless, Culhane continued to use Woody as an aggressive lunatic, not a domesticated straight man or defensive homebody, as many other studios' characters had become. The follow-up to The Barber of Seville , The Beach Nut , introduced Woody's original chief nemesis, Wally Walrus . Woody's wild days were numbered, however. In 1946, Lantz hired Disney veteran Dick Lundy to direct Woody's cartoons. Lundy rejected Culhane's take on
4131-495: A slightly different southern dialect than he used for Huckleberry Hound ). Gabby first appeared in Everglade Raid (as "Al I. Gator"). Other films paired Woody with a girlfriend, Winnie Woodpecker (voiced by Stafford), and a niece and nephew, Splinter and Knothead (both voiced by June Foray ). Other antagonists that Woody has dealt with were Ms. Meany (voiced by Stafford) and Dapper Denver Dooley (voiced by McKennon). As Lantz
4284-425: A staple of Universal's release schedule until 1972 when Lantz finally closed down his studio. The character has been revived since then for special productions and occasions, as well as for The New Woody Woodpecker Show , a Saturday-morning cartoon television series featuring prolific voice actor Billy West as Woody that aired from 1999 to 2002. In 2017, a live-action/CGI hybrid feature film, Woody Woodpecker ,
4437-496: A straight-to-video release in the United States on February 6, 2018. A sequel titled Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp was released on Netflix on April 12, 2024. Woody was the star of a number of comic book series published in the U.S. and around the world. The main title, Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker , ran from 1952 to 1983. Woody first appeared as a comic book character in 1942, appearing alongside Andy Panda and Oswald
4590-443: A week, on Thursday afternoons, replacing the first half hour of the shortened The Mickey Mouse Club . Lantz integrated his existing cartoons with new live-action footage, giving the show an updated look that satisfied both viewers and Lantz himself. The live-action and animation segments created for the show, called 'A Moment with Walter Lantz', featured an informative look at how the animation process for his "cartunes" worked and how
4743-452: A woodpecker (a couple of Lantz's 1930s cartoons, including the 1936 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon Night Life of the Bugs , had featured incidental woodpeckers). Woody shares many characteristics in common with the pileated woodpecker in terms of both physical appearance as well as his characteristic laugh, which resembles the call of the pileated woodpecker. These similarities are the result of
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4896-424: A younger character, peppy, alert, saucy, and venturesome, keeping him also neat and trim". With Oswald, Disney began to explore the concept of "personality animation", in which cartoon characters were defined as individuals through their movements, mannerisms, and acting, instead of simply through their design. Around this period, Disney had expressed: "I want the characters to be somebody. I don't want them just to be
5049-406: Is Woody who dominates. The woodpecker constantly pesters the two pandas , apparently just for the fun of it. Meanwhile, Andy tries to sprinkle salt on Woody's tail, believing that this will somehow capture the bird. To Woody's surprise, Andy's attempts prevail, and Woody is taken away to the psychiatric hospital but not before his captors prove to be crazier than he is. The Woody of Knock Knock
5202-598: Is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice. I'm going to be a trivia answer someday. In January 2007, a T-shirt line from Comme des Garçons seems to have constituted the first new Disney Oswald merchandise. Following in December was a two-disc DVD set, The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , included in Wave Seven of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD series. Several Oswald collectors' figurines and
5355-580: Is incorporated into the chorus as well as other parts of the song. Woody was number 46 on TV Guide ' s list of the 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time in 2002 and 2003. He came in at number 25 on Animal Planet 's list of The 50 Greatest Movie Animals in 2004. The character has been referenced and spoofed on many later television programs, among them The Simpsons , American Dad! , South Park , The Fairly OddParents , Family Guy , Seinfeld , Robot Chicken , Three's Company , and Flash Toons. Like Bugs Bunny for Warner Bros. , Sonic
5508-584: The Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1948, but it lost out to " Buttons and Bows ". Lantz soon adopted the song as Woody's theme music. "The Woody Woodpecker Song" and the Woody Woodpecker cartoons extensively used Woody's famous laugh, upsetting the man who created it, Mel Blanc. He first used the laughter, in a different recording, for the seminal pre-Bugs Bunny character in 1938's Porky's Hare Hunt . Although Blanc had only recorded three shorts as
5661-569: The English-speaking world , thanks to the lack of a language barrier ( The Pink Panther shorts of the 1960s and 1970s also enjoyed worldwide popularity due to this pantomime luxury). Nine more Lantz-directed Woody cartoons followed before Don Patterson became Woody's new director in 1952. The bird was redesigned again, this time by animator LaVerne Harding . Harding made Woody smaller and cuter, moving his crest forward from its original backward position. The small Lantz Studios logo seen at
5814-510: The Kellogg's cereal account and Lantz soon met with the Kellogg's people to sign the contract. At first, Lantz was not very eager and admitted that he was only working in the medium because he was "forced into TV" and "cartoons for theaters would soon be extinct". The Woody Woodpecker Show debuted on ABC on the afternoon of October 3, 1957, and lasted until September 1958. The series was seen once
5967-594: The Theme Parks or merchandising. Universal has since produced new projects, including television series and movies. Unlike other American major animation studios, the Lantz studio never continued full-time during the classic period of American animation, closing down in 1949 and reopening its doors the following year. It was finally shut down permanently in 1972, after the end of the Golden Age of American animation . Since then,
6120-479: The artistic license of the creators and have caused much confusion within the birding community among those who have attempted to classify Woody's species. In the short Dumb Like a Fox (1964), a museum offers a 25-dollar reward to anyone who captures a Campephilus principalis , which is Woody Woodpecker himself. Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the short Knock Knock on November 25, 1940. The cartoon ostensibly stars Andy Panda and Papa Panda , but it
6273-415: The 1939 cartoon Life Begins for Andy Panda became an instant hit, and Andy Panda became a successful substitute for Oswald, who was retired in 1938. Lantz also switched to all-color production in 1939, shortly before Andy's debut. In 1940, the Walter Lantz studio was in trouble. Universal once again was facing severe financial difficulties and possible bankruptcy and decided to cut their weekly advance to
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6426-441: The 1948 layoff. These shorts have no director's credit, as Lantz claimed to have directed them himself. Puny Express (1951) was the first to be released, followed by Sleep Happy . These shorts marked a departure from past dialogue-driven shorts. Though Stafford now voiced Woody, her job was limited, as Woody (and other characters) rarely spoke in the first dozen or so shorts. Because of these entries, Woody became popular outside
6579-538: The 1966 sequence in The Time Machine (1960), a little girl drops her Woody Woodpecker doll as she goes into an air raid shelter. In Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975), Grace Stafford cameos, carrying a Woody Woodpecker doll. Obvious references to "The Woody Woodpecker Song" can be found in the work of at least two noted jazz innovators: specifically, Charlie Parker , a number of whose solos quote it in passing, and Wayne Shorter , whose 1961 composition "Look at
6732-716: The 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit . Woody Woodpecker is the official mascot of Universal Pictures. Woody and his friends are also icons at the Universal Studios Theme Parks worldwide, as well as the PortAventura Park in the Salou, Spain , where they remain despite Universal no longer having a financial stake in the park. The inspiration for the character allegedly came during producer Walter Lantz 's honeymoon with his wife, Grace , in June Lake, California in 1940,
6885-525: The 2013 animated short Get a Horse! He was the subject of the 2015 feature film Walt Before Mickey . Oswald also appears as a townsperson in Disney Infinity 2.0 . In 2022, Oswald appeared in a new short produced by Disney. He also has a cameo appearance in Once Upon a Studio . In January 2023, the copyrights on several of the original Oswald shorts, as well as the character, expired. Those films and
7038-464: The Bear and The Beary Family before he left too in 1962. His role was assumed by writer Sid Marcus. Lantz eventually reduced the number of units back to one, leaving Smith as the sole director of all theatrical shorts by 1966. By 1969, other film studios had discontinued their animation departments, leaving Walter Lantz as one of the only two producers still making cartoons for theaters. The other studio
7191-633: The Birdie" — as heard on Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers ' Roots & Herbs (recorded in 1961, released in 1970) — has been singled out by both composer/trumpeter David Weiss and Shorter's biographer Michelle Mercer as an ingenious variation on the theme. In addition, a full-fledged cover of the song itself was recorded in 1986 by jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw for his 1987 release, Solid . In 1983–1984, Catapult musicians Aart Mol, Cees Bergman, Elmer Veerhoff, Erwin van Prehn and Geertjan Hessing (under
7344-622: The Dell Oswald stories. In 2010, Oswald starred in the digi-comic series Epic Mickey: Tales of the Wasteland , a prequel to the Epic Mickey video game, sharing what the Wasteland was like before Mickey arrived there. In 2011, Oswald starred in the Norwegian Disney comic story "En magisk jul!", written by David Gerstein and drawn by Mark Kausler. It is based on and takes place in the times of
7497-701: The Disney Store, various chain stores, and the Disney California Adventure theme park. In 2012, the newly redesigned Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure included Oswald's Filling Station, an Oswald merchandise stand themed as a 1920s gas station. The shop exclusively only sells just "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" merchandise such as "Oswald Ears" hats (a similar style to the popular Mickey Mouse Club black mouse-eared caps), as well as shirts, t-shirts, plush toys, pins, mugs, and other special Oswald items. In 2014, Oswald began making appearances in
7650-528: The European Universal exchanges still distributing the Universal era Lantz cartoons. By keeping the studio closed while the Universal and United Artists Woody Woodpecker cartoons were still in distribution, Lantz was able to amass enough income to pay off the studio's debts and upgrade the studio, after which time the studio finally reopened with a reduced staff. The revived Lantz studio's first new project
7803-838: The European comics, Freddy Milton . Woody also starred in a short-lived comic strip , syndicated by Consolidated News Features, in the early 1950s. Foreign-language versions of the Woody Woodpecker comic were published in many European countries, most actively in Sweden ("Hacke Hackspett"), the Netherlands, France, and Italy ("Picchiarello"). Several Woody Woodpecker video games were released for Mega Drive /Genesis, PlayStation , PlayStation 2 , Microsoft Windows , Game Boy Color , Game Boy Advance , 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and iOS : Walter Lantz Productions Walter Lantz Productions
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#17328442930847956-679: The Hedgehog for Sega , Mario for Nintendo and Mickey Mouse for Disney , Woody Woodpecker serves as the official mascot of Universal Pictures . In 1998 and 1999, Woody appeared on the nose of the Williams Formula One Team, and in 2000, he became the official team mascot of the Honda Motorcycle Racing Team. A Woody Woodpecker balloon had been a staple of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1982 until 1996. In Brazil ,
8109-465: The Lantz library) sold the trademark rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit along with the copyright to the original 26 cartoons produced by Walt Disney to The Walt Disney Company . The sale was part of a deal that centered around both the rights to Oswald and NBC 's acquisition of the rights to the NFL's weekly Sunday night game ; in exchange for NBCUniversal selling the rights to Oswald to Disney, Al Michaels
8262-640: The Lantz studio hit its loan debt cap of $ 250,000 at the Bank of America , Lantz was forced to shut the studio down. He began a series of staggered layoffs in December 1948 until work on the final 1940s Lantz short, the Woody cartoon Drooler's Delight , was finished at the otherwise shuttered studio in early 1949. Walter Lantz Productions remained closed for a full calendar year. During this time, Walter Lantz and his wife, actress Grace Stafford , toured Europe to spend money impounded there after World War II and also to entertain
8415-632: The Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit , Oswald Rabbit , and Ozzie ) is an animated cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures . He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1938. Twenty-seven animated Oswald shorts were produced at the Walt Disney Studio . After Universal took control of Oswald's character in 1928, Disney created
8568-633: The Lucky Rabbit production from Disney. Bill Nolan was Oswald's first voice actor in 1929, when Walter Lantz produced the Oswald cartoons. Tetsuya Nomura , creator and lead producer of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, had requested for Oswald's use in Kingdom Hearts III , but the response from Disney was that the character would be "too difficult" to use, with no further clarification or details from Disney. Nomura cites Oswald as one of his favorite Disney characters. On November 30, 2023, Oswald
8721-461: The Rabbit in Dell Comics ' New Funnies , an anthology comic that featured a number of other Lantz characters. Eventually, Woody became the star of New Funnies , leading to Woody Woodpecker solo comics appearing as part of Dell Comics ' Four Color Comics one-shot series, beginning in 1947. Walter Lantz Woody Woodpecker became an independent comic book (starting with issue #16 to reflect
8874-470: The Seven Dwarfs (1937), the Lantz studio planned to make a feature, Aladdin and His Lamp , featuring the ascendant comedy duo of Abbott and Costello , but after Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941) failed at the box-office, Aladdin never made it to actual production. Late in the decade, Lantz attempted to do a feature-length cartoon again, but it never came to fruition. The Lantz unit was perhaps considered
9027-537: The Winkler Studio, which produced cartoons for Universal. In early 1929, Universal was distributing the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons by Charles Mintz and George Winkler (created by Walt Disney ). However, the popularity of the series was beginning to decline because of the lower quality of the output. Laemmle then fired Mintz and Winkler and was now looking for someone to head an in-house animation studio. Lantz won
9180-487: The Woody Woodpecker laugh had initially been applied to the prototype of Bugs Bunny , in shorts such as those above Elmer's Candid Camera and was later transferred to Woody. Blanc's regular speaking voice for Woody was much like the early Daffy Duck , minus the lisp. Once Warner Bros. signed Blanc to an exclusive contract, Woody's voice-over work was taken over by Danny Webb, followed by Kent Rogers and Dick Nelson, and Ben Hardaway later became Woody's voice after Rogers
9333-645: The area near the shop. In 1995, Oswald briefly appeared in Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau , a Woody Woodpecker video game released for the Master System and the Mega Drive in Brazil only. Oswald is one of the main characters in the 2010 video game Epic Mickey and its 2024 remake, Epic Mickey: Rebrushed . The world of Epic Mickey takes place in "Wasteland", a setting that mirrors elements of Disneyland but as
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#17328442930849486-402: The art of Jack Bradbury , known also for his Mickey Mouse work. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald , the name "Oswald" came to have negative connotations. He made brief appearances in the Woody Woodpecker comics series until it ended in the 1970s. Through the end of the 20th century, the comics produced outside the U.S. carried on the look and story style of
9639-458: The artistic acclaim of Walt Disney Productions , Warner Bros. Cartoons , MGM Cartoons , Fleischer Studios or UPA . However, the studio benefited from gaining talent from the other studios who were tired of the management there and usually found the Lantz studio a more enjoyable working environment. Tex Avery was just one of the many talents Walter Lantz Productions benefited from on the rebound. In February 2006, NBCUniversal (who still owns
9792-411: The box set in chronological order of release, with various Chilly Willy , Andy Panda , Swing Symphonies , and other Lantz shorts also included. The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2 , including the next forty-five Woody cartoons — Termites from Mars through Jittery Jester — was released in 2008. A plain-vanilla best-of release, titled Woody Woodpecker Favorites ,
9945-729: The cartoons for another syndicated Woody Woodpecker Show in 1987. A year later, Woody made a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit , voiced by Cherry Davis, near the end of the film. Woody Woodpecker reappeared in the Fox Kids series The New Woody Woodpecker Show , which ran on Saturday mornings from 1999 to 2002, voiced by Billy West . For this series, Woody was redesigned more like his mid-1940s look (1944 to 1949), pushing back his crest and making his eyes green again. Winnie Woodpecker, who had debuted in Real Gone Woody (1954), became
10098-422: The change in management, Lantz seized the opportunity to ask Universal for permission to make his studio independent. Universal agreed, and on November 16, 1935, Lantz broke off and claimed the studio for his own, even though it remained on the Universal lot. During the mid-to-late 1930s, Oswald's popularity declined, and Lantz experimented with other characters to replace him. After a succession of failed attempts,
10251-507: The character are now in the public domain . The character will appear in Oswald: Down the Rabbit Hole , an upcoming horror film directed by Lilton Stewart III, and starring Ernie Hudson as the titular character. While under Disney's creative control, Oswald was one of the first cartoon characters that had personality. As outlined by Walt himself: "Hereafter we will aim to [make] Oswald
10404-426: The character is a hugely popular and iconic cartoon character. A handful of non-comprehensive Woody Woodpecker VHS tapes were issued by Universal in the 1980s and 1990s, usually including Andy Panda and Chilly Willy cartoons as bonuses. A few were widely released on VHS in the mid-1980s by Kid Pics Video, an American company of dubious legality, which packaged the Woody cartoons with bootlegged Disney cartoons. In
10557-592: The character over the years. June Foray provided Oswald's voice in The Egg Cracker Suite , which was the final theatrical short to feature him. She later voiced him again for an unaired radio pilot, Sally in Hollywoodland (1947). Oswald made a cameo appearance in the first animated sequence with both sound and color (two-strip Technicolor), a 2½-minute animated sequence of the live action movie The King of Jazz (1930), produced by Laemmle for Universal. It
10710-452: The character was refined by Avery the following year. Former MGM animators Ray Patterson and Grant Simmons also directed two shorts before they left to form Grantray-Lawrence Animation in 1954. During the mid-50s, the film industry was suffering and losing money, meaning lower budgets for cartoons. Avery left Lantz in 1955 over pay disputes, and was succeeded by a returning Alex Lovy. By 1956, there were only seven animation producers in
10863-431: The character's famous laugh. Kay Kyser 's 1948 recording of the song, with Harry Babbitt 's laugh interrupting vocalist Gloria Wood , became one of the biggest hit singles of 1948. Other artists did covers, including Woody's original voice actor, Mel Blanc . Lantz first used "The Woody Woodpecker Song" in Wet Blanket Policy (1948), and it became the first and only song from an animated short subject to be nominated for
11016-560: The character, spanning the work of all three producers. After Lantz took over production in 1929, Oswald's look changed to some degree over the following years: Oswald got white gloves on his hands, shoes on his feet, a shirt, a "cuter" face with larger eyes, a bigger head, and shorter ears. With 1935's Case of the Lost Sheep , an even more major makeover took place: the character was drawn more realistically now, with white fur rather than black, shoes are removed, plus wearing suspenders instead of
11169-578: The classic Oswald shorts from 1927 to 1928. The story was later reprinted, as "Just Like Magic!", in the American Disney comic Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #726 (2015). In February 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger initiated a trade with NBCUniversal in which a number of minor assets, including the rights to Oswald and the 27 shorts that Walt Disney had worked on, were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in exchange for sending sportscaster Al Michaels from Disney's ABC and ESPN to NBC Sports . At
11322-463: 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 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
11475-522: The court settlement with Mel Blanc, but Stafford was not credited for the role at her request until Misguided Missile (1958), as she felt audiences might reject a woman performing Woody's voice. She also tried to tone down the character through their voice work to appease Universal's complaints about Woody's raucousness. Lantz signed again with Universal (now Universal-International) in 1950 and began production on two entries that director Dick Lundy and storymen Ben Hardaway and Heck Allen had begun before
11628-617: The deal was announced: When Bob [Iger] was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word. Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun. Around the same time, the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets made a similar deal, the Chiefs giving the Jets a draft pick as compensation for releasing coach Herm Edwards from his contract. Referring to this trade, Michaels said: Oswald
11781-545: The dire straits of the Depression . Pooch never became very popular and the series was dropped in 1933. The following year, Nolan left the studio, and the Cartune Classics series of Technicolor shorts began, lasting for a year. Control of Universal by founder Carl Laemmle and his family was slipping away because of financial difficulties and came to an end in 1936. John Cheever Cowdin became Universal's new president. With
11934-451: The drawing style would continue, too. With Happy Scouts (1938), the second-to-last Oswald film produced, the rabbit's fur went from being all-white to a combination of white and gray. Unlike the Disney shorts, in which Oswald did not speak, Lantz's cartoons began to feature actual dialogue for Oswald, although most of the cartoons were still silent to begin with. Animator Bill Nolan performed
12087-454: The duration of the Woody Woodpecker series. Financial problems at United Artists during the aftermath of the Paramount case —which forced movie distributors to end the practice of block booking , or selling shorts and features to theaters in packages—affected Lantz. The revenues Lantz received from UA's distribution of his cartoons were much lower than his returns had been from Universal. Once
12240-543: The earlier appearances in Four Color ) in Dec. 1952-Jan. 1953. It ran for 201 issues, published by Dell and then Western Publishing ( Whitman / Gold Key ), lasting until 1983. Woody's niece and nephew Splinter and Knothead first made their appearances in the comics, later appearing in the cartoons. Notable creators involved with the Woody Woodpecker comic included Carl Fallberg , Paul Murry , Tony Strobl , Frank Thomas , and in
12393-447: The early 2000s, a series of mail-order Woody Woodpecker Show VHS tapes and DVDs were made available by mail order through Columbia House . In 2007, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection , a three-disc DVD boxed set compilation of Walter Lantz "Cartunes". The first forty-five Woody Woodpecker shorts from Knock Knock to The Great Who-Dood-It were presented in
12546-475: The end of 1949 until the loan was reduced. He asked Universal to reissue his older films during the hiatus, a request accepted by Universal president Nate Blumberg. In the interim, Lantz made a series of film ads for Coca-Cola and introduced "The Woody Woodpecker Song" as the theme song for the character. He also went to Europe to look for studios that could animate his films there, approaching government incentives not found stateside, and lower labor costs. However,
12699-473: The end, was able to reach a satisfactory settlement with them. By autumn 1940, Lantz's studio was back in business again. The year also marked the debut of Lantz's biggest star: Woody Woodpecker , who debuted in the Andy Panda cartoon Knock Knock . Woody quickly became extremely popular, being given his own series in early 1941, and became one of the most famous examples of the "brash bird" cartoon characters of
12852-478: The films. Free-to-air linear channel MeTV officially brought back the Walter Lantz cartoons output on American television starting from 2 September 2023, airing every Saturday as part of the Saturday Morning Cartoons 3-hour block (one hour of which, dedicated to Lantz, being The Woody Woodpecker Show ) plus on weekdays as part of Toon In with Me . Theatrical short film series Oswald
13005-405: The first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa , for its poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald. Disney, together with Iwerks, created a second cartoon titled Trolley Troubles featuring a much younger, neater Oswald. The short, released on September 5, 1927, officially launched the series and proved to be Universal's greatest success to date. Poor Papa was later released in 1928 and
13158-538: The first issue of More Fun . Oswald's second run in comics began in Dell Comics ' New Funnies , which ran from 1942 to 1962. Following the typical development seen in most new comics, the New Funnies stories slowly morphed the character in their own direction. At the start of the New Funnies feature, Oswald existed in a milieu reminiscent of Winnie-the-Pooh : he was portrayed as a live stuffed animal , living in
13311-439: The first year and 17 the next, before others took over Oswald. Animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising , unhappy with Mintz, asked Universal head Carl Laemmle to remove Mintz, suggesting they would be the ones to continue the Oswald series. Laemmle terminated Mintz's contract but, instead of hiring Harman and Ising, he opted to have the Oswald cartoons produced right on the Universal lot. Laemmle selected Walter Lantz to produce
13464-518: The following year, provided that they all feature Woody Woodpecker. Lantz and his crew immediately set to work on the new batch of shorts. Two of these new films — Puny Express and Sleep Happy — were previously storyboarded by Ben Hardaway and Heck Allen during the United Artists period. In 1951, the new cartoons were finally released and became instant hits with audiences. They were so successful that Universal commissioned six more shorts for
13617-548: The following year. Overall, 1951 marked the beginning of a new era for the Walter Lantz studio. Lantz served as the director, writer and producer for these new shorts until the roles were given to animator Don Patterson , and writer Homer Brightman . Patterson's shorts were often praised for showing a level of ambition despite the meager budgets. The 50s brought changes to other studios that helped benefit Lantz' own output. In 1953, MGM closed Tex Avery 's unit while Warner Bros. briefly closed there entire animation facility over
13770-473: The groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck , at the Warner Bros. cartoon studio in the late 1930s. Woody's character and design evolved over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined-looking and acting character in the vein of the later Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor Mel Blanc , who
13923-466: The immense popularity of 3-D films. Lantz was able to hire some of the displaced staff to the point he was able to open a second unit, with animator Paul J. Smith placed as director. Some of the men he was able to hire include writer Michael Maltese , animators Herman Cohen, Gil Turner and Robert Bentley , and Avery himself, who replaced Patterson from his role of director. Smith created the studio's second most popular star, Chilly Willy , in 1953, and
14076-534: The influence of Dick Lundy (the films' budgets remained the same). Former Disney animators such as Fred Moore and Ed Love began working at Lantz and assisted Lundy in adding touches of the Disney style to Woody's cartoons. Despite the Disney style added for the later cartoons, Woody's cartoons still try to maintain a good dose of slapstick and madcap humor from the pre-Lundy cartoons. In 1947, Woody got his theme song when musicians George Tibbles and Ramey Idriss wrote "The Woody Woodpecker Song", making ample use of
14229-473: The late 1930s/early 1940s such as Donald Duck (also created by Disney). The success of Scrub Me Mama With A Boogie Beat and Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy (the former becoming subject to controversy and even protest soon after its release over racial stereotypes and the latter earning an Academy Award ) also led to the introduction of the Swing Symphony series that fall, often featuring popular musicians of
14382-472: The laugh originated from a type of laugh he used to do at school and he just added the pecking sounds to the laugh. That practice continued with other voice artists. In the early 2010s, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment planned a Woody Woodpecker feature film. John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky ( King of the Hill ) were in talks to develop a story, but the project was canceled. In 2013, Bill Kopp
14535-469: The mid-1920s, Lantz was directing (and acting in) the studio's top cartoon, Dinky Doodle , also becoming a producer as Bray attempted to compete with Hal Roach and Mack Sennett by making live-action comedies. Bray Productions closed shop in 1928, and Lantz moved to Hollywood, trying to start a studio while trying to make a living in a succession of odd jobs, including driving Universal owner Carl Laemmle 's limousine. The chauffeur job also landed Lantz at
14688-478: The new series of Oswald shorts (the first of which was 1929's Race Riot ). Featuring Bill Nolan as an animator (and later director), the Lantz-produced Oswalds had a decidedly different tone and aesthetic than the Disney shorts, with more slapstick and surreal visual gags, some contributed by a young Tex Avery . Over the next decade, Lantz produced 142 Oswald cartoons, for a total of 194 films featuring
14841-515: The new vice-president of Universal. The deal was interrupted when new ownership transformed the company into Universal-International and did away with most of Universal's company policies. The new management insisted on getting licensing and merchandising rights to Lantz's characters. Lantz refused and withdrew from the parent company by 1947, releasing 12 cartoons independently through United Artists during 1947 and early 1949. The cartoons from this period stand out for their slicker animation compared to
14994-478: The now-independent Lantz studio. This left Lantz scrambling for alternative sources for funds, forcing him to shut down the studio for a while. Lantz was able to gain the rights to the characters of his films (including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) and an Andy Panda cartoon, Crazy House , was developed into Lantz's first independently financed film. Lantz used the film as a final appeal to the heads of Universal and, in
15147-626: The postwar economic situation of these countries as well as the presence of stronger unions than in Hollywood led him to back out and keep making films in America. In 1950, the Walter Lantz studio opened its doors once again. The first effort the studio produced was a brief sequence featuring Woody Woodpecker for the George Pal feature Destination Moon , released on June 27 the same year. Lantz then renegotiated with Universal for seven cartoons to be released
15300-410: The previous Universal releases, mostly because of the influence of the studio's latest director, Ex-Disney animator Dick Lundy , as well as the addition of Disney veterans, such as Ed Love and Fred Moore . This era also marked the end of the Andy Panda cartoons, whose popularity was waning. Under the deal with United Artists, Lantz was supposed to receive percentages of box-office receipts to pay for
15453-612: The primary director of Woody's shorts, with periodic fill-in shorts directed by Alex Lovy and Jack Hannah , among others. With Smith on board, the shorts maintained a healthy dose of frenetic energy, while the animation was simplified due to budget constraints. In addition to Stafford providing Woody's voice, which returned the cartoon to being more dialogue-driven again, voice talents during this period were generally split between Dallas McKennon and Daws Butler . Several of Woody's recurring costars were also introduced during this era, such as Gabby Gator (voiced by Butler in an Ozarks voice,
15606-501: The production costs of his cartoons. UA however attributed a tiny portion of the dollar amounts to Lantz's shorts from the features. This was because UA was, at the time, a struggling studio attempting to re-establish the position in the industry it had in the 1920s. The result was that Lantz exceeded his standing loan of $ 250,000 from Bank of America (he had left Irving Trust in 1942). At the recommendation of BAC president Joe Rosenberg, Lantz decided to shut down his studio temporarily at
15759-470: The production of the DVD releases, has stated that plans for further volumes are currently on hold. In 2008, Illumination , an animation production company founded by Chris Meledandri , made a deal with Universal Pictures which positioned Illumination as NBCUniversal's family entertainment arm that would produce one to two films per year starting in 2010. Like Walter Lantz Productions, Illumination retains creative control, and Universal exclusively distributes
15912-494: The pseudonym "Adams & Fleisner") wrote and produced " Woodpeckers from Space " by VideoKids , a synth-pop cover of "The Woody Woodpecker Song". Released on 4 September 1984, the song became a number 1 hit in Spain and Norway. The idea for the song began when the children of Gert van den Bosch (co-founder of Boni Records) asked him if he could produce a record based on Woody Woodpecker, whom they were big fans of. The Woody laugh used in
16065-464: The remaining demand with reissues of his older cartoons. Bye Bye Blackboard , a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, was part of the final slate of cartoons made at the Walter Lantz studio. Thirteen were completed for the 1972 season: one with Chilly Willy, four starring the Beary Family, and the rest with Lantz' star character, Woody Woodpecker. Upon discovering that it would take a decade for his shorts to show
16218-443: The rest of the shorts' production run. During this time, the opening was changed as well. Instead of having Woody's name on-screen and Woody pecking a hole in the screen to introduce himself, Woody now pecked his way onto the screen, greeting the audience with his iconic "Guess who?", then carved out his name on either a brown or gray wood background and jumped around the screen while laughing. By 1955, Paul J. Smith had taken over as
16371-448: 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 (later known as Screen Gems ) consisting primarily of former Disney employees, where he continued to produce Oswald cartoons, among them the first Oswald with sound, Hen Fruit (1929). Coincidentally, Disney and Mintz each produced nine cartoons
16524-469: The series and made Woody more defensive; the bird no longer went insane without a legitimate reason. Lundy also paid more attention to animation, making Woody's new films more Disney-esque in their design, style, animation, and timing. Lundy's last film for Disney was the Donald Duck short Flying Jalopy . This cartoon is played much like a Woody Woodpecker short, down to the laugh in the end. It also features
16677-561: The series was later drawn by the likes of Dan Noonan and Lloyd White. In 1948, Toby adopted two orphan rabbits for Oswald to raise. Floyd and Lloyd, "Poppa Oswald's" new sons, stuck around; Toby was relegated to the sidelines, disappearing for good in 1953. Later stories focused on Oswald adventuring with his sons, seeking odd jobs, or simply protecting the boys from the likes of rabbit-eating Reddy Fox and (from 1961) con man Gabby Gator—a character adapted from contemporary Woody Woodpecker cartoon shorts. This era of Oswald comics typically featured
16830-641: The services of Al Michaels as play-by-play announcer on NBC Sunday Night Football ). Oswald returned in Disney's 2010 video game, Epic Mickey . The game's metafiction plot parallels Oswald's real-world history, dealing with the character's feelings of abandonment by Disney and envy toward Mickey Mouse. He has since appeared in Disney theme parks and comic books , as well as two follow-up games, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion . Oswald made his first appearance in an animated production in 85 years through his cameo appearance in
16983-436: The shadow effects, cross-cutting, and staging of action in films featuring Douglas Fairbanks and Lon Chaney . Over several cartoons, Disney and his animators would develop Oswald's persona: an "emotive, fast-moving wise guy, alternately ebullient and grouchy". Walt Disney did not want for Oswald to simply be "a rabbit character animated and shown in the same light as the commonly known cat characters", as well as merely just
17136-586: The shops on Main Street USA. In 2012, Disney California Adventure park at the Disneyland Resort reopened with a new entry area called Buena Vista Street , themed to 1920s Los Angeles. Oswald's Service Station is a 1920s gas station (housing a gift shop) located at the north end of the street and features Oswald prominently in its logo. Disney California Adventure also sells Oswald merchandise and next-door Disneyland offers Mickey Mouse merchandise exclusively. In
17289-480: The short-subjects business, and by the end of the decade that number dwindled to three. Walter Lantz and his distributor, Universal Pictures, knew that the only way to subsidize the rising costs of new shorts was to release their product to television. Norman Gluck, from Universal's short-subjects department, made a deal with the Leo Burnett Agency to release some older Lantz product on television. Burnett handled
17442-473: The shorts until 1951. Audiences reacted well to Knock Knock , and Lantz realized he had finally hit upon a star to replace the waning Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . Woody starred in several films. The character's brash demeanor was a natural hit during World War II. His image appeared on US aircraft as nose art and on mess halls, and audiences on the homefront watched Woody cope with familiar problems such as food shortages. The 1943 Woody cartoon The Dizzy Acrobat
17595-567: The smallest major animation studio at that time, as Lantz and animator Alex Lovy produced cartoons with a single unit. In 1943, Lovy was drafted into the Navy and was replaced by James "Shamus" Culhane . Culhane quickly developed a distinct direction and art style characterized for its use of Russian avant-garde influences, minimalistic backgrounds and fast cutting. Culhane eventually left Lantz in late-1945 over pay disputes. In 1947, Lantz renegotiated his seven-year Universal contract with Matty Fox,
17748-404: The song was first heard in "Let's Break" by Master Genius in 1983, another Cat Music project. The band's animated mascot, a "spacepecker" named Tico Tac, was created and used in place of Woody in order to avoid a lawsuit from Universal. The band lasted from 1984 to 1988. The Baltimora song " Woody Boogie ", released in 1985, notably features a synthesizer replaying Woody Woodpecker's laugh, which
17901-423: The start of every cartoon — Woody as an armored knight on horseback carrying a lance — continued for a while to display Woody with his former topknot. For 1955's The Tree Medic , one last makeover was given to the woodpecker, making Woody's eye a simple black dot and removing the green/hazel iris he had had since his beginnings, but Woody's eyes were not changed in the cartoon's intros, and they remained green for
18054-577: The storyline was reused in a Mickey Mouse short five years later, in Mickey's Nightmare . 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 . 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 Disney 's
18207-434: The stringent rules against violence for children's television. Though production continued until 1972, the cartoons were a definite notch lower than in the 1940s and 1950s. Woody appeared in new theatrical shorts until 1972, when Lantz closed his studio due to rising production costs. His cartoons returned to syndication in the late 1970s. Lantz sold his library of Woody shorts to MCA / Universal in 1985. Universal repackaged
18360-550: The studio in a poker bet with Laemmle. The first Lantz-produced "Oswald" cartoon was Race Riot , released on September 2, 1929. The first animators for the studio included Winkler veterans Rollin Hamilton, Tom Palmer and "rubber-hose" pioneer Bill Nolan. Bert Fiske scored the first cartoons, having done this for the few Winkler sound "Oswalds". Additions to the staff included Pinto Colvig and Fred Avery . The earliest Lantz cartoons from 1928 were built around set plots and stories, in
18513-524: The studio were Woody Woodpecker , Andy Panda , Chilly Willy , and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . The music-oriented Swing Symphony cartoons were another successful staple but ended after swing music 's popularity faded after the end of World War II. Lantz began his career at the art department of William Randolph Hearst 's New York American during the 1910s, having his start in the cartoon industry at Hearst's International Film Service , which in 1918 transferred its entire staff to Bray Productions . By
18666-492: The studio's characters have continued to be used in syndicated television series, and in licensed merchandise. Lantz re-issued six of the 1931–32 Disney Oswald cartoons, including Trolley Troubles , Great Guns! and The Ocean Hop . Throughout the studio's history, it maintained a reputation as an animation house of medium quality. Lantz's animated shorts (dubbed "Cartunes") were considered superior to Terrytoons , Screen Gems and Famous Studios , but they never gained
18819-567: The talk but wasn't as good at walking the walk". In order to make his Oswald cartoons look "real", Disney turned away from the styles of Felix the Cat , Koko the Clown , Krazy Kat , and Julius the Cat and began emulating the camera angles, effects, and editing of live-action films. To learn how to base gags on personality and how to build comic routines, rather than heaping one gag after another, he studied Laurel and Hardy , Harold Lloyd , Charlie Chaplin , and Buster Keaton . In order to stir emotion in an audience, Disney studied and scrutinized
18972-468: The time, ABC had lost its contract for NFL broadcast rights, and despite recently signing a long-term contract with ESPN, Michaels was interested in rejoining broadcast partner John Madden at NBC for the Sunday night package. Universal transferred the trademark of the character to Disney, and in exchange, Disney released Michaels from his employment contract, allowing him to sign with NBC . The deal included
19125-405: 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
19278-567: The time. In 2010, Tokyo Disneyland produced a float featuring Oswald for their first Easter holiday event. In 2011, Oswald appeared with other old Disney characters on the construction walls for Disney California Adventure Park's new entrance. Oswald also appeared on a poster as a magician's rabbit in Town Square Theater in Magic Kingdom park. Oswald appeared on various items of clothing available for purchase at Disneyland Paris in
19431-415: The time. The series ended in 1945 at the twilight of the big band era. After the studio's 1930s cartoons were scored by a succession of composers, including James Dietrich, Victor Records producer Nat Shilkret and Harman-Ising veterans Frank Marsales and Darrell Calker took over in late 1940. Calker's arrangements became noted for their distinctive swing flavor. After Disney's success with Snow White and
19584-404: The trademark rights to the character and the 27 Disney-produced Oswald shorts along with the handover of any physical Disney-produced Oswald material Universal still had in their possession. Iger had been interested in the property because of an internal design document for a video game, which became Epic Mickey . Walt Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller , issued the following statement after
19737-492: The tradition of the earlier Disney and Winkler Productions shorts. The conversion of Oswald cartoons into musicals was a different matter, but by mid-1930, Lantz and his staff achieved this goal. In the process however, Oswald's personality became less consistent. It could and did change drastically to fit a particular gag. Lantz's musical directors changed as well. To replace David Broekman, Lantz brought in James Dietrich,
19890-526: The voice of Oswald in Cold Turkey , the first Lantz cartoon with dialogue, and the following year Pinto Colvig , who was working as an animator and gag man at the studio, started voicing Oswald. When Colvig left the studio in 1931, Mickey Rooney took over the voicing of Oswald until early in the following year. Starting in 1932, Lantz ceased to use a regular voice actor for Oswald, and many studio staff members (including Lantz himself) would take turns in voicing
20043-418: The voice of Woody, his laugh had been recorded as a stock sound effect and used in every subsequent Woody Woodpecker short up until this point. Blanc sued Lantz and lost, but Lantz settled out of court when Blanc filed an appeal. Although Lantz stopped using Blanc's Woody Woodpecker laugh as a stock effect in the early 1950s, Blanc's voice was still heard saying "Guess who?" at the beginning of every cartoon for
20196-498: The writers came up with stories and characters. The live-action segments were directed by Jack Hannah , who was fresh from the Disney Studio, where he had done similar live-action/animation sequences for the Disney show. Hannah eventually directed theatrical shorts in 1960 after Lovy left for Hanna-Barbera . His shorts were regarded for having a level of sophistication comparable to Dick Lundy, and created characters such as Fatso
20349-726: 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). 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. Oswald's success also resulted in Universal and Winkler signing another contract in February 1928, guaranteeing three more years of Oswald cartoons. As time passed, Disney feared that Mintz would forgo renewal of
20502-647: Was Laemmle's part-time chauffeur and a veteran of the John R. Bray Studios with considerable experience in all elements of animation production, was selected to run the department. In 1935, the studio was severed from Universal and became Walter Lantz Studio under Lantz's direct control, and in 1939, renamed to Walter Lantz Productions. Lantz managed to gain the copyright for his characters. The cartoons continued to be distributed by Universal through 1947, changing to United Artists distribution in 1947–49, and by Universal again from 1950 to 1972. The most prominent characters for
20655-748: Was a cameo in The Woody Woodpecker Polka (1951), also in Technicolor, which by then had become the norm in the cartoon industry. He also appeared in a 1952 theatrical commercial for the Electric Autolite Company, with his voice being provided by Dick Beals . Oswald's first appearance in comics was in a series of comic strips titled Oswald the Rabbit , which ran from February 1935 to January 1936. They were drawn by Al Stahl and published by National Allied Publications . The comics were serialized on one page of every issue of New Fun and
20808-557: Was added as a playable racer in Disney Speedstorm during its fifth season alongside Ortensia, while he appears in Disney Dreamlight Valley as part of its "Eternity Isle" expansion. He is voiced by David Errigo Jr. in both appearances. In 2012, sketch animation from a lost 1928 cartoon, Harem Scarem , was compiled by archivists at Disney and released to help celebrate Oswald's 85th Anniversary. He made an appearance in
20961-438: Was an American animation studio that was active from 1928 to 1949 and then from 1950 to 1972. It was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures . The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative of Universal movie mogul Carl Laemmle , who was tired of the continuous company politics he was dealing with concerning contracting cartoons outside animation studios. Walter Lantz , who
21114-587: Was an animated segment of the feature film Destination Moon (1950), produced by Lantz's friend George Pál . In the segment, astronauts are shown an animated educational film featuring Woody Woodpecker explaining rocket propulsion . Beginning with Destination Moon , Woody's voice was assumed by Grace Stafford. According to the Lantzes, Stafford slipped a recording of herself into a stack of audition tapes, and her husband chose her without knowing her identity. Lantz also began having Stafford supply Woody's laugh due to
21267-447: Was attached to direct an animated feature film with three interwoven stories, but the project was later canceled. A live-action/CGI hybrid film based on Woody Woodpecker , directed by Alex Zamm and starring Timothy Omundson and Brazilian actress Thaila Ayala , was released theatrically in Brazil on October 5, 2017, and was scheduled for release on April 1, 2018, worldwide. The film had
21420-543: Was designed by animator Alex Lovy . Woody's original voice actor , Mel Blanc , stopped performing the character after the first three cartoons to work exclusively for Leon Schlesinger Productions (later renamed Warner Bros. Cartoons ), producer of Warner Bros. ' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies after signing a loyalty contract. At Leon Schlesinger's, Blanc had already established the voices of two other famous "screwball" characters who preceded Woody, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny . Ironically, Blanc's characterization of
21573-569: Was forced to make cutbacks, shortening the lengths of his films and post-synchronizing a handful of the early Disney Oswald's cartoons. Another way out of the hole was to gain attention by creating a secondary series of shorts featuring a new star, Pooch the Pup . Lantz and Nolan divided the studio into two separate units. Lantz directed the Pooch cartoons, while Nolan worked on the Oswalds, with both series referencing
21726-676: Was freed from his contractual obligations with ESPN and ABC so he could join NBC and become the Sunday Night Football play-by-play man. In July 2007, Universal Pictures released The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection , a three-disc DVD box-set compilation of Lantz Cartunes. A second volume was released in April 2008, followed by a vanilla release in 2009, Woody Woodpecker Favorites , which contained no new-to-DVD material. Animation historian Jerry Beck , partly involved in
21879-405: Was instead on the receiving end. The first significant short to feature Woody as a serious, put-upon character was 1961's Franken-Stymied . Woody's popularity had been based on his manic craziness, but by 1961, this had all but been eliminated in favor of a more serious Woody, a straight man trying to do good. This was due in part to Woody's large presence on television, which meant Lantz had to meet
22032-437: Was made of rubber and could turn anything into a tool. His distinct personality was inspired by Douglas Fairbanks for his courageous and adventurous attitude as seen in the cartoon short Oh, What a Knight . In regard to Oswald's personality, Disney historian David Gerstein describes the difference between Mickey and Oswald: "Imagine Mickey if he were a little more egotistical or fallible, or imagine Bugs Bunny if he talked
22185-452: Was nominated for the 1943 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons) , which it lost to the MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon The Yankee Doodle Mouse . Woody Woodpecker's debut also marked a change in directing style for Walter Lantz studio, since the character was heavily inspired by Tex Avery -created Looney Tunes character Daffy Duck at Warner Bros, and thus Woody's cartoons tended to have
22338-470: Was not until 1934 that Oswald got his own color sound cartoons in two-strip Technicolor, Toyland Premiere and Springtime Serenade . The Oswald cartoons then returned to black-and-white, except for the last one, The Egg Cracker Suite (1943), released as a part of the Swing Symphonies series. Egg Cracker was also the only Oswald cartoon to use three-strip Technicolor . Oswald's last cartoon appearance
22491-413: Was released in 2009, which contained no new-to-DVD material. Woody Woodpecker shorts have been released for the first time on Blu-ray; labeled as the "Screwball Collection", the set was released on September 7, 2021. Blanc originated the voice, in a characterization similar to his Daffy Duck , minus the lisp, with the recording slightly sped up to give a higher-pitched tone to the voice. He stated that
22644-554: Was released theatrically in Latin America, while released direct-to-video in other territories. It was followed by a new series of shorts released via YouTube beginning in 2018. In 2024, a new film, Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp , was released on Netflix . Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard. He also made a cameo appearance alongside many other famous cartoon characters in
22797-472: Was released. The short was directed by Eric Goldberg , scored by Dean McClure, and produced by Dorothy McKim, with Mark Henn and Randy Haycock working on the animation alongside Goldberg. It marked Oswald's first short produced by Disney, as well as his first short ever since Feed the Kitty (1938). A few weeks later, a hand-drawn animation piece by Disney Animation featuring Oswald was released, meant to promote
22950-435: Was sent to the army during World War II and would voice the woodpecker for the rest of the decade. This makes Woody Woodpecker one of the very few cartoon characters initially voiced by Mel Blanc to be voiced by someone else during Blanc's lifetime. Despite this, Blanc continued to voice Woody on a Mutual Network radio show and in recordings for Capitol Records from 1948 until 1955, while his laugh would continue to be used in
23103-510: Was struggling financially, Woody's longevity was secured when he made the jump to television in The Woody Woodpecker Show on ABC . The half-hour program consisted of three theatrical Woody shorts followed by a brief look at cartoon creation hosted by Lantz. It ran from 1957 to 1958 then entered syndication until 1966. NBC revived the show in 1970 and 1976. In addition, the woodpecker was no longer dishing out abuse to his foils, but
23256-462: Was succeeded in the shorts by Danny Webb , Kent Rogers , Dick Nelson, Ben Hardaway, and, finally, Grace Stafford (wife of Walter Lantz). Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first broadcast on television in 1957 under the title The Woody Woodpecker Show , which featured Lantz cartoons bookended by new footage of Woody and live-action footage of Lantz. Lantz produced theatrical cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries, and Woody Woodpecker remained
23409-480: Was the start-up DePatie–Freleng Enterprises working for Lantz' former contractor, United Artists. From 1967 to the studio's closure in 1972, Universal distributed the Lantz cartoons as packages, and theaters would play them in no particular order. Lantz finally closed up the studio in 1972; he later explained that by then, it was economically impossible to continue producing them and stay in business, as rising inflation had strained his profits, and Universal serviced
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