It is an early Christmas present for fans of animation as well as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s first animated star. A lost film featuring the rabbit has turned up in all places Norway.
The 1927 film entitled “Empty Socks” and the 1928 cartoon short “Tall Timber” were discovered at the National Library of Norway in Mo I Rana near the Arctic Circle. “Empty Socks” is believed to be the first Christmas-themed film ever made by the young Disney Iwerks company in 1927. It along with “Tall Timber” were discovered at the library.
Ironically word of the discovery came on the 87th anniversary of the release of “Empty Socks.” IMDB, the International Movie Data Base lists “Empty Socks” original release as December 12, 1927.
According to the library, “Empty Socks” was held privately in Norway before it was sent to the Norwegian Film Institute which in turn forwarded it to the library for preservation. Writer and animation historian David Gerstein long believed the missing Disney flick could be in the collection. The film was discovered on two reels and was not clearly labeled. When it was first viewed observers thought it was footage of Felix the Cat until Gerstein confirmed it was Oswald.
The short runs about five-and-a-half minutes with about a minute missing from the middle. The only other known version of “Empty Socks” is a 25-second sequence preserved at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
A digitized version of “Empty Socks” has been forwarded to the Walt Disney Company while the library will retain ownership of the original. No immediate word on what Disney plans to do with the recently discovered flick.
Along with the “Empty Socks” short, the library also found a copy of another Oswald film “Tall Timber.” Made in 1928 the cartoon is believed to be the last Oswald movie made by Disney and Iwerks before Universal, which was distributing Disney shorts, pulled the rug out from underneath Disney stealing his beloved character and many of his studio animators in a contract dispute.
As we know Oswald’s loss for the studio resulted in the creation of Mickey Mouse.
Disney regained the rights to Oswald in an unusual agreement in 2006 with Universal. Sportscaster Al Michaels, who was under contract with Disney-owned ABC was being courted for a job with Universal owned NBC. Universal agreed to return Oswald to the House of the Mouse in return for Disney releasing Michaels from his contract to work with NBC.