I LOVE WALDO!!! POST #3

I love Waldo!!!

Ok ... No ... I'm not talking about the goofy guy with glasses that you try and find in those children's books. No, this is an inside joke. Anyone who knows me, knows I love animation. And that I have a particular fondness for the early stuff. Felix ... Mickey ... Betty Boop ...Popeye. I can't get enough of them. Ever since I read the book "Walt in Wonderland," I fell in love with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The joke is Yoko had a hard time remembering his name and kept calling him "Waldo."

Oswald was the third series for Disney. His Modern Fairy Tales lost their magic due to money problems. The Alice Comedies had run out of steam. Charles Mintz (who had taken the duties of distributing  the cartoons from his wife, Margret Winkler) and Universal Studios commissioned Disney to create a rabbit character in 1927. His name was literally picked out of a hat.

It was during this time that the Disney staff under Ub Iwerks, head artist and then partner in the business, really blossomed. After the initial cartoon, things seemed to go swimmingly. But unfortunately, Mintz was suspicious of Walt due to some missteps on his part and bad experiences with other animators, such as Pat Sullivan. He misjudged the talent and decided to cut Walt out of the picture. Ub not only warned him of the situation but stayed true to the Disney Studios designing and animating the first Mickeys. In a show of karma, Harman and Ising, as well as Mintz were cut out by Universal and Walter Lantz was brought in to continued the Oswald cartoons until a cameo in "The Woody Woodpecker Polka" 1951. 

In February 2002, in a trade with NBC Universal, Disney traded sports caster Al Michaels for several properties ... including Oswald. With the use of the character in the video game Mickey Epic, Oswald was returned to the Disney fold, with the merchandise flowing.   

And I bought my fair share. So while waiting for my Lady Fair, I was brosing in a shop at Downtown Disney. There I saw an Oswald shirt I had not seen before. By the time you could say "Waldo," it was mine. It wasn't until I got it home that I saw this ... and knew this shirt was made for me.