Another in a list of once-lost-now-found Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts, Neck 'n' Neck, has been found recently in Japan!:

https://www.bbc.com/news...ertainment-arts-46224545 

Dave Bossert mentioned this on this on his Patreon page and I've been waiting for this to become public. Hoping to find out more soon, but I'm not sure if the whole short has been located or just a two-minute section. Either way, it's still an exciting discovery!

There's a few articles about this now. The link below has a little more info and some great images including the title on the Japanese print:

http://www.asahi.com/ajw...to/AS20181114004553.html 

There's a few articles about this now. The link below has a little more info and some great images including the title on the Japanese print:

http://www.asahi.com/ajw...to/AS20181114004553.html 

Seems this article clears up what exactly has been found: "The original “Neck ’n’ Neck” is five minutes long. But it was shortened to two minutes for home movie projectors and sold to the public in the form of a 16-mm film."

I really wonder what's up with that title card, though. And the Japanese title, "Mickey Manga Spide" (Mickey Cartoon Speedy). Was it disguised as a Mickey Mouse cartoon when sold on the Japanese home movie market?

Oh, and an interesting side note from the same article: "Thanks to Bossert’s book, a 35-mm film showing 50 seconds of “Neck ’n’ Neck” was also found at the Toy Film Museum in Kyoto."

Maybe it was different footage than the section included in the 16mm home movie print. In any case, 35mm is always good.

Definitely an interesting find. The CNN article below includes an additional screenshot from near the end of the cartoon (with Oswald's car wrapped around a tree!)

https://edition.cnn.com/...surfaces-intl/index.html 


Yes, it would be interesting to know if the 50 seconds of footage at the Kyoto Museum contains scene that aren't in the 2 minute 16mm version. I looked the museum up online – looks like a really interesting little museum.

Now we know that 16mm version of Oswald cartoons were sold for home movie projections and branded as Mickey cartoons in Japan, I'm hopeful that this could lead to further discoveries.

So, how many Disney Oswald cartoons are left that are still considered lost in any form?

So, how many Disney Oswald cartoons are left that are still considered lost in any form?

With the discovery of Neck 'n' Neck, there are now six more "Oswald"s left:
-The Banker's Daughter
-Harem Scarem
-Rickety Gin
-Sagebrush Sadie
-Ride 'em Plowboy
-Hot Dogs

(Although The Ocean Hop, Empty Socks, The Ol' Swimmin' 'Ole, and Sleigh Bells were found prior to the publication of Bossert's book (and the former was officially made available on DVD less than a decade before that), the current prints of those four shorts are allegedly still missing some scenes; this is why they are mentioned in the epilogue on page 170)

So, how many Disney Oswald cartoons are left that are still considered lost in any form?

With the discovery of Neck 'n' Neck, there are now six more "Oswald"s left:
-The Banker's Daughter
-Harem Scarem
-Rickety Gin
-Sagebrush Sadie
-Ride 'em Plowboy
-Hot Dogs

(Although The Ocean Hop, Empty Socks, The Ol' Swimmin' 'Ole, and Sleigh Bells were found prior to the publication of Bossert's book (and the former was officially made available on DVD less than a decade before that), the current prints of those four shorts are allegedly still missing some scenes; this is why they are mentioned in the epilogue on page 170)

There's not much in Neck 'n Neck, either. What's been found are 2 minutes from a 16mm home-movie cutdown and 50 seconds from a 35mm print. But any Oswald find is still a good find...

Yes, one of the sad things about lost silent film is that even when a film is found, it's rarely 100% complete and the search goes on.

If we're getting really picky there's enough frames missing from Africa Before Dark (at the the beginning and end, plus a gag in the middle of the short), Oh, Teacher (scenes were edited out for the sound reissue) and Ozzie of the Mounted (at the end the action gets choppy) for me to hope that additional prints turn up for these too.

The amount of Disney Oswald footage which has been discovered is astonishing. When "Walt in Wonderland" was published only 11 of them were known to exist in any form – less than half the series! But now footage is known to survive from 20 of them plus a 'bonus' 21st in High Up (not to mention some of those original 11 are now more complete than they were through the discovery of additional prints). In the case of Neck 'n' Neck, just last year the film was completely lost, but now a significant chunk has been recovered.

The amount of Disney Oswald footage which has been discovered is astonishing. When "Walt in Wonderland" was published only 11 of them were known to exist in any form – less than half the series! But now footage is known to survive from 20 of them plus a 'bonus' 21st in High Up (not to mention some of those original 11 are now more complete than they were through the discovery of additional prints). In the case of Neck 'n' Neck, just last year the film was completely lost, but now a significant chunk has been recovered.

The big difference between today and the point in time in which the book "Walt in Wonderland" was published (1993) is, of course, that the Walt Disney Company today owns the rights to all the Oswald cartoons made by Walt and has been actively seeking out the missing ones for the past decade. Before 2006, all the Oswalds were owned by Universal, which were hardly very interested in restoring the films they had from the Walt era, or begin tracking down more. For the Walt Disney Company, the Oswalds are a big part of their early history; and the version they own of the character has also gained new recognition through the "Epic Mickey" video game. So the attitude to actually finding and restoring the lost shorts is very different.

I totally agree and it's great that Disney have a financial interest in the character, that the company restores the shorts and Oswald finds are often now made public in the news etc. However, we can't dismiss the hard work of researchers who work independently of the Disney Company to locate them.

Another point is that since "Walt in Wonderland" was published, we've of course entered the internet age and it's much quicker to connect and share information worldwide.

Even with the invested interest of a giant corporation and the increased interest and publicity around the character since 2006, it's still amazing to me how much lost footage has been recovered. I wish as much attention was being paid to the Alice Comedies too!

I totally agree and it's great that Disney have a financial interest in the character, that the company restores the shorts and Oswald finds are often now made public in the news etc. However, we can't dismiss the hard work of researchers who work independently of the Disney Company to locate them.

Another point is that since "Walt in Wonderland" was published, we've of course entered the internet age and it's much quicker to connect and share information worldwide.

Both of those are also very relevant points, definitely.

Even with the invested interest of a giant corporation and the increased interest and publicity around the character since 2006, it's still amazing to me how much lost footage has been recovered. I wish as much attention was being paid to the Alice Comedies too!

What is obviously needed here is a video game teaming up Roger Rabbit with 1920s Cartoonland Alice. Then lean back and watch the Disney corporation run head over heels to film archives around the world, scouring for any trace of the missing Alice Comedies. :)

I kind of doubt that type of game will happen (I don't think Disney even 100% owns Roger).

Even with the invested interest of a giant corporation and the increased interest and publicity around the character since 2006, it's still amazing to me how much lost footage has been recovered. I wish as much attention was being paid to the Alice Comedies too!

What is obviously needed here is a video game teaming up Roger Rabbit with 1920s Cartoonland Alice. Then lean back and watch the Disney corporation run head over heels to film archives around the world, scouring for any trace of the missing Alice Comedies. :)

LOL! I'd buy that. 😛

Even with the invested interest of a giant corporation and the increased interest and publicity around the character since 2006, it's still amazing to me how much lost footage has been recovered. I wish as much attention was being paid to the Alice Comedies too!

What is obviously needed here is a video game teaming up Roger Rabbit with 1920s Cartoonland Alice. Then lean back and watch the Disney corporation run head over heels to film archives around the world, scouring for any trace of the missing Alice Comedies. :)

LOL! I'd buy that. :P

Who wouldn't? 😃 You get to be one of Disney's most forgotten heroines in game form AND support a good cause in the name of film preservation! (Actually, they oughta write that on the package as a selling point.)

Ha ha! I love the idea! I do hope though that more Alice Comedies have been found and we just don't know about it yet. While Disney likes to get Oswald in the news and keep him in the public eye, they don't seem to have the same interest in the Alices.

Getting back to video games, I was surprised to read that Disney didn't seem keen to allow Oswald a role in Kingdom Hearts 3.

https://www.khinsider.co...ting-Oswald-in-KH3-12555 

Was surprised to find that the footage from this cartoon can be found in several videos on YouTube:



The quality is pretty low and I'm not sure if this is all the footage that remains from this cartoon (if so more than half of the cartoon is still lost), but, for me, it's still a delight to see!

Was surprised to find that the footage from this cartoon can be found in several videos on YouTube:

The quality is pretty low and I'm not sure if this is all the footage that remains from this cartoon (if so more than half of the cartoon is still lost), but, for me, it's still a delight to see!

DAMN! Even in this quality, that is some fine animation. Elastigirl's elasticycle ain't got nothing on this.

What was rather absurd to me, though, was that I gradually came to realize that the music playing over the footage is an instrumental recreation of the German Tom and Jerry television theme song , "Vielen Dank für die Blumen". Did not expect to hear that there. It made a bit more sense after I read the video description from the uploader explaining that he had just inserted it himself.

UPDATE: Apparently, the music over the Oswald footage is actually a piece of stock library music entitled "Summer Swing", originally released on the album "Gipsy Swing of Paris " in 2001. Among doubtlessly many other things, it has turned up in the current Nickelodeon cartoon "The Loud House " and the Looney Tunes documentary "Mel Blanc - Man of a 1000 Voices" (if one of the comments under the Loud House video is correct). Even so, parts of it sound so similar to "Vielen Dank für die Blumen" that it's hard for me to not think of it as a ripoff of sorts.

I can tell that Hugh and Rudy (and maybe Freleng) worked on this one. Reminds me of Sinkin' in the Bathtub and Sick Cylinders (a Winker "Oswald" that Hugh animated).