So the event was fully digital (no surprises there). The showing was introduced by a BFI programmer, who was later joined by an archivist in a brief break before "Sleigh Bells". Mac pretty much wrote what was said preceding the short: the print with a 1930 stock date was acquired in the '80s in a lab clearout, sat at the archives in Berkhamsted and was only identified in recent years. The mysterious "American researcher" who identified the cartoon on the BFI's online catalogue was named as David Gerstein (again, no surprise), who was noted to have collaborated with the BFI in the past year on a "Felix the Cat" project (hmm...). The short was digitised by the BFI earlier this year and sent to Disney, who restored the cartoon under the supervision of Dave Bossert. The restoration looks clean with the exception of some protruding scratches. The usual Disney grain management seems to be in full force, but the source seemed soft and contrasty to begin with. The circulating extract online is a good representation of the restoration.
As for the cartoon itself, it was pretty delightful but alas the ending was incomplete. The opening title was unique, resembling an early version of the Winkler Oswald title cards. It opened with the footage you see in the circulating extract and moved on to a hockey match, where Oswald receives a bump on the head from an agitated player, leading to the familiar cartoon gag of trying to "push" the bump inwards only to have it appear elsewhere on the character's body (in Oswald's case, his nose enlarges). The main "plot" then kicks in with Oswald trying to help his feline girlfriend balance while ice-skating by ripping part of his ear off (!) and inflating it into a balloon aid. Things go awry as she floats off and Oswald tries desperately to get her down.
The live piano accompaniment was also pretty good. John Sweeney was prominently introduced as having made up the score on the spot when viewing the cartoon once beforehand. It was a blast watching the shorts with an audience and seeing what gags got the most positive reactions. The audience applauded at the end of each cartoon.
For those wondering how the rest of the program looked:
"Mickey's Orphans" and "Mickey's Good Deed" look like the Treasures masters, they were soft but otherwise held up well on the big screen.
"Santa's Workshop" and "The Night Before Christmas" were new restorations and both were censored. The former had the mammy doll scene excised and the latter is missing the Amos and Andy caricatures. Instead of cutting out the kid in blackface at the end, they have extensively redrawn his face so that the chimney smoke is only on his forehead.
"Donald's Snow Fight" is the same surprisingly faithful (for Disney) restoration found on the German Donald Duck Blu-ray.
"Toy Tinkers" looked noticeably brighter and possibly more cleared up (not sure) than the version found on the German Donald Duck Blu-ray.
"Pluto's Christmas Tree" I presume is the same new restoration found on the blu of Mickey's Christmas Carol. No visible grain but cel dust was not overly scrubbed away and inklines remained very crisp.
The more modern shorts look identical to their respective blu-ray releases (which sadly includes "Mickey's Christmas Carol").