If you take Mickey Mouse, stretch out his ears a bit and give
him a little bigger nose and a little larger body, you basically have Oswald.
Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit was created after the end of the Alice series. Carl
Laemmle, the head of Universal Studios told Charles Mintz that he wanted
a cartoon series featuring a rabbit. Margaret Winkler Mintz suggested Disney
for the job, and Disney responded with the short "Poor Papa." The cartoon
was received very negatively, mostly because of the appearance of Oswald
himself. He was more of a scruffy hooligan rather than the pleasing personality
that Laemmle wanted. Disney went back to the drawing board and returned with
"Trolley Troubles" which presented a more appealing and likable Oswald. Even
throughout the series, Oswald's appearance softened. When the Oswald series
was taken out of Disney's hands and given to Walter Lantz, the figure changed
even more; Disney created Mickey Mouse, and Oswald became more boyish and
cuter; almost an exact duplicate of Mickey. It's difficult to think about
what might have happened if Disney had kept control of Oswald, but not hard
at all to decide which was the most successful creation.
