Confidence, a Depression-era cartoon starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

This is a cartoon from 1933, starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald was originally created by Walt Disney. By the time this cartoon was made, he belonged to Walter Lantz, who went on to create Woody Woodpecker.
Confidence shows the effects of the Depression and what people need to get past it.
http://lantz.goldenagecartoons.com/

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• confidence
• depression
• Walter
• Lantz
• oswald

[RetroRabFan]

I like it better for Oswald to wear shorts, shoes, gloves and a shirt. If Mickey wears those things, then applying the same to Oswald would make it more complimentary. I guess that would be good because they are brothers.

[TiCar85]

@RetroRabFan I pretty much agree on that one.The idea of wearing only trunks certainly makes a character look indigent.

[saxondog2001]

@Paddydhistorian No .. he was never portrayed that way even in the newspapers. The political cartoons always showed him running places with his sleeves rolled up. a lot of people didn't realize he was IN a wheelchair!

[RetroRabFan]

Franklin Roosevelt was perhaps very popular as a president. It's no wonder why he was reelected three times.

[capritonio]

When I was a kid this cartoon really scared me when the Ghost was flying screaming wahhhh... wahhhhh... I was 4 or 5 years old, now I'm 52...

[DarthZob]

CONFIDENSE! :D

[Paddydhistorian]

The guy with the white hair that Oswald runs into, spilling his papers, is John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner, Roosevelt's first Vice President. Also note that they do not show FDR in his wheelchair.

[ImJoeToo]

Obama's job's speech is eerily familiar to this cartoon. We are supposed to believe that if the rich just start spending, all our problems are over. Just ignore the fact the REAL problems are coming from Washington. Pay no attention to that George Soros or Barack Obama behind the curtian. It's really class envy that's keeping you out of work.

[ImJoeToo]

Obama's job's speech is eerily familiar to this cartoon. We are supposed to believe that if the rich just start spending, all our problems are over. Just ignore the fact the REAL problems are coming from Washington. Pay no attention to that George Soros or Barack Obama behind the curtian. It's really class envy that's keeping you out of work.

[RetroRabFan]

Another character who suffered a similar fate like Oswald is Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid. During his days at WB, he was always in his ape-like appearance. But when he moved to MGM, they changed him and made him more like a person. This new Bosko wasn't well appreciated and therefore lead to the character leaving the screen.

[BazookaBuhnull]

Animators in those days did so much to make their characters shine. But the fact that Mickey Mouse was one of the earliest characters to be featured in sound films gathered so much attention. The way that character got a lot of notice was like a black hole pulling everything in its path.

[BazookaBuhnull]

Destroyed him? Not exactly. Oswald was a fairly popular character up until 1935 where they redesigned him to his all-white complexion. They did that, assuming it would boost his popularity. Sadly though, this later version wasn't well-received as the previous.

Although he retired in 1943, Oswald settled to be featured in comic books. His latest publications were as recent as the 1990s.