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A Once-Lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon Has Reportedly Been Found in Japan

An anime historian had the 16mm film for nearly 70 years before realizing it was one of seven of Walt Disney’s earliest works that had thought to be lost.

A lost 1928 Walt Disney cartoon featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the character that would lead to the creation of Mickey Mouse, has been found in Japan.

The 16mm copy of Neck ‘n’ Neck was in the hands of an anime historian Yasushi Watanabe, who had bought it when he was in high school nearly 70 years ago, but had not realized its significance.

Watanabe, now 84, bought the film at a toy wholesaler near his home in Osaka, but only recently read Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons by David Bossert, a longtime animator at Disney who published the book last year.

The film was tagged Mickey Manga Spide (Mickey cartoon speedy) and cost Watanabe ￥500, $4.40 at current exchange rates.

“As I’ve been a Disney fan for many years, I’m happy that I was able to play a role,” Watanabe told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, which contacted Bossert and the Walt Disney Archives to confirm it was one of seven of the 26 Oswald series thought to be permanently lost.

The original Neck ‘n’ Neck was five minutes in length, but was cut to two minutes for the 16mm version sold for home projection use.

Watanabe’s copy is currently being kept at Kobe Planet Film Archive, one of the largest private film collections in Japan, with more 16,000 titles in its library.

(via celebi9)