cartoonsonfilm wrote:Hello all. I just found this forum and discussion while googling the Oswald situation that came to light yesterday.
I will say on behalf of myself and other animation preservationists that yesterday's discovery of the auction made for a very sad and worrisome day in the archival community. As someone who works in the field of locating and preserving silent cartoons day in and day out, it is fair for me to say that Bonhams has blown the film's value extremely out of proportion, whether or not it is a "lost" Disney film. The results of this auction, whether it is successful or not, could spell problems for the future of our preservation efforts when new "lost" films come to light.
If anyone is interested, I've written a lengthy piece on this matter for my early animation blog:
I just wanted you to know that I just did an article on the Oswald find and mentioned in it to go to your blog. I think you raise some great points and I hope that people go and read your article. There is NOTHING in my article that is new to this story but more of an FYI to people who read my blog and hopefully points them to your article.
Thank you SO much for your blog post. Really, very well done!!
Best,
Tom
No problem! Thank you! You and I corresponded a long time ago and I read your posts on Nitrateville. I really appreciate someone who knows so much about a subject and it shows in every word you write!
Having finished with a walk through the game demo, Spector tells me the story of “Hungry Hobos,” a 1928 cartoon that was considered to be lost forever until a few months ago, when it was discovered in a British film archive. It was sold at auction for $31,250.
The buyer, Spector now said, was Disney. Spector was the 5th person inside the company to watch the recovered film, and Disney had agreed to premiere it at an Epic Mickey event in Austin, Texas later in the month. After swearing me to secrecy, Spector let me be one of the first people outside of Disney to watch the reclaimed “Hungry Hobos.”
It was a simple premise: Oswald and Peg-Leg Pete were dressed up as tramps, riding the blinds on a train and looking for something to eat. Like many of the early Oswald cartoons — Disney’s first attempts at commercial animation — the animators simply reveled in the idea of being able to bring impossible things to life.
There was a level of comic violence that’s since been stripped away from children’s entertainment. Fed up with the inability to get a chicken to lay eggs, Oswald pulls the bird’s head off and reaches inside it to extract them. With no fire pit to use, Pete sets Oswald’s behind ablaze and cooks on it. To escape the long arm of the law, they pose as a hurdy-gurdy team, creating a musical box that beats animals over the head when cranked, causing them to squawk and yelp.
“Hungry Hobos” is a truly epic find, a fascinating and very funny example of the earliest days of Disney. When will you get to see it? Epic Mickey contained some Oswald shorts as bonus features, so I asked Spector if “Hungry Hobos” might make it into the new game this fall.
There was a level of comic violence that’s since been stripped away from children’s entertainment. Fed up with the inability to get a chicken to lay eggs, Oswald pulls the bird’s head off and reaches inside it to extract them. With no fire pit to use, Pete sets Oswald’s behind ablaze and cooks on it. To escape the long arm of the law, they pose as a hurdy-gurdy team, creating a musical box that beats animals over the head when cranked, causing them to squawk and yelp.
I like the sound of it - dark, comical and nostalgic Disney is always fun. I hope a version is made available to the public somehow...if only Walt Disney Treasures hadn't ended.
Epic Mickey contained some Oswald shorts as bonus features, so I asked Spector if “Hungry Hobos” might make it into the new game this fall.
When will you get to see it? Epic Mickey contained some Oswald shorts as bonus features, so I asked Spector if “Hungry Hobos” might make it into the new game this fall. “No comment.”
Maerj wrote:Now how about one of them there bluray/dvd releases? Or even just put it up online so we can watch it? Come on Disney, you know you want to.
Well, I don't know about a home video release but...
After posting this afternoon, a Walt Disney Animation spokesperson told me that they're "eager to show it" to a wider audience after "a bit more restoration", so a release with Epic Mickey 2 would be perfectly timed.
If its only going to be unlockable bons in Epic Mickey 2 I don't like that idea in the slightest, but if that the only why to see this cartoon I guess I will have to buy that game and play it in order.
Der Fuehrer's Face is the greatest Donald Duck cartoon ever made.
I know this is unlikely, but I hope that, like Paperman, they'll eventually make it available on YouTube. I don't see them releasing it to the general public anytime soon anyway.
Dave Bossert, head of special projects at WDAS, talks about the short Hungry Hobos.
According to Bossert there is at least one other "lost" Oswald short that Disney is aware of, but its owner is demanding what Disney considers too much money to purchase it.
Sotiris wrote:Dave Bossert, head of special projects at WDAS, talks about the short Hungry Hobos.
According to Bossert there is at least one other "lost" Oswald short that Disney is aware of, but its owner is demanding what Disney considers too much money to purchase it.
Disney, you cheapskate! This is a priceless part of your history. Give them what they want. This is no time to be stingy.
I doubt it's that expensive anyway considering that Disney bought Hungry Hobos for a mere $30,000.
