Studio: Walt Disney Studio / Winkler Pictures
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Short Synopsis
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is the driver of a ramshackle trolley car, and he gets it ready to carry a load of passengers, his bunny children among them. On the route, a stubborn cow plants herself on the tracks and refuses to move; Oswald solves the problem by driving the trolley straight underneath her, then mocks her as she fumes. At a steep hill the trolley can't climb, he tempts a goat with a stick so that it butts the car up the slope. Over the top, the trolley runs away down a bumpy road, bouncing the passengers out one by one. Desperate, Oswald prays, then pulls off his own foot, kisses it and rubs it on his head for luck. The trolley plunges into a river, and Oswald, unhurt, paddles it downstream like a raft with a stick.
Why It Matters
- The lucky-foot gag sums up Oswald: a rabbit who treats his own body as a prop. The runaway downhill sequence, with the trolley stretching and squashing over every bump, shows the Disney team's new mastery of speed and elastic movement.
- It was the first Oswald cartoon released, and a big hit for Universal. Oswald's success, and Disney's loss of him in 1928, when Charles Mintz took the character and most of the animators, pushed Disney to create Mickey Mouse. Disney regained the rights to Oswald in 2006, when the Walt Disney Company acquired them from NBCUniversal.
Notes and Trivia
- The first Oswald cartoon produced, Poor Papa, was rejected by Universal, who thought the rabbit too old and fat; Trolley Troubles went out first instead.
- Universal reissued it in 1931 with a soundtrack added, after Walter Lantz took over the series.
- The cartoon may have been inspired by the Toonerville Trolley comic strip.
- See also: Plane Crazy (1928).