Trolley Troubles is a 1927 animated

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 short subject

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

 film, produced and directed by Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

. The cartoon is noted for being the first appearance of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney for films distributed by Universal Pictures in the 1920s and 1930s...

, a character that Disney and Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks

Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....

 created for Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 and Charles B. Mintz

Charles B. Mintz

Charles B. Mintz was an American film producer and distributor, who took control over Margaret J. Winkler's Winkler Pictures after marrying her in 1924....

. Oswald would later serve as the basis for Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...

.

History

In the early summer of 1927, Disney finished the first Oswald cartoon, entitled "Poor Papa". However, Universal was not very satisfied. They had expected a more Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...

-like character and thought Oswald was too big and too weak. Disney agreed to make some changes and the cartoon was not released in theatres at the time.

Instead, Oswald's second-produced cartoon was submitted for release: "Trolley Troubles". Universal was pleased and the short was released by Universal on September 5, 1927.

The press loved the new cartoon series Walt made and Oswald became a true hero. From that moment on, a new cartoon was released every two weeks.

The video was eventually posted on YouTube after being released on a big hit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon collection DVD.

As for "Poor Papa", it was released eventually in theatres, although Universal held it back until 1928. In total, nine Oswald cartoons were released in 1927, then released for DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

in 2007.

The copyright for Trolley Troubles expired in 1955.

A re-release of the cartoon was completed on November 23, 1931 after Walter Lantz Productions took over. This re-release was completed with music and sound effects.

Story

Oswald is driving a trolley, but there are some obstacles. The first obstacle is a cow that walks ito the middle of the train track and refuses to move until Oswald drives the trolley underneath it. Oswald thinks that everything is now good, until the trolley goes out of control. The trolley even goes onto a bumpy road without Oswald driving it onto the road, forcing Oswald to toss his Bunny Children out of the trolley, one by one. Eventually, Oswald gains control of the trolley again and parks it back at the train station.