It could have been.

Case Number Three: What if Walt Disney had never lost Oswald the Rabbit?
The genesis of Mickey Mouse is well known to most animation fans. In February of 1928, Walt Disney approached his distributor, Charles Mintz, who was in turn a middleman for Carl Laemmle’s Universal Pictures Studio. Disney’s Oswald the Rabbit series was a hit, and Disney thought that it was time for Mintz to pony up more money for better production values. Unknown to Disney, Mintz and Universal were conspiring to wrest control of Disney’s studio away from Walt. After secretly signing up most of Walt’s staff, Mintz offered Disney less money to make his Oswald cartoons. The alternative to going bust — give control of the studio to Universal, which owned the rights to Oswald under the terms of Disney’s contract. Rather than cavil to Mintz, Disney gave up Oswald and his animators to Universal, who assigned Oswald to Walter Lantz. A year later, Laemmle shafted Mintz by setting up his own cartoon studio. On the long train trip back to California from New York, Disney created his initial conception of Mickey Mouse.

Imagine a scenario in which Laemmle decided to eliminate his middleman much earlier in the picture. The ruthless and crafty head of Universal decides to share his cartoon profits with no one and gives Mintz and his brother-in-law George Winkler the boot early into the conspiracy against Disney, preferring a cheaper solution. Laemmle not only gives Disney more than the $2,500 per Oswald cartoon he was requesting, A delighted Walt signs a new contract with Universal and sets to work on the next year of Oswald cartoons.

Two fans, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, ask Clampett to serve as an advisor on Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the money pours in from licensing and merchandising. © Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.

Warner Bros. triumphant premiere of the first sound picture, The Jazz Singer, excites Disney’s imagination. He informs Laemmle that he could, if given the chance, make the first synchronized talking cartoon short. Laemmle gives permission to proceed, and Disney, Iwerks, and Wilfred Jackson create Steamboat Willie in 1928. In this engaging cartoon, Oswald rescues his sweetheart Winnie Rabbit from the clutches of lusty steamboat captain Peg Leg Pete.

Universal planned to make a picture starring bandleader Paul Whiteman called, The King of Jazz. While the film was in production Whiteman agreed to provide a score for Walt’s cartoon. Playing over much of the action was a composition the bandleader later called “Happy Feet,” but the musical highlight was a concert played using barnyard animals as instruments. This lively sequence was synchronized to Whiteman’s arrangement of “The Birth of the Blues.” Walt had balked at using jazz, but Laemmle overruled him.

Steamboat Willie is a major hit, and Disney is asked to expand his capacities. Universal puts Technicolor at Walt’s disposal. The Universal cartoon studio undergoes a modest expansion, and one new animator, Norm Ferguson, contributes Oswald’s dog Pluto to the cartoon cast. Iwerks comes up with an amusing character named Tony Frog. Regulars Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar join Oswald as well. Times are good and so is the money, but Disney finds he is chafing under Laemmle’s control.

Although the two have had a good relationship, a breach occurs in 1935 when Walt Disney petitions Universal for the funds to make a feature-length animated film. Laemmle was turning his attention to big-budget musicals after his success with horror films and preferred to play it safe with his cartoon department. Laemmle’s mind was on his extravagantly expensive musical project Show Boat. He did not believe, in any case, that an 80-minute cartoon would sustain an audience’s interest.

In a fantasy world, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks (left picture) give Carl Laemmle and Universal Studios a big hit with Steamboat Willie (right) in which Oswald the Rabbit is introduced. © Disney Enterprises Inc.

Both Show Boat and Laemmle’s other major project, Magnificent Obsession, nearly sink Universal. Laemmle finds himself replaced by the more budget-conscious Robert H. Cochrane, who drastically cuts back the animation department. Disney takes the opportunity to sever ties with Universal and set himself up as an independent. Oswald, Pluto, Tony the Frog (who is now named “Flip”) and several other characters are lost, but, in 1937, Disney, Iwerks and Fred Moore — another key animator who followed Disney from Universal — create a saucy little mouse as part of a repertoire of new characters. Although the Disney characters are well received by the public, the mouse (named Mickey by Walt’s wife Lillian), develops into a superstar. Disney’s fortunes are made and animation’s greatest studio is launched.

It could have been… something like that.

This closes our little game of “What If?” in which some events are changed. Other things that were meant to be still come to be, albeit through a circuitous path. Still, I wonder… What if Jay Ward had lived to become a head writer on The Simpsons…?