Disney Silent Cartoons - What Disney did before Mickey Mouse!

Disney Silent Cartoons - What Disney did before Mickey Mouse!



Before Mickey Mouse there was Oswald, Alice and Julius. These are Walt Disney’s earliest attempts at animation. Some are made entirely by Walt himself, like Little Red Riding Hood and the Newman Laugh-O-Grams!!!



The cartoons were made between 1922 and 1928 (Before Mickey Mouse was created)

These are silent Black&White Cartoons. Some of them have some audio included but that is later additions, so you might as well turn the sound off, to really get into the feeling of the era!





Laugh-O-Grams: (http://disneyshorts.toonzone.net/years/1922/index.html)

Disney was doing crude animation for Film Ad, but was frustrated by some of the limitations imposed on him. So, at nighttime in his own garage studio, he began making his own films which he sold to the Newman Theatre Company. And thus the Newman Laugh-O-Grams were born.



In the beginning, the Laugh-O-Grams were only about a minute long. Titles included "Cleaning Up!!?", "Kansas City Girls are Rolling Their Own Now", "Take a Ride Over Kansas City Streets" and "Kansas City's Spring Cleanup." Disney based his subject matter, and won over the Kansas City audience, on problems and corruption within the local government. Once these proved successful, he moved on to longer shorts, using well-known fairy tales and children's stories as his subjects.



Only a few of these shorts have survived to the present time. But they made Disney's mark, even if only locally, and started him on his way.



Laugh-O-Gram - Little Red Riding Hood (NTSC VCD).mpg

Laugh-O-Gram - The Four Musicians Of Bremen (NTSC VCD).mpg

Laugh-O-Gram - Puss In Boots (NTSC VCD).mpg

Laugh-O-Gram - Cinderella (NTSC VCD).mpg

Various Newman Laugh-O-Grams (NTSC VCD).mpg





Alice Comedies: (http://disneyshorts.toonzone.net/characters/alice.html)

Alice, of course, was not an animated character but Julius the Cat was. In fact, Julius may be considered Disney's first regularly recurring animated character. In both attitude and the magical way that he used his body and other objects he mainly resembled another popular animated cat named Felix. The resemblance to Felix is not accidental, but to fair to Disney it was not his idea. The "suggestion" came from Charles B. Mintz who had taken over the management of the Winkler enterprise, since Winkler was the common distributor of both Disney and Pat Sullivan (this shows that the movie industry is, if nothing else, imitative). Julius was always Alice's cat, though and his lifespan did not extend beyond the life of the Alice comedies.



Alice's Wonderland (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Day at Sea (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Spooky Adventure (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Fishy Story (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice and the Dog Catcher (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice Gets in Dutch (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice and the Three Bears (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice Cans the Cannibals (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice the Toreador (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice Gets Stung (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice Solves the Puzzle (NTSC VCD ).mpg

Alice's Egg Plant (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice is Stage Struck (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice the Jail Bird (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Tin Pony (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice Chops the Suey (NTSC VCD) sf sub.mpg

Alice Rattled by Rats (NTSC VCD) .mpg

Alice in the Jungle (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice Loses Out (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Orphan (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice on the Farm (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Balloon Race (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Little Parade (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Mysterious Mystery (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice Picks the Champ (NTSC VCD) - ONLY 2.5 MIN.mpg

Alice in the Wooly West (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice the Fire Fighter (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice's Circus Daze (NTSC VCD).mpg

Alice the Whaler (NTSC VCD).mpg





Oswald the Lucky Rabbit made by Disney: (http://disneyshorts.toonzone.net/characters/oswald.html)

Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit was created after the end of the Alice series. Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Studios told Charles Mintz that he wanted a cartoon series featuring a rabbit. Margaret Winkler Mintz suggested Disney for the job, and Disney responded with the short "Poor Papa." The cartoon was received very negatively, mostly because of the appearance of Oswald himself. He was more of a scruffy hooligan rather than the pleasing personality that Laemmle wanted. Disney went back to the drawing board and returned with "Trolley Troubles" which presented a more appealing and likable Oswald. Even throughout the series, Oswald's appearance softened. When the Oswald series was taken out of Disney's hands and given to Walter Lantz, the figure changed even more;



Oswald - Trolley Troubles (NTSC VCD).mpg

Oswald - Oh teacher (NTSC VCD).mpg

Oswald - The Mechanical Cow (NTSC VCD) .mpg

Oswald - Great Guns (NTSC VCD) .mpg

Oswald - The Ocean Hop (NTSC VCD).mpg

Oswald - Rival Romeos (NTSC VCD).mpg

Oswald - Bright Lights (NTSC VCD).mpg

Oswald - Oh, What a Knight (NTSC VCD).mpg

Oswald - The Fox Chase (NTSC VCD).mpg





Oswald the Lucky Rabbit made by Walter Lantz:

Oswald - Yanky Clippers - Lantz (NTSC VCD).mpg



Educational:

Educational - Tommy Tucker's Tooth (NTSC VCD).mpg

Educational - Clara Cleans Her Teeth (NTSC VCD).mpg





These cartoons have been collected from various sources. The quality varies a lot, from pretty good to awful. This is all of the silent cartoons that I have found. If anyone has other Disney silent cartoons, or any of these cartoons in better quality. Please let me know!



xpern(at)hotmail.com