Broadway Folly: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Lantz, 1930)

This rare black-and-white archival footage presents "Broadway Folly," a classic silent Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from March 3, 1930, produced and directed by Walter Lantz for Universal Studios—nearly a century ago—marking an early milestone in Lantz’s tenure and offering a nostalgic laugh for animation fans. The silent film follows Oswald, the mischievous black rabbit with expressive ears, as he drives his uncovered car to a nightclub, parking it by compressing it to hand-sized and stashing it in his shorts after a bellhop objects, then entering the club. Inside, Oswald dances on a table, accidentally kicking Peg-Leg Pete (here a wolf) in the nose, prompting Pete to rip off Oswald’s head in a surreal gag—Oswald miraculously survives and reassembles himself, retaliating by placing a jar on Pete’s head. This triggers a chain reaction of slapstick: a cow laughs at Pete, Pete kicks the cow, a mouse laughs at the cow, the cow spits at the mouse, an elephant laughs at the mouse, and the mouse pulls the elephant’s trunk, causing a massive brawl that engulfs the nightclub. A police car eventually hauls the entire building away, while Pete’s cub, left outside, asks, “Is my father in there?”—a line reused in later Lantz cartoons. Long considered lost, this short was rediscovered, noted as Lantz’s last cartoon animated by Rollin Hamilton and featuring a laughing Oswald in the title card, transitioning to a steadier demeanor afterward. A lively window into early 1930s animation’s golden age, this preserved gem—directed by Lantz, with music by David Broekman—grips cartoon enthusiasts, animation historians, and nostalgic viewers, offering a timeless peek at a nightclub comedy frozen in time.