The Walt Disney enterprise, most iconically known for Mickey Mouse, has gifted us with yet another childhood wonder. Earlier this year another long-lost Walt Disney Animated short-film was discovered. Originally broadcasted in 1928, “Sleigh Bells”, the 6-minute-long animation was thought to be lost forever until an American researcher came across a copy while searching for lost titles in the British Film Institute’s National Archives. Featuring Oswald, Mickey Mouse’s predecessor, the 87 year old film is a part of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Series, arguably one of Walt Disney’s most successful cartoon series. Besides the remaining Oswald the Lucky Rabbit films, it’s also a rare surviving example of Disney silent animation. In 2011 for example “Hungry-Hobos”, yet another Disney silent film, was unearthed. “Hungry-Hobos” was thought to be missing since before World War II. Today, only about half Disney’s silent films are in existence, many of which are from The Alice Comedies series and Laugh-O-Gram, home to early animation pioneers. It is one of these silent movies where Ub Iwerks first created Mickey Mouse.Although created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Series isn’t very well known to most Disney fans (even with Mickey Mouse and Oswald’s very close resemblance). This is mostly because the rights were owned by Universal Studios until 2006 when Disney bought them back. Since then, Oswald, the anthropomorphic rabbit known for his mischievous and rebellious personality, has made several appearances in Disney’s games, comic books, theme parks, films, and merchandise. These include the Epic Mickey video games, a cameo in Big Hero 6, and as the subject of the feature film, Walt Before Mickey. But even to those hard core Disney fans for which Oswald is still pretty well-known, “Sleigh Bells”, will offer many fans who have never seen any of the original Oswald the Lucky Rabbit films their first glimpse into the original character and a look at the peak of imagination that made Disney the mega-firm that it is today. On Dec. 12, as part of their A Disney Christmas: Seasonal Shorts, the BFI Southbank in collaboration with Walt Disney Animation Studios will premiere the newly restored film for the first time in decades.

This article was written by Ana Cicenia. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Chad Sparkes via Flickr