Uncle Walt (1964 Unofficial Disney Short)

Uncle Walt is a short cartoon produced in 1964 by then-student Robert Swarthe as part of The UCLA Animation Workshop.The UCLA Animation Workshop webpage. Retrieved 22 Jul '13. The only known mass public screening of the short took place in June 1972 at the American Film Institute, as part of a presentation titled "50 Years of American Animation".
The short begins with images of Walt Disney at various ages, followed by a slow pan across a graveyard full of the headstones of Perri the squirrel and her family (a reference to Disney's 1957 live-action fantasy Perri, a film based on Felix Salten's 1938 novel of the same name). The next shot seen is that of a very early-style Mickey and Minnie Mouse, followed by racist caricatures and toilet humour. A sequence is then seen in which the female centaurs from Fantasia are seen working in a red light district, with Goofy as their pimp, followed by a scene in which various disturbing scenes from Disney films are shown, with a group of rabbit children looking on in horror (including the scene from Disney's 1937 animated fantasy Snow White in which the Queen transforms into a hag). The final images seen are that of the seven dwarves from Snow White gathering around Mickey Mouse in a "Mouse-ka-mausoleum", worshiping him in a scene reminiscent of one seen in the original 1937 production.2007 mouseplanet.com "Disney Cartoons That Aren't Disney" article in which the short is described. Retrieved 22 Jul '13.
For a time, a rumor circulated that the short was actually produced by Disney employees in 1954, but this was quickly debunked (since the short, as previously mentioned, contains references to the then-non-existent 1957 film Perri). Uncle Walt has not been publicly screened since 1972, and it was originally unknown if anyone other than Swarthe were still in possession of a copy,Uncle Walt Lost Media Wiki (LMW). Retrieved 22 Jul '07.but the short has since been preserved by the Academy Film Archive under the Robert Swarthe Collection.https://collections.new.oscars.org//Details/FilmWorks/1035877https://www.oscars.org/film-archive/collections/robert-swarthe-collection
Since then for many decades, no images of the film have ever surfaced online until finally on August 11, 2024, a 16mm film reel of the short was listed on eBay for $150 was sold for $172 and several still images of the cartoon were provided with the listing.https://www.ebay.com/itm/387286740377?itmmeta=01J56NXZC5RVWC81DZVPCH7620&hash=item5a2c16ad99:g:c1kAAOSwH8hmt5nt&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABIHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlbkZ3juqF8fwogaExrbROFjLR5LdKE8Yeo%2Fpqg097dhuEGKS%2BVUtlSAU6Gg6Dosu8VKy8BS3AaaWjQamQ2B5sSVjjI1sYthsxkFl0Zb84NsT4g7DkVlqcU6FigYfUKQRIIE%2FOwubIb0flxn1A5CIvOKiE4V6PoBvOvJeyMjCBgJF2wOPtm4lHU7f7WS3SnV%2BK4uQcqEUEXLez3LVkG5IPQ6hhRbAetZ7tZ3t4OEQfV5O%2BykjVGta8Axor7d7SWl6m8JSQ%2Bx4ZvEEqDgmfTooFaxHRVvcszgzmsMfMGa9wQUJ4oI75if6YW3y%2F0bPolGVbHMxMDy%2Fd2teWcpnBHXPqsNVRPf9p9ldd6o%2BxToLuCSA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR47299WpZA
On January 1, 2024, Thunderbean Animation announced a limited-time Blu-ray release titled "Public Domain Mouse Adventures!" This release will include all three 1928 Mickey shorts plus "additional mouse adventures from other studios" including Uncle Walt itself.https://thunderbeanshop.com/product/public-domain-mouse-adventures/
== Gallery ==
File:Uncle Walt still.png|A still of Mickey and Minnie Mouse from the short.
== External Links ==
* Uncle Walt on the Lost Media Wiki
==References==
Category:Animated shorts
Category:History
Category:Non-Disney