Owl (The Skeleton Dance)

The Owl is a character featured in the 1929 Silly Symphony short The Skeleton Dance.
==Background==
===Physical appearance===
The owl resembles a horned owl and has black plumage all around his body. He also has big eyes located on the top of his head and a beak located between both eyes as well as a tail located on the bottom of his body. When affected by the wind, the owl's plumage would react to the wind that passes through him depending the direction the wind passes through.
==Appearances==
===The Skeleton Dance===
The owl is the very first onscreen character in the very first Silly Symphony short. As the short begins, the owl wakes up and the camera pans out of his eyes, where it reveals to him hooting in an ominous manner while being perched on a branch. As the wind blows around him, a branch with a human-like hand attempts to grab him, but is suddenly frightened upon seeing the arm, which he manages to avoid him and screeches. The branch attempts to grab him again and does the same thing while screeching in fright. He appears again noticing a skeleton trotting by and screeching at him, which he hides from a grave while hearing the owl screeching ominously. The skeleton, feeling irritated, throws his skull at the owl, causing him to lose his plumage - save for his head, which he reacts in shock of what he did to him. He does not appear throughout the rest of the short, even after the skeletons return to their graves after hearing a rooster announcing the sunrise.
==Video game appearances==
===Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two===
Owls appear in both versions of The Skeleton Dance in Epic Mickey 2. Like in the original short, the wind will occasionally pass through the owls, causing their plumage to react to the wind passing by. In the first version of The Skeleton Dance, a green E-Ticket is located next to an owl on a branch at the start of the level. Another owl also appears during the middle of the projector screen where a red E-Ticker is located below it and next to the tree it is perched on is another tree contianing a Film Reel that can be collected along the way. 
In the second version of The Skeleton Dance, a singular owl is perched on a branch and next to him is a golden E-Ticket. In order to reach the E-Ticket, the player must have Oswald be on the lower path to jump on the opposite tomb to cause a skeleton to push Mickey in the air to give him access to the said branch.
==Gallery==
Owl hooting at night.jpg
==Trivia==
*In 1937, Ub Iwerks worked on the cartoon Skeleton Frolic for Columbia Pictures' Color Rhapsody series, which is essentially a color remake of The Skeleton Dance, and features many similar scenes - one of them featuring skeletons throwing their heads at cat instead of an owl.
*Despite his small amount of screen time, the owl occasionally appears in merchandise inspired by The Skeleton Dance such as in limited edition trading pins inspired by the short such as the ones released by D23 to celebrate the short's 90th and 95th anniversary in 2019 and 2024 or in backpacks inspired by the short respectively.
Category:Owls
Category:Silly Symphonies characters
Category:Disney characters
Category:Animated characters
Category:Adults
Category:Characters who fly
Category:Silent characters