The Ol' Swimmin' 'Ole: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Disney, 1928) – Incomplete Reconstruction

This rare black-and-white archival footage presents an incomplete reconstruction of "The Ol' Swimmin' 'Ole," a lost Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from February 6, 1928, created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Studios—nearly a century ago—offering a haunting glimpse into early animation history. The silent film, originally a pastoral outing where Oswald and his friends defy a "No Swimmin'" sign at a swimming hole, features slapstick gags like Oswald riding a galloping donkey, a kitten water-skiing on its tail, and a bear altering the sign to "No Wimmin," but much of it remains missing, with only fragments rediscovered. Recently found in the Royal Belgian Film Archive, the surviving print—missing the final sequence of Sheriff Crabb losing his pants and an earlier scene of the bear’s sign alteration—captures Oswald’s mischievous antics, creative dives, and a bumbling police chase, all set against simple, whimsical backgrounds typical of the era. A tantalizing window into 1920s animation’s golden age, this preserved fragment—marking one of Disney’s early works before Mickey Mouse—grips cartoon enthusiasts, animation historians, and nostalgic viewers, offering a rare, fleeting peek at a lost classic frozen in time.