The rights to the character are currently held by The Walt Disney Company, though the Winkler and Walter Lantz cartoons that starred Oswald are owned by Universal.

Rights to the Lantz / Universal-produced Oswald films and other related products were not included, and therefore Oswald appears in both Disney releases and in Universal's Woody Woodpecker and Friends collection.

Earlier, as an animation writer, Kinney was part of the story crew on various Disney, Walter Lantz, UPA and King Features theatrical and TV cartoons.

With licenses for characters from Walt Disney Productions, Warner Brothers, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Walter Lantz Studio, Western produced comics based on these characters, as well as original works.

Warner Bros shut down the Original Termite Terrace studio in 1963 and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises assumed production of the shorts, licensed by Warner Bros. After DePatie-Freleng ceased production of Looney Tunes in 1967, Bill Hendricks was put in charge of production of the newly-renamed Warner Bros .- Seven Arts animation studio, and hired veterans such as Alex Lovy and LaVerne Harding from the Walter Lantz studio, Volus Jones and Ed Solomon from Disney, Jaime Diaz who later worked on The Fairly OddParents as director, and David Hanan, who previously worked on Roger Ramjet.

From 1931-1932, Walter Lantz re-issued 6 of the Disney Oswald cartoons, like Trolley Troubles, Great Guns and The Ocean Hop.

In February 2006, the now-NBC Universal ( who still owns the Lantz library ) sold the trademarks rights to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit along with the copyright to the original 26 cartoons produced Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks.

In 1946, Lantz hired Disney veteran Dick Lundy to take over the direction chores for Woody's cartoons.

Former Disney animators such as Fred Moore and Ed Love began working at Lantz, and assisted Lundy in adding touches of the Disney style to Woody's cartoons.

" I did more or less the same thing that I did with Walt Disney in directing live-action except Lantz was better at taking direction.

The list below features many former Warner staffers, but also includes former Disney, MGM and Lantz staffers as well.

Later shorts include George O ' Hanlon's Joe McDoakes movies, and the animated work of studios such as Walt Disney Productions, Leon Schlesinger Productions / Warner Bros. Cartoons, Walter Lantz and Fleischer / Famous Studios.

Unlike many voice actors who did most of their work for one studio, Frees worked extensively with at least nine of the major animation production companies of the 20th century: Walt Disney Studios, Walter Lantz Studios, UPA, Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, Jay Ward Productions and Rankin / Bass.

Ketcham started in the business as an animator for Walter Lantz and eventually Walt Disney, where he worked on Fantasia, Bambi and Pinocchio.

Dell Comics was best known for its licensed material, most notably the animated characters from Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Walter Lantz Studio, along with many movie and television properties such as the Lone Ranger, Tarzan, Felix the Cat, Howdy Doody, Yogi Bear and other Hanna-Barbera characters.

After he left Disney, he worked briefly for Walter Lantz on Woody Woodpecker cartoons.

Natwick worked for a number of American animation studios, including the Ub Iwerks studio, Walt Disney Productions, the Walter Lantz studio, UPA, and the Richard Williams studio.

Three of Grim's former assistants included Walter Lantz ( Hearst ), Chuck Jones ( Iwerks ) and Marc Davis ( Disney ).

Culhane worked for a number of American animation studios, including Fleischer Studios, the Ub Iwerks studio, Walt Disney Productions, and the Walter Lantz studio.

In 1943 Lundy departed the Disney studios and worked for Walter Lantz Productions.

Fred Moore left the Disney Studios in 1946 and worked for Walter Lantz, where he redesigned the character Woody Woodpecker during a two-year stint that ended with his return to Disney in 1948.

Taking her advice, though a bit skeptical about its success, Lantz debuted Woody Woodpecker in an Andy Panda short, Knock Knock.

A version of Oswald redesigned by Walter Lantz.

Laemmle selected Walter Lantz to produce the new series of Oswald shorts ( the first of which was 1929's Race Riot ).

Over the next decade, Lantz would produce 142 Oswald cartoons, making for a grand total of 194 films that the character starred in, spanning the work of all three producers.

After Lantz took over production in 1929, the character's look was changed to some degree over the following years: Oswald got white gloves on his hands, shoes on his feet, a shirt, a " cuter " face with larger eyes, a bigger head, and shorter ears ( pictured left ).

This new Oswald model was adapted directly from a non-Oswald character in another Lantz cartoon: the Cinecolor " Fox and the Rabbit " ( 1935 ), released some two months earlier as the last of the early Cartune Classics series.

Animator Bill Nolan did the voice of Oswald in Cold Turkey, the first Lantz cartoon with dialogue, and the following year Pinto Colvig, who was working as an animator and gag man at the studio, started voicing Oswald.

Starting in 1932, Lantz ceased to use a regular voice actor for Oswald, and many studio staff members ( including Lantz himself ) would take turns in voicing the character over the years.

He continued to appear in that role in the Oswald films directed and produced by Walter Lantz until 1933.

At the time Lantz took over the series with Disney's blessing are the only Oswald related material plus the 26 cartoons created at Charles Mintz Studio that were not part of the sale still remains property of Universal.

Late in 1929, Universal Pictures who owned the rights to Oswald, started its own animation studio headed by Walter Lantz, replacing Mintz and forcing Harman and Ising out of work.

Audiences reacted well to Knock Knock, and Lantz realized he had finally hit upon a star to replace the waning Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

In 1928, Lantz was hired by Charles B. Mintz as a director on the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon series for Universal Studios.

As fate would have it, Lantz won the bet, and Oswald was now his character.

When Oswald had worn out his welcome, Lantz decided that he needed a new character.

Originally formed by Bassist Joey Coffin ( Tunnel Dogs / String of Coincidence ) and Drummer Lantz Stephenson ( Broadcast / String of Coincidence ) they had several lead guitarists until ending up with Jeff whose Jimmy Page-like abilities gave musical credibility to the proceedings.

The character would continue to appear in theatrical shorts until 1972, when Lantz finally closed his studio.

Lantz finally closed up shop in 1972 ( by then, he later explained, it was economically impossible to continue producing them and stay in business as rising inflation had strained his profits ), and Universal serviced the remaining demand with reissues of his older cartoons.

Lantz then worked at the John R. Bray Studios on the Jerry On The Job series.

In 1924, Lantz directed, animated, and even starred in his first cartoon series, Dinky Doodle, and shortly after he replaced George " Vernon " Stallings as head of production ( During the 1920s, Bray began to concentrate in beating Hal Roach as the " king of two-reelers ").

Lantz inherited many of his initial staff, including animator Tom Palmer and musician Bert Fiske from the Winkler studio, but importantly he decided to select a fellow New York animator, Bill Nolan, to help develop the series.

The brash woodpecker character was similar to the early Daffy Duck, and Lantz liked the results enough to build a series around it.

Animator Walter Lantz produced a short-lived cartoon series for Universal Pictures called " Maw and Paw ," though only four cartoons were released between 1953 and 1955.

Another Walter Lantz cartoon " The Ostrich Egg And I " ( from the Maggie & Sam series ) in 1956 was a spoof of The Egg and I with Maggie voiced by Grace Stafford and Sam voiced by Daws Butler.

Knock Knock is a 1940 animated short subject, part of the Andy Panda series, produced by Walter Lantz.

He left Lantz in 1965 to work briefly for Hanna-Barbera Productions, before moving over to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises to direct Pink Panther shorts and other cartoon series.

After losing the Oswald contract to Walter Lantz, Mintz focused on the output of another Winkler-distributed short series, the Krazy Kat series, the Winkler Studio became known as the Mintz Studio after he took over in 1929, and later Screen Gems after Columbia Pictures took over from him in 1939, a few months before he died the next year.

The Woody Woodpecker Show is a long-running 30-minute American television series mainly composed of animated cartoon escapades of the world-famous woodpecker and other Walter Lantz characters including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and Inspector Willoughby released by Walter Lantz Productions.

Andy Panda is a funny animal cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz.