Poor Papa
About Poor Papa
Oswald paces outside while his wife gives birth. Storks drop babies down the chimney until more than thirty are in the bed with her. On Saturday night he washes the children in a barrel, runs them through a wringer, and hangs them up to dry. They saw the table legs and jump on the piano. He puts a No Vacancies sign on the roof and shoots at the next storks. One load still falls down the chimney. He ties a knot in the chimney. The storks drop the babies into the open water tank, and they pour out of the tap.
Cast & crew
More about Poor Papa
Walt Disney directed it for Charles Mintz's Winkler Pictures. Ub Iwerks, Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, Les Clark, Friz Freleng, Ben Clopton, Norm Blackburn, and Rollin Hamilton animated it. Universal Pictures released it on 11 June 1928. It runs 5 minutes 11 seconds. Disney finished it in the early summer of 1927. Universal held it back: the company wanted a figure closer to Charlie Chaplin and thought this Oswald was too old and too fat. Trolley Troubles went out first.
Themes
Making
Universal's objection was the body: too old, too fat. Disney changed the rabbit on the next shorts and this one waited until 1928.
Preservation
A print survives.
Notes
- It was the first Oswald cartoon Disney made, and the ninth Oswald release of the series came only after the 1927 batch.
- Nine other Oswald cartoons reached theaters in 1927 while this one sat.
- The roof sign reads No Vacancies.
- A timed copy runs 5 minutes 14 seconds.
Scenes
- The doctor starts counting babies on his fingers and Oswald stops him.
- Oswald runs a string of children through a wringer.
- Babies pour out of the kitchen tap.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Poor Papa (1928).webm)
