Hot for Hollywood: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Lantz, 1930) – Silent

This rare black-and-white archival footage presents "Hot for Hollywood," a classic silent Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon from May 19, 1930, produced and directed by Walter Lantz for Universal Studios—nearly a century ago—offering a nostalgic laugh for early animation fans. The silent film follows Oswald, the mischievous black rabbit with expressive ears, as he travels to Hollywood for a screen test, bringing his piano to perform a beautiful song. However, Peg-Leg Pete, working in the mixing room, sabotages the test by adding "nasty ingredients" to the film reel, resulting in a chaotic, distorted projection that leaves Oswald humiliated. Pete laughs as Oswald struts out of Hollywood, vowing never to return. Featuring caricatures of Al Jolson and Charlie Chaplin, this short—directed by Lantz, with a musical score by David Broekman—captures the rough, energetic slapstick of Lantz’s early Oswald era, though a Vitaphone disc of the soundtrack was found in 2005 and remains unreleased online. A lively window into early 1930s animation’s golden age, this preserved gem—marking Lantz’s 40th Oswald cartoon and one of his final silent shorts before transitioning to sound—grips cartoon enthusiasts, animation historians, and nostalgic viewers, offering a timeless peek at a showbiz misadventure frozen in time.