''Empty Socks'' is a 1927 short animated film made by

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

and

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert "Ub" Iwerks ( ; March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, Invention, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and f ...

that was considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

until its rediscovery in Norway in 2014. The film stars

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit, Oswald Rabbit, and Ozzie) is an animated series, animated cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures. He starred in several animated short film ...

Plot

The short from 1927. Oswald pretends to be

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

with his horse and visits his girlfriend/wife, Ortensia, who is in an orphanage. Oswald asks his horse to stretch its neck and sees that Ortensia was telling a Christmas story to 20 kittens. Oswald gets off his horse like a

playground slide Playground slides are found in parks, schools, playgrounds and backyards. The slide is an example of the simple machine known as the inclined plane, which makes moving objects up and down easier, or in this case more fun. The slide may be flat, o ...

and puts on what was missing from his body, a Santa Claus beard, and Oswald looks at his horse and also fantasizes him as a

Santa's reindeer In traditional Western festive legend and popular culture, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve. While various legends offer differing details, t ...

, placing on his head two branches that were on the ground. Oswald

whistles A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small sl ...

at Ortensia and she takes advantage of the fact that the kittens are asleep and sneaks away. The kittens hear Ortensia leaving and follow her. Oswald puts up a ladder in the orphanage and tries to ride his horse up, but his horse is in a pose that caused him to fall. Oswald doesn't like this at all, but then he puts the horse in another pose and they manage to get on. Oswald tries to get in through the

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

, but it looked like two more cups and he couldn't get in, but Oswald makes him thinner and he manages to get in. Ortensia tells Oswald to be quiet and the horse enters as well. The two tell the horse to be quiet and he walks slowly but in a strange movement, until the horse stumbles and falls to the ground, which knocks over a clock and a bottle in the distance. Oswald and Ortensia get irritated and the horse slips and falls to the ground again and the two get even more irritated and send him be quiet looking at the wall. All the happy kittens look at the door and Oswald pulls a

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

out of his bag. One of the kittens, who is in pajamas, tries to go down a ladder, but a part of his pajamas falls off, which shows his bottom, and he falls down all the steps, which causes him to be in pain. Three kittens are playing

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

, with two firefighters and one victim, who has a real fire. when the firemen arrive, the other one runs to a

sink A sink (also known as ''basin'' in the UK) is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes. Sinks have a tap (faucet) that supplies hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for fas ...

and attaches the

hose A hose is a flexible hollow tube or pipe designed to carry fluids from one location to another, often from a faucet or hydrant. Early hoses were made of leather, although modern hoses are typically made of rubber, canvas, and helically wound w ...

to the spout of the

faucet A tap (also spigot or faucet: see usage variations) is a valve controlling the release of a fluid. Nomenclature United Kingdom * Tap is used in the United Kingdom and most of the Commonwealth for any everyday type of valve, particularly ...

. One of them asks for water to come out of the hose and the other firefighter turns on the faucet and no water comes out of the hose, he looks at the hose and he takes a shower of water and cannot get the hose back. When he manages to get the hose back, no water comes out again. He calls the other firefighter, pulls the hose forward and water comes out. The fire grows, becoming a blaze and a fire appears in the shape of a hand and grabs one of the firefighters. All the kittens run from the orphanage and Oswald grabs another hose to throw at the fire. A kitten comes up with the idea to trick Oswald by putting the hose in gasoline and when Oswald shoots it, there is a huge explosion. The house is totally destroyed and Oswald falls from the sky and his butt starts to catch fire and (it had a cut scene) and the film ends.

Production background

The film was directed by

while his studio was under contract by Winkler Productions. This short is considered Disney's first Christmas-themed cartoon. ''

Mickey's Orphans ''Mickey's Orphans'' is a 1931 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. The cartoon takes place during Christmas and holiday season, Christmas time and star ...

'' (1931) is considered a remake of ''Empty Socks'' with a similar story line.

Rediscovery

In December 2014, an almost complete copy of the film, missing about 30 seconds, was discovered in

Mo i Rana (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ) or (and unofficially , ) is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city, and the administrative centre of Rana Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just sou ...

, Norway. Previously, the only known fragment was a 25-second segment housed at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York City. The original short ran about 5:30. The print of ''Empty Socks'' was found with a copy of the Oswald cartoon '' Tall Timber'' (1928). The print of ''Empty Socks'' belonged to a private individual, before being donated to the collection of the

Norwegian Film Institute The Norwegian Film Institute () was founded in 1955 to support and develop the Norwegian film industry. On 1 April 2008, it was merged with Norwegian Film Fund, Norwegian Film Development, and Norwegian Film Commission to form the "'new' Norweg ...

, which handed over its archive to the

National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway () was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened in 2005. Prior to the e ...

. The library stores most of its documents in a high-security bunker in Mo i Rana. On December 17, a digitized version of the recovered

nitrate film Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitration, nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitri ...

was shown at the National Library of Norway, along with '' Tall Timber''.

References

External links

*
''Empty Socks'' at SilentEra
{{Ub Iwerks 1927 animated short films 1920s Disney animated short films Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons Films directed by Walt Disney Films directed by Ub Iwerks American Christmas films 1920s rediscovered films 1927 films Universal Pictures animated short films Animated films about horses 1920s Christmas films Rediscovered American films Surviving American silent films 1920s American films Animated films about cats Animated Christmas films Animated films about orphans Films set in orphanages American animated black-and-white films Rediscovered animated films

Plot

Production background

Rediscovery

See also

References

External links