The Unpopular Mechanic (1936)
Article 5711 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 1-30-2020
Directed by Walter Lantz
Featuring the voice of Bernice Hansen
Country: USA
What it is: Animated whimsy

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit creates a machine that can change a person’s personality. He tries it out on the residents of a boarding home.

From my youth, I remember Walter Lantz’s friendly persona when he appeared in episodes of THE WOODY WOODPECKER SHOW. Yet, it must be said that he wasn’t really in the top line of cartoon creators, and the pickings of his oeuvre from before the creation of Woody are pretty slim. This is a pretty dull stretch of cartoon; it’s almost as if it missed every comic opportunity that presented itself, which is pretty sad given that the central premise is pretty good. At any rate, here’s another cartoon that passes into genre territory that I haven’t found listed in any of my guides.