No. 47, Hollywood Cartoons: A Disney Cel Puzzle, Part 2

I have a little bit to add to my piece in No. 46 about Who Killed Cock Robin.

One objective is to give due credit to the great Disney animator, Ham Luske.  Like Norm Ferguson, Luske was an early star talent in the thirties, responsible for much of the groundbreaking character animation that came out of the studio as the art was developing into the complex and subtle medium that reached its apex with the Nine Old Men.  Ham Luske may be best known as the animator of Max Hare, the brash and arrogant athlete of The Tortoise and the Hare.  But he also did the seductive, spot-on Mae West caricature , Jenny Wren, in Who Killed Cock Robin.

Second, after publishing the previous post, I recalled that there was mention of the Pegleg Pete gag in The Illusion of Life, the exhaustive Disney studio history and text by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.  I looked it up and found this reference on page 50.

Turns out, it doesn't always have to be a bully or a villain doing this, as Oswald was a protagonist in his films.

Here you see the same gag three times--in 1928 with Oswald Rabbit (before Mickey), and with Pete in 1934 and in 1940.  These in addition to the one we mentioned from Cock Robin.

How many more times might it have appeared?  Perhaps Jerry Beck knows the exact number, but I am sure there must be a dozen examples at least.  It has occurred to me that the gag might be based on the business of some popular vaudeville or silent film comedian, but I don't know.