Ortensia is the wife to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. She first appeared in Oil's Well (1929) in the Lantz cartoons, she was originally called Sadie when first made by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Renamed as Kitty when Walter Lantz took over the Oswald series in 1929. On February 9, 2006, all of the characters from the early Oswald series of animated shorts went to Disney and Kitty was renamed to Ortensia.
Beginning[]
After Charles Mintz and most of his animators were fired from making more Oswald cartoons in 1929, Laemmle selected Walter Lantz to produce the new series of Oswald shorts (the first of which was 1929's Race Riot). Lantz consulted Disney about Oswald and he gave Lantz his blessing to continue the Oswald series as the Mickey Mouse shorts had become more successful so the two became close friends, thus Disney let Lantz use Pete (with his original bear design) including Sadie who was renamed Kitty in the series.
Redesigning[]
Throughout the cartoons, Ortensia still had her Disney/Winkler design, her design started to change beginning with Not So Quiet, which she was given lipstick.
Then, throughout 1931, she was given blond hair (but still retained most of her cat designs).
Around late 1932, Ortensia's design was completely changed to resemble Pooch the Pup's girlfriend Poodles, which is a beagle, but the only major difference being that the two character's clothes are different, her design would change again but minorly from 1934 to 1935.
End of Her Career[]
Around 1936, she frequently stopped appearing in the series, mostly when Oswald was made into a white-furred rabbit, thus her appearances stopped in the Lantz since then.
List of Appearances[]
1929[]
1930[]
- Kounty Fair
- Chilly Con Carmen
- Kisses and Kurses
- Bowery Bimbos
- Tramping Tramps
- Not So Quiet
- Spooks
- Cold Feet
- The Singing Sap
- The Navy
- Mexico
- Mars
1931[]
- College
- The Farmer
- The Fireman
- Sunny South
- Country School
- The Stone Age
- Kentucky Belles
- Hot Feet
- The Hunter
- Wonderland
- The Hare Mail
- The Fisherman
- The Clown
1932[]
- Grandma's Pet
- Mechanical Man
- Beau and Arrows
- The Winged Horse
- A Wet Knight
- Day Nurse
- Carnival Capers
- Wild and Woolly
- Teacher's Pests