Tram
A tram is a rail vehicle which runs on tramway tracks along public urban streets. The lines or networks operated by tramcars are called tramways; the term electric street railways was used in the United States. In the United States, the term tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tyred trackless trains, which are unrelated to other kinds of trams. Tram vehicles are lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Today, most trams use electrical power fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line. In some cases by a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets, diesel in more rural environments. Trams carry freight. Trams are now included in the wider term "light rail", which includes grade-separated systems; some trams, known as tram-trains, may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are indistinct, a given system may combine multiple features.
One of the advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Problems included the fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed and cared for day in and day out, produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with disposing of. Electric trams replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th century. Improvements in other forms of road transport such as buses led to decline of trams in mid 20th century. Trams have seen resurgence in recent years; the English terms tram and tramway are derived from the Scots word tram, referring to a type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which they ran. The word tram derived from Middle Flemish trame; the identical word la trame with the meaning "crossbeam" is used in the French language. Etymologists believe that the word tram refers to the wooden beams the railway tracks were made of before the railroad pioneers switched to the much more wear-resistant tracks made of iron and steel.
The word Tram-car is attested from 1873. Although the terms tram and tramway have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English; the term streetcar is first recorded in 1840, referred to horsecars. When electrification came, Americans began to speak of trolleycars or trolleys. A held belief holds the word to derive from the troller, a four-wheeled device, dragged along dual overhead wires by a cable that connected the troller to the top of the car and collected electrical power from the overhead wires. "Trolley" and variants refer to the verb troll, meaning "roll" and derived from Old French, cognate uses of the word were well established for handcarts and horse drayage, as well as for nautical uses. The alternative North American term'trolley' may speaking be considered incorrect, as the term can be applied to cable cars, or conduit cars that instead draw power from an underground supply. Conventional diesel tourist buses decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called trolleys in the US.
Furthering confusion, the term tram has instead been applied to open-sided, low-speed segmented vehicles on rubber tires used to ferry tourists short distances, for example on the Universal Studios backlot tour and, in many countries, as tourist transport to major destinations. The term may apply to an aerial ropeway, e.g. the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Although the use of the term trolley for tram was not adopted in Europe, the term was associated with the trolleybus, a rubber-tyred vehicle running on hard pavement, which draws its power from pairs of overhead wires; these electric buses, which use twin trolley poles, are called trackless trolleys, or sometimes trolleys. The New South Wales, government has decided to use the term "light rail" for their trams; the history of trams, streetcars or trolley systems, began in early nineteenth century. It can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of motive power used; the world's first passenger train or tram was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway, in Wales, UK.
The Mumbles Railway Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1804, horse-drawn service started in 1807. The service was restarted in 1860, again using horses, it was worked by steam from 1877, from 1929, by large electric tramcars, until closure in 1961. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, no street tramway would appear in Britain until 1860 when one was built in Birkenhead by the American George Francis Train. Street railways developed in America before Europe due to the poor paving of the streets in American cities which made them unsuitable for horsebuses, which were common on the well-paved streets of European cities. Running the horsecars on rails allowed for a much smoother ride. There are records of a street railway running in Baltimore as early as 1828, however the first authenticated streetcar in America, was the New York and Harle
Hungry Hoboes
Hungry Hoboes is a silent animated short released by Universal studios in 1928. The short features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Peg Leg Pete as the title characters, who hop trains in search of food. Having been lost since before World War II, the short was rediscovered in 2011 in the Huntley Film Archives, was purchased by the Walt Disney Company for $31,250, it was restored in a year-long digital restoration. Hungry Hoboes re-debuted in at the Telluride Film Festival, on September 2, 2012, as part of a special animation shorts program presented by leading film historian and restoration expert Serge Bromberg. Hungry Hoboes on IMDb Hungry Hoboes at The Big Cartoon DataBase
The Fox Chase
The Fox Chase is an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short released in June 25, 1928. A comic running-of-the-fox with Oswald atop a reluctant horse against a smarter-than-usual fox. Oswald goes on a fox chase, his horse was being stubborn and he couldn't go because of it. Oswald tried to tie a ladder to the horse's tail and he tried to plead it. Once on the go, the sly fox outwits the dogs making a wiener dog tie its self into a knot to moving a puddle so when dogs jump over the wall, they fall into the pit. Once Oswald finds the fox hiding in a log hitting the dogs with a club, Oswald gets an idea to have the dogs go on the other side of the log while Oswald rolls up the log to get the fox out. Instead of finding the fox, the dogs and Oswald run away in fear after finding a skunk; the fox takes off the skunk costume and laughs while the short ends
Yanky Clippers
Yanky Clippers is a silent animated film starring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. It is among the few shorts created during the Winkler period known to exist; the cartoon is Oswald's last silent film. Oswald runs a barber shop, his first customer is a shaggy terrier, Oswald goes to give it a haircut. Every time Oswald shaves some hair from the terrier's back, the hairs keep growing. In time, Oswald finds out that the little dog is drinking a bottle of hair-growing liquid while he shaves, he takes away the bottle and continues working. Though all he intended to is to give the terrier a little trimming, Oswald makes the dog completely hairless, his second customer is a hippo. The next patron is an elephant. Oswald curls it with some tongs; the elephant appears to be satisfied by it. Oswald comes to a bear who arrives to have a manicure. To make himself more charming, Oswald puts on some lipstick, he smoothens the bear's sharp claws with an automatic nail-filing wheel. Because of the feminine outfit the rabbit is wearing, the bear thinks Oswald is a girl and therefore falls in love with him.
Oswald is asked by the love-stricken bear to have a ride in the latter's car but Oswald declines. To make the rabbit get in, the bear lures Oswald using a lollipop; the plan works and Oswald is in the vehicle sitting beside his client. They set off in the car, exiting the city. While they ride through an open field minutes the bear picks up Oswald with two hands and starts kissing the rabbit much to Oswald's dismay. Oswald jumps off the car. Oswald goes on running with the bear in the car chasing; the chase continues when night falls. It ends. Having enough of the bear's affection, Oswald confesses he is a guy as he takes off his skirt and wipes off the lipstick; the bear drives away. Oswald is left in peace. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit filmography Yanky Clippers at the Big Cartoon Database Of Rocks and Socks: The Winkler Oswalds
The Navy
The Navy is a short animated film produced by Walter Lantz and as part of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons. Oswald is a sailor who works on the ship of the admiral, is wearing shoes for the first time. One day when work is done for the day, he looks forward to find a date at a lighthouse. Minutes afterward, Oswald arrives at the lighthouse. To get the attention of his special someone, Oswald sings while a couple of sparrows play an accordion. Looking out the window of the lighthouse is a girl cat, entertained by Oswald's performance. To get inside, Oswald springs himself upward using the accordion. Oswald notices that the girl cat is having an affair with the admiral who orders him to return to the ship. Back in the vessel, Oswald is assigned to polish the cannons. To make his jobs more interesting, he comes up with an eccentric method by riding behind two runaway tabbies and at the same time scrub the floor with brushes attached to his feet as he gets pulled; this strategy turned out to be difficult to control as it results in Oswald accidentally stripping paint off some life boats as well as knocking down the admiral.
The admiral is most dissatisfied and kicks Oswald out of the ship. The kick is so powerful; the rabbit ends up landing in knickers. At the end of the clothesline lies the window of the lighthouse, right next to Oswald. Once more the girl cat is happy to see Oswald again; the two trade kisses. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit filmography The Navy at the Big Cartoon Database The Navy on YouTube
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is an anthropomorphic rabbit and animated cartoon character created by Walt Disney for cartoon animal films and distributed by Universal Studios in the 1920s and 1930s, serving as the Disney studio's first animated character to feature in their own series. A total of 27 animated Oswald one-reelers were produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios. In 1928, Charles Mintz took the rights of Oswald from Walt Disney and claimed Oswald as an official Universal Studios character. In November 1928, as a replacement to compete with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created Mickey Mouse for the Walt Disney Studio. In 2003, Buena Vista Games pitched a concept for an Oswald-themed video game to Disney President and COO Bob Iger, who became committed to bringing Oswald back to Disney. In 2006, nearly 80 years after the Disney studio broke away from Universal, The Walt Disney Company managed to acquire the intellectual property of Oswald and the catalog of Disney-produced Oswald films.
Oswald returned to prominence in Epic Mickey. The game's metafiction plot parallels Oswald's real-world history, dealing with the character's feelings of abandonment by Disney, envy towards Mickey Mouse, he has since appeared in Disney theme parks and comic books, as well as two follow-up games, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion. Oswald made his first appearance in a Disney animated production in 85 years through his cameo appearance in the 2013 animated short Get a Horse!. He was the subject of the 2015 feature film Walt Before Mickey. Oswald appears as a townsperson in Disney Infinity 2.0. During his days under Disney, Oswald was one of the first cartoon characters; as outlined by Walt himself: "Hereafter we will aim to Oswald a younger character, alert and venturesome, keeping him neat and trim." With Oswald, Disney began to explore the concept of "personality animation", in which cartoon characters were defined as individuals through their movements and acting, instead of through their design.
Around this period, Disney had expressed, "I want the characters to be somebody. I don't want them just to be a drawing." Not only were gags used, but his humor differed in terms of what he used to make people laugh. He presented physical humor, used situations to his advantage, presented situational humor in general and frustration comedy best shown in the cartoon The Mechanical Cow, he would make use of animal limbs to solve problems and use his own limbs as props and gags. He could turn anything into tools, his distinct personality was inspired by Douglas Fairbanks for his courageous and adventurous attitude as seen in the cartoon short Oh, What a Knight. In regards to Oswald's personality, Disney historian David Gerstein highlights the distinct differences between Mickey and Oswald as thus: In order to make his Oswald cartoons look "real", Disney turned away from the styles of Felix the Cat, Koko the Clown and Krazy Kat and began emulating the camera angles and editing of live-action films.
To learn how to base gags on personality and how to build comic routines, rather than heaping one gag after another, he studied Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. In order to stir emotion in an audience, Disney studied and scrutinized the shadow effects, cross-cutting and staging of action in films featuring Douglas Fairbanks and Lon Chaney. Walt Disney did not want for Oswald to be "a rabbit character animated and shown in the same light as the known cat characters", as well as just a peg for gags. Instead, his stated intention was "to make Oswald peculiarly and OSWALD." In 1927, because of cost and technical restrictions and his chief animator Ub Iwerks decided to end their work on the Alice Comedies series in search of new creative opportunities. Coincidentally, Universal Studios wanted to get into the cartoon business and needed a cartoon character of its own. So Disney's distributor Charles Mintz told Disney and Iwerks to create a new character they could sell to Universal.
Wanting to make cartoons with an all-animated look, Disney signed a contract with Universal Studios leading to the creation of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Universal's first cartoon series. Work on both the character and series began. Disney chose to make the character a rabbit since there were two popular animated cats at the time, Felix the Cat and Krazy Kat. Universal was given the right to name the rabbit and it selected a name out of a hat; the first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa, was rejected by the Universal studio heads for its poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald. Disney, together with Iwerks, decided to create a second cartoon titled Trolley Troubles featuring a much younger, neater Oswald; the short, released on September 5, 1927 launched the series and proved to be Disney's greatest success to date. The storyline for Poor Papa was reused in a Mickey Mouse short six years in Mickey's Nightmare, 1932. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit became Disney's first major hit in 1927, rivaling other popular cartoon characters, such as Felix the Cat and Koko the Clown.
The success of the Oswald series allowed the Walt Disney Studio to grow to a staff of nearly twenty. Walt's weekly salary from the series was $100 while Roy Disney's was $65; the Disney brothers earned $500 per Oswald short and split the year-end profits, with Walt receiving 60%
Permanent Wave (film)
Permanent Wave is a 1929 animated film, presented by Carl Laemmle and is produced by Walter Lantz. The film, written and animated by Walter Lantz, Bill Nolan and Tom Palmer, features Oswald rescuing a mermaid, whom he has fallen in love with, from his captain on the ship that Oswald is controlling during the film; the film was recorded on an early sound-on-film technique. The equipment was used in another Oswald film entitled Oil's Well, released in the same year. Copyrighted on the 26th of July 1929, released on the 30th of September the same year, the film was released by Universal Pictures, thus, is part of Universal series of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit films; the film opens with Oswald comically rowing on a whale pulling a boat. This boat has a captain inside; the captain, whilst on the ship, begins to feel hungry. So, the captain whistles a note to Oswald. Oswald is sleeping, but is woken up by the music note comically dragging him back to the ship by his nose; the captain explains to Oswald that he is hungry, so Oswald agrees to go get him food.
Oswald attempts to bring the captain some soup. However, a duck eats the soup. However, the soup makes the duck obese; the duck tries though, but falls off the plate and onto the floor. Once Oswald realises that the duck ate the soup, he comically squeezes it back into the bowl from the duck. After that, the duck bits on Oswald's tail; this makes the bowl back down onto Oswald's head. The duck laughs and flies off. After that, Oswald hears some music coming from the island. Using a bridge made of musical notes, he descends onto the island; this is. However the captain attempts to pursue both of them, he manages to capture the mermaid. Whilst not captured, Oswald manages to get onto the boat, by comically making a water path-way to get onto the boat. After that, a thunderstorm occurs, where the boat is flung around and in one instance, comically spanked by the waves; the storm destroys the boat. Oswald and the mermaid find land on a pole; the captain tries to grab them. However, the waves drag him down and he drowns.
The film ends with the mermaid sitting on the Universal logo. In this film, there are three main characters. One of them is Oswald, the captain's servant, he falls in love with the mermaid and rescues her from the captain, who captures her and attempts to lock her in his ship. Another main character is the mermaid, first featured on an island with other sea animals playing some music; the other character is the captain, who attempts to capture the mermaid, but drowns at the end of the film, due to the waves dragging him down. Permanent Wave was well received by the cinema magazines at that time; the Motion Picture News said that the film was a "clever concoctions" and said the film combined "gags galore" and "expert cartoon work" to "produce the laughs". Whilst Variety, in its September issue said that the film was "worth a filler spot". Permanent Wave at The Big Cartoon DataBase Permanent Wave on IMDb
