Ortensia is an anthropomorphic cat who first appeared in the 1927 short film The Banker's Daughter as the love interest of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Typically seen wearing a simple skirt and a miniature flower hat, Ortensia is depicted as the daughter of wealthy banker J. P. Whiskers.
Created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures, Ortensia appeared in eight cartoons during Disney’s initial run of shorts between 1927 and 1928. The character served as a replacement to Fanny, a sultry rabbit whom had originally appeared as Oswald’s partner in prior productions. Ortensia eventually faded into obscurity following a financial falling out with producer Charles Mintz. She was replaced by her successor Minnie Mouse, whom played a similar role as the love interest of Oswald’s successor, Mickey Mouse. Ortensia’s character was largely forgotten until the release of Epic Mickey in 2010, in which she was depicted as Oswald’s girlfriend and the mother of 420 Bunny Children. She has since appeared in films, merchandise, comics, and theme park attractions.
Background[]
Personality[]
Ortensia tends to show a poetic, romantic, and dreamy personality. She spends every moment on Oswald and is very considerate. With her love for him so strong, she will do anything no matter how crazy or dangerous. When in poetry mode, she tends to sing deep in a jazzy tone.
Ortensia adores her baby brother, Homer and is usually oblivious to his naughtiness and pranks on Oswald. She is very defensive to those who try to mess with Oswald, Homer, her friends, family, and herself.
Physical appearance[]
Similar in appearance to Oswald, Ortensia is an often tailless, anthropomorphic black cat. She typically wears is a frilly light pink skirt with white bloomers under and a matching hat, though her appearance can vary. In the parks and much of her merchandise, she wears green instead of pink.
History[]
Starting with The Banker's Daughter, Ortensia replaced Oswald's former love interest, a much more feminine and sultry rabbit often referred to as Fanny in production materials. Ortensia was very much a precursor to Minnie Mouse, as can be seen with her design. Often in the original Oswald shorts, Oswald would compete with Pete for her affection. She also appeared in Oswald shorts produced by Charles Mintz and later Walter Lantz.
Ortensia was most often referred to as Sadie or Fanny in production materials of the original shorts and was known as Miss Zulu in the short Bright Lights, but never had a consistent, official name.[1] In the post-Disney Lantz shorts, she was called "Kitty." The names for Oswald's love interests were never widely publicized, which is likely the reason she was given a new name in Epic Mickey, following the alliteration pattern of Mickey and Minnie's mirrored relationship. To add some confusion, copyright synopses of some Mintz and Lantz shorts erroneously refer to Ortensia/Kitty as Fanny.[2]
Video games[]
Epic Mickey[]
In Epic Mickey, she is the mother of Oswald's 420 rabbit/cat children. In the main story, Ortensia's paint was removed when the the Blot was being sealed, turning her into stone. (The Epic Mickey Graphic novel shows Ortensia sacrificing herself to protect Oswald by pushing Oswald to safety and getting hit by the Blot's attack instead.) In this statue-like state, she couldn't move and her voice is heard only faintly in one of the cutscenes. Still, she has some impact on the plot of Epic Mickey even in this state. Her state leaves Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and several Bunny Children in her house in a deep depression, but many times, the memory of her leads to Oswald acting nicer to Mickey than usual. When the Blot is destroyed, she is changed back to normal by the rainstorm of paint that heals the rest of Wasteland and reunites with Oswald and Oswald introduces Mickey to her.
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two[]
Ortensia and Oswald in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
Ortensia returns in Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, first appearing in the 2D cutscene that functions as a recap of the original Epic Mickey. After that, the scene changes to Oswald strolling down the street of a recently restored Wasteland. Just as an earthquake begins to shake the street apart, the Mad Doctor and his Beetleworx creations arrive on the scene in a twisted sort of take on the Main Street Electrical Parade. The Doctor sings a stirring musical number, using the refrain "Help Me, Help You" to convince Oswald to join forces with him to save the Wasteland. While first confused about the Mad Doctor's arrival, Ortensia tries to stop Oswald from joining the Mad Doctor as she doesn't seem to trust him. However, Oswald has already been convinced and joins him, much to Ortensia's annoyance. Angry and still not trusting the Mad Doctor, Ortensia leaves with Gus as Oswald leaves with the Mad Doctor.
She and Gus go back to the castle where Gus creates a machine to contact the Cartoon World. A comically impatient Ortensia walks around, eagerly waiting and eventually falling asleep as Gus finally finishes the machine, enabling them to again reach out to Mickey to set things straight again.
While Ortensia is waiting for Oswald to return to the castle, Mickey re-enters Wasteland by falling into a window of Dark Beauty Castle. He meets Ortensia and Gus who are happy to see him again, (as do Mickey) and they explain the current situation of Wasteland and the return of the Mad Doctor to him until Oswald arrives. A worried Ortensia happily greets him, glad to see him safe. Oswald explains that Doc told him about the Blotworx and that the creatures are going to attack them. Ortensia doesn't trust the Mad Doctor, but Oswald is convinced that they should give him a second chance. Mickey suggests they go find the Mad Doctor. Oswald tells him he's helping out in Mean Street and suggests they take the train since the projectors are broken. Then a quake starts and the castle begins collapsing all around them. When some rubble comes down and separates Ortensia from the others, Mickey, Gus, and Oswald outrun the rubble to escape the castle and reunite with Ortensia, who (in her own words) had her own adventure escaping the castle, much to Oswald's amusement. Eventually all four escape by train.
When they arrive in Mean Street Station and enter Mean Street, Ortensia and the others find the Mad Doctor. The Mad Doctor sings about changing his ways and the dangers that threaten Wasteland, but Ortensia remains unconvinced about his good intentions. Mickey almost didn't trust him. When the Mad Doctor leaves, Gus suggests they should get the projectors working again and see Gremlin Jamface, and Ortensia tells Oswald to go ahead as she'll wait until the OsTown projector starts working. She worriedly asks him to be careful as he kisses her. The scene ends with Ortensia wishing her "honey bunny" good luck and leaving. Mickey is unsure that the Mad Doctor is good and Oswald hopes he changed.
Ortensia can be found in the museum while the projectors aren't working. She tells Oswald and Mickey not to worry about her as she'll stay there until they can get the projectors fixed. She does worry about her Bunny Children in OsTown.
Ortensia will eventually travel to OsTown after the projectors are fixed and find the Bunny Children missing and scattered around Wasteland, resulting in her giving Oswald and Mickey a quest to return the Bunny Children to her.
According to Warren Spector: Oswald's significant other, Ortensia, 'is a character from start to finish that you interact with a lot', Audrey Wasilewski provides her voice in the game.
Disney Speedstorm[]
Ortensia was added to Disney Speedstorm during Season 5: Let it Go as an unlockable mid-season racer alongside Oswald. Like other mid-season racers, the shards needed to unlock and upgrade Ortensia aren't regularly available to players, and can only be acquired during special events. In-game, Ortensia is voiced by Audrey Wasilewski, reprising her role from the Epic Mickey series.
Ortensia is a Speedster from the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Collection, having high acceleration and average handling and boost, but a low top speed and combat stat. Her Unique Skill, Lovely Flowers, creates a ring of three red flowers around her kart, with each flower stunning an opponent on contact. When the skill is charged, the ring of flowers are instead green, and function as shields, with each flower protecting Ortensia from a single hit. As the skill is upgraded, the length the ring of flowers stay out increases. Alongside her Unique Skill, Ortensia can also use the Cloak, Hack, Rush, and Shot skills, with the latter two improving as you upgrade Ortensia.
Ortensia's exclusive Epic Crew Member is her father, J.P. Whiskers, boosting all of her stats and giving her a Hack skill at the start of the race.
Printed media[]
Epic Mickey: Tales of Wasteland[]
Ortensia is one of the main characters in the Epic Mickey: Tales of Wasteland digital comics. These comics (created by Peter David) are a prequel to Epic Mickey and take place before the Thinner Disaster, (before she was petrified) and she appears in five of the six comics.
She makes a small cameo in "Clock Tower Cleaners," but has larger roles in the other comics: from getting unwanted attention from Pete in "The Game's Afoot," visiting the Misadventurers club in "The Rubbish Cup," or simply being together with Oswald and their kids in "Oswald the Lucky Duck" and "There's a Hole in the Sky."
Ortensia loves Oswald and is very dedicated to him. She's very caring, but also sensible, realistic and direct. She's one of the few who suspects the Mad Doctor's bad intentions, something Oswald is quite oblivious to. She's not afraid to share her opinion on things, but she'll support Oswald when he's truly dedicated to something.
Epic Mickey: The Graphic Novel[]
Ortensia sacrifices herself by pushing Oswald away from the Blot's attack and gets hit herself, much to Oswald's horror.
The graphic novel adaptation of Epic Mickey shows in more detail how Ortensia was turned into her statue-like state. Oswald and Ortensia made one final effort to get rid of the Blot by sealing it in the thinner bottle on Mickeyjunk Mountain that fell in Wasteland when the Blot first appeared. The Mad Doctor warned the Blot, but Oswald succeeded in grabbing the Blot's attention. He was too good a target for the Blot to resist. Oswald was ready to sacrifice himself if it meant the end of the war, but Ortensia wasn't ready to allow that. When the Blot attacked Oswald, she pushed him away to safety and Ortensia fell victim to the Blot instead, transforming her into her statue-like state. "Oswald's silent scream was heard from one end of Wasteland to the other, but he had enough presence of mind to successfully trap the Blot by jamming the stopper into the bottle. Sadly, it didn't end the war. The Blot's minions were still loose upon the land under the guidance of the Mad Doctor and the Shadow Blot, the Blot's most fearsome minion. None of which mattered in the least to Oswald. By losing Ortensia, "his entire reason for living had been obliterated by the Blot." Ortensia's remains were kept in the Dark Beauty Castle, where Mickey sees them during the final confrontation with the Blot.
Just Like Magic![]
The Norwegian "En magisk jul!" (translated as "A Magical Christmas!") marks the first Oswald and Ortensia appearance in modern Disney comics outside of the Epic Mickey universe. It was written by David Gerstein and the art by Mark Kausler. It is based and takes place in the times of the classic Oswald shorts from 1927 and 1928. It was printed in America under the title "Just Like Magic!" in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #726.[3]
A hungry Oswald and Toby Bear see Ortensia and her rich banker father called J. P. Whiskers standing before a house where various foods are being brought in for J. P. Whiskers' Christmas dinner party. Oswald uses his charm and asks Ortensia if he and Toby can join them. A charmed Ortensia seems willing, but Oswald and Ortensia are quickly interrupted by Ortensia's little brother, Homer the Cat. The small bratty cat drags Ortensia inside while Whiskers lectures Oswald and slams the door in his face. Still wanting to join Ortensia and the party, the hungry rabbit tries to prove his good luck as a disguised Oswald and Toby sneak into J. P. Whiskers' Christmas dinner party by impersonating a man they think is the head waiter. But the "waiter" was really a hired magician, so Oswald is forced to put on a magic show with a genuine, very powerful magic hat.
Disney Parks[]
Ortensia at the FanDaze event.
Disneyland Paris[]
On June 2, 2018, Ortensia made her theme park debut during Disneyland Paris' Disney FanDaze as the event's VIP character. She could be found at Hollywood Boulevard along with Oswald as part of a musical street show titled "Oh My, Ortensia". Ortensia can also be found at DVC events at DLP parks. Ortensia also made an appearance at the Disney Loves Jazz event, located in Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland Resort[]
Ortensia would make her American debut for the 2023 Lunar New Year celebration at Disney California Adventure, appearing alongside Oswald to represent how the Vietnamese Zodiac features a Cat in the place of the Chinese Zodiac's Rabbit.
Filmography[]
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit series[]
- The Banker's Daughter
- Empty Socks
- Harem Scarem
- Rival Romeos
- Sagebrush Sadie
- Oh What A Knight
- Sky Scrappers
- Sleigh Bells
- Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ortensia is the oldest female Disney character that is still being used to this day, surpassing even Minnie Mouse.
- 'Ortensia' is the Italian word for hydrangea, a popular ornamental plant that can appear in a variety of different colors. Her floral name is referenced in The Art of Epic Mickey, as it shows that gardening seems to be a hobby of hers.
- Ortensia had a tail in early Disney shorts like "The Bankers Daughter" and "Rival Romeos", but doesn't have a tail in later shorts like "Sky Scrappers" and "Oh, What a Knight". She lacks a tail in both Epic Mickey games and the comics as well, but has one in some recent Japanese merchandise.
- Despite "Just Like Magic!" taking place during the time of the old Oswald shorts and remaining pretty faithful to them as well, the comic refers to her by her modern name "Ortensia", seemingly confirming this as her official name, as the same character was renamed.
- Ortensia's hat bears a strong resemblance to Minnie's original hat in both shape and design, however, her hat is pink and more cylindrical.
- Since her father's name is J.P. Whiskers, it's no doubt that it is her maiden name and unless she kept it.
- Ortensia's park self has green clothes instead of her traditional pink, similarly to much of the Japanese merchandise.
References[]
- ↑ Bossert, David (2017). Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Cartoons, First edition, Disney Editions, page 26.
- ↑ Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons
- ↑ PreviewsWorld.com's page for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #726
External links[]
Ortensia on Epic Mickey Wiki
- Ortensia character page (Japanese 日本)
- Oswald the Lucky Rabbit "Poor Papa" (1927) (for reference)
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