March 2, 1951 – The Donald Duck Short Film, Dude Duck, is Released to Theaters
“D. Duck, Rover Boy, number six.”
On March 2nd, 1951, the new Donald Duck short, Dude Duck, was released to theaters. In this short, Donald takes his vacation at a dude ranch, but ends up assigned to a horse that does not want him as a rider. As with many of the shorts featuring Donald and an animal, there is a lot of humor in the mutual animosity between the duck and the horse. The short was directed by Jack Hannah, with story by Ralph Wright and Riley Thompson, and stars Clarence Nash as the voice of Donald.
Donald steps off the bus, admiring his surroundings
The audience is taken to the Bar-None Dude Ranch, where the horses are seen relaxing in their stalls, except for one playing horseshoes with his own shoes, whose name is Rover Boy. A bus horn sounds, and a group of beautiful women step out excitedly, ready for their vacation, which causes Rover Boy to wolf whistle and quickly put his shoes back on. Donald is the last to step off the bus, and slowly begins to explore the ranch.
Meanwhile, Rover Boy is busily primping, hoping one of the girls will pick him as her steed. They take little notice of him, however; no matter how much he whistles and pounds his hooves on the fence for their attention. Soon, all the girls are off riding, while Rover Boy stands at the fence, visibly upset.
Donald has found his horse - Rover Boy can't believe Donald's his rider
He soon hears whistling, and looks up to see Donald, who is dressed in formal riding gear. Donald approaches Rover Boy, and he studies Donald’s outfit before bursting into peels of laughter. Donald doesn’t seem to notice, but instead walks in the gate and reads the sheet with his name and assigned horse. The horse stops laughing, alarmed that Donald is his assigned rider. He attempts to hide, unsuccessfully, but Donald insists that they get going.
Now desperate to be rid of Donald, Rover Boy fakes an injured leg and a broken back, as well as having no teeth, a horrible cough, heart palpitations, and ultimately, death. Donald rushes to grab some water to help revive the horse, only to have the horse quickly move out of the way as he throws the water. Donald senses something’s amiss, and pulls an apple from his pocket to tempt the horse. Rover Boy tries to fight the temptation of the treat, but ends up taking it from Donald’s hand, chewing it as he still feigns death. Donald then pulls a trumpet from his coat, and the horse quickly is revived, standing in race position. Donald pulls out a starter’s pistol and fires it, and Rover Boy takes off like a shot, before realizing that he gave up his ruse, causing Donald to begin to laugh.
Donald then throws down the saddle and points the gun at his steed, ordering him to put on the saddle. Rover Boy refuses, and Donald begins shooting at the creature’s feet, causing him to jump around the yard. Quickly, he puts on the saddle, and Donald twirls the gun, thinking he’s won, until the gun slips from his finger, leaving only a metal ring. The horse, seeing an opportunity, takes off the saddle. Donald tries to threaten him again, only to find his gun is gone.
"Moo."
Undeterred, Donald grabs a lasso and begins to chase Rover Boy behind some hay bales, but stops when he sees that Rover Boy has attached bull horns to his hair, and gives his pursuer a haughty “Moo.” He whispers in Donald’s ear, presumably telling him where his “horse” has gone, and Donald races on, until he realizes he’s been duped.
Thoroughly frustrated at this point as only Donald can be, he pursues the horse again, with Rover Boy hiding behind some other hay bales and pretending that he’s gone galloping off. Donald almost falls for it, until he looks down and sees the horse. Thinking fast, Donald stands behind the other side of the bales and laments that the horse got away from him, and he’d better go home, then pretends to walk away. The horse falls for this easily, and begins to laugh, thinking he’s gotten rid of the duck. He is then alarmed at the sound of galloping, and a woman’s voice (which the audience is able to see is Donald doing a spot-on imitation) asking for that “big beautiful number 6.” Excited, Rover Boy races out, only to be caught in Donald’s lasso. Calmly, Donald ties the other end of the rope to a post and waits, while the horse is still running wildly.
Rover Boy comes up with an evil scheme as he passes the bull pen
Rover Boy is suddenly pulled to a stop, falls to the ground, and can only say, “Oh, no.” Donald laughs at this situation and begins to pull the horse in; unfortunately, the horse passes by the wild bull pen, giving him a wicked idea. We see the horse run to the fence, quietly observing his little plan, while Donald still blissfully pulls on the rope. The horse tilts the bull’s horns in the direction of Donald’s tail, and with Donald giving the rope one final pull, the audience sees only Rover Boy’s reaction, but hears Donald give out a loud scream, and a whistle that indicates the duck shot straight up into the air. He lands on the now saddled bull and rides off into the old west, just as he wanted to in the first place.
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