July 8, 1938 – The Donald Duck Short Good Scouts is Released to Theaters
“You call that a tree? Shame on you! I’ll show you a man-sized tree!”
On July 8, 1938, the Donald Duck short film Good Scouts was released to theaters. The short was directed by Jack King, and stars Clarence Nash as the voice of Donald and his nephews.
The short opens at Yellowstone National Park, with Donald and his nephews on a scouting expedition. The group marches through the park and settles on a place to set up camp. One of the nephews excitedly runs off to chop firewood, but Donald stops him before he can really do anything, shaming him for trying to chop down a pine sapling. Donald finds what he considers a “man-sized tree” and prepares to chop it down. The nephew notices a sign on the trunk, indicating that it’s a petrified tree, and tries to stop his uncle, but Donald won’t hear of it. He takes a giant swing, and finds himself reverberating from the impact. 
After he stops shaking, Donald looks over to see his nephews struggling to pitch a tent. Berating them and saying they can’t do anything, he pushes them aside and begins to set up the tent, lassoing the top of a pine tree and tying the rope to a rock before knotting it tightly and placing the tent canvas over the bent tree branch. The nephews cheer at their uncle’s victory, but the victory is short-lived when the knot comes undone and sends Donald flying into their food supply. His nephews laugh, and Donald remarks to the audience “That’s gratitude for you.”
As Donald begins to fling the food away, he spies a bottle of ketchup and gets a wicked idea to trick his nephews. He pours the ketchup on himself and pretends he’s dying; the nephews immediately run to their first aid kit and bandage him completely, blinding him and leaving him unable to move his arms and legs properly. Donald stumbles around and lands face-first into a jar of honey. A bear approaches their camp, and with Donald unable to move and covered with honey, the bear begins to lick the honey from Donald’s feet.
Donald just realized that he has fallen on top of the geyser Old Reliable, and it is just about to be set off
Finding that it is indeed a bear after him and not his nephews, Donald hightails it out of there, with his bandages coming loose. The bear grabs one end of a bandage, pulling Donald back from falling off a cliff. The nephews, hiding from the bear, tell Donald they’ll save him, and use to axe to cut his bandage. What none of them realize is that Donald has fallen right on top of the geyser Old Reliable, right as it’s about to blow. The geyser lets loose, and sends Donald flying back into the reaches of the bear. The boys try various methods to save their uncle, including logs and boulders. A large boulder is sent flying up to the top of the geyser’s spout, and the bear climbs on it to chase Donald.
Later that night, the boys wish their uncle good night before they go to sleep in their tent. Donald, unfortunately, is still trapped at the top of the geyser’s blast, with the bear pursuing him as the moon shines high in the sky. All the poor duck can do is sound his whistle as for help.
disneydetail 