January 15, 1954 – The Donald Duck Short Film Spare the Rod Premieres in Theaters
“This is the home of Donald Duck, where everyone does their chores willingly.”
On January 15, 1954, the Donald Duck short film Spare the Rod premiered in theaters. It was directed by Jack Hannah, with story by Roy Williams and Nick George.
The short begins at the home of Donald Duck, where Donald is outside painting the side of his house a cheerful yellow. The nephews are supposed to be chopping wood, but have left their axes and snuck off into their treehouse, pretending to be a tribe. Their yelling starts to irritate Donald as he tries to carefully paint his window trim. Noticing that they have disappeared, he decides to play a prank on them, scaring them back to work. But a little later, the boys are at it again, pretending this time to be pirates. As Donald runs to stop them again, his conscience appears as the “voice of child psychology.” He tells Donald to be their pal, and Donald agrees.
Donald tries to play with the boys, but with his own usual style of having the upper hand
As the boys pretend to play, Donald appears as another pirate and makes them walk the plank. His conscience tells him that Donald should be walking the plank, not the boys. Donald agrees, and is thrown off into a bucket. Meanwhile, a circus is traveling into town, complete with pigmy cannibals, who detach their cart from the train and escape into town, stopping at Donald’s house (as they see Donald as a tasty meal). The boys begin another game, pretending to be cannibals, with Donald’s conscience telling him to once more become the boys’ friend. When the real cannibals capture Donald, he thinks they are only his nephews, and plays along, bringing out a pot and preparing himself to be cooked. Donald thinks he’s tricking the boys to cut firewood, but they’re on the other side of the yard.
The boys quickly capture Donald, and cut firewood to burn Donald at the stake, but the cannibals try to capture him again. At this point, the conscience figures out that the cannibals are real cannibals, who quickly capture Donald and prepare to cook him. Angered, Donald grabs the cannibals and begins to punish them. The boys watch as the cannibals flee from Donald’s wrath, and quickly resume their chores. The conscience tries to state that his psychology was effective, but Donald will have none of it, and takes his wrath out on the “voice of child psychology.”
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