January 29, 1943 – The Donald Duck Short Film Donald’s Tire Trouble Premieres in Theaters
“Doggone rubber shortage!”
On January 29, 1943, the Donald Duck short film Donald’s Tire Trouble premiered in theaters. Although not considered a WWII propaganda short, the film does reference the rubber shortage that went on during the time. The short was directed by Dick Lundy.
Donald is zooming down a mountain path in his little sports car, when one of the tires deflates, having been punctured by a nail. Irritated, Donald starts throwing supplies to fix it out of his car, and almost immediately has trouble with the jack, as it seems to disobey him as most objects tend to when around the duck. Finally, Donald is able to prop up his car, only to have it land on him before he can change the tire. He struggles to get the tire removed from the car, and when he does, he notices all the patches he’s used before on the tire, from rubber gloves to hot water bottles.
The one last rubber patch Donald has decides to stick all over the place other than the tire
Donald has one last rubber patch, and attempts to use it, only to have it stuck on his fingers, his beak, and his tail. It finally attaches to the tire, but to his foot as well. Once be removes the patch from his foot, he finds that it attached itself to exactly the right spot. He then attempts to use an air pump to inflate the tire, only to have the air go right back into the pump, which makes it explode. He then tries to manually inflate it, but it deflates once more. Finally, he begins to reassemble his tire, only to get his feet, followed by his fingers, then his beak, stuck in the rim. He then attempts another method to get the rim on the tire, only to get the rim caught around his waist. After freeing himself, he once again tries to get the rim on the tire, only to be completely encased in the rubber. Trying once again to get things to work his way, he accidentally catapults himself into a tree, which sends all the parts of the tire flying into their proper places on the car. Donald shrugs, and is about to head off, when he finds that all of his tires have been punctured. Unable to handle this, he loses his temper in his fashion, but attempts to drive off anyway, bursted tires and all.
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