June 12, 1942 – The Donald Duck Short Film Donald’s Garden Premieres in Theaters
“Exasperating, isn’t it?”
On June 12, 1942, the Donald Duck short film Donald’s Garden premiered in theaters. It was directed by Dick Lundy.
Donald is seen singing while taking care of his prize-winning watermelons. As he goes to get more water from the pump, he seems to misplace the watering can while the water barely comes out from the pipe. When he moves the can closer, the water then pours out, missing the can once again. He moves the can again, and begins to pump out water with vigor, which pushes the can to the edge of the platform. Donald tries to stop the can from falling, but is too late. Angered, he tries again, but the water refuses to come out from the pump. He declares that he’ll show the pump this time, but the water refuses to fill his can, which ends with Donald getting his bill stuck in the pipe, water coming out of his nostrils. He threatens to tear the pump into pieces, and sticks the can right on the pump’s pipe. The pump explodes with water, but does fill the can. Unfortunately, the can breaks, leaving Donald holding nothing but the handle.
The gopher devours Donald’s radishes, including the picture of the crop
The water falls into a hole in the ground, and a nearby gopher pops out of his hole, choking. He dries himself off and angrily walks around until he bumps into a sign for radishes in Donald’s garden. Suddenly hungry, he crawls underground and begins to pull down the radish crop to eat. The gopher then moves to the onions, but dislikes the taste of them. He spies the watermelon and starts to pull a good one away, but is unable to pull it through his hole. Quickly enlarging the hole, he is able to pull away the watermelon crop. Unfortunately, Donald is also harvesting the crop at the other end, and soon finds that his crop is being stolen. He attempts to pull back the crop, and finds the gopher, catching him in his hat. The gopher manages to escape, and Donald is pulled into the hole when trying to retrieve his crop. The gopher traps Donald with the watermelon vine, and decides to take the rest of Donald’s crops. He smiles with satisfaction as he polishes every single last vegetable.
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