March 11, 1938 – The Donald Duck Short Film Donald’s Better Self is Released to Theaters
“Why did I do it? Oh, why did I do it?”
On March 11, 1938, the Donald Duck short film Donald’s Better Self was released to theaters. The short was directed by Jack King.
Donald is snoozing in bed, when his alarm goes off. He rolls over, but his Angel self happily gets out of bed to enjoy the day. He then goes over to wake up the sleeping Donald, letting him know that it’s time to get up. As Donald slowly makes his way out of bed, his Devil side pulls him back in. Donald wastes no time in falling back to sleep, much to the annoyance of the Angel; seeing his work is done, the Devil sneaks out the window. Angel finally gets Donald awake and ready for school, and Donald follows behind him on the road. On the way to school, however, Donald gets distracted by Devil, who hands him a fishing rod; Donald, of course follows along eagerly.
Devil convinces Donald to skip school and go fish, where they share jokes and waste the day
Down at the fishing hole, Donald and Devil are having a great time, with Devil offering Donald a pipe of tobacco. Donald doesn’t want to smoke, but after being asked if he’s afraid, he takes the pipe and smokes it. Devil teaches Donald how to “smoke like a man,” but Donald is unable to do it correctly, and starts feeling ill. Meanwhile, Angel has been looking for Donald, and finds him on the ground while Devil laughs hysterically. Devil cowers in fear, but Angel reassures him that he won’t fight. Thinking this is weakness, Devil wastes no time in beating up Angel. Angel then takes matters into his own hands and attacks Devil, leaving him as a battered pulp in the ground. Donald cheers for Angel, but Angel is angry at him too. Donald grabs his schoolbooks and immediately goes with Angel to school.
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