March 23, 1967 – The Special Cartoon Scrooge McDuck and Money is Released
“It’s gotta circulate, circulate, come out of the woods; stimulate, motivate, service and goods. It’s no nest egg to incubate, money’s got to circulate!”
On March 23, 1967, the special short film Scrooge McDuck and Money premiered. It was the first film appearance of the popular comic book character. It was written by Bill Berg, directed by Hamilton Luske, and featured veteran voice actor Bill Thompson as Scrooge McDuck.
The short begins with Scrooge in his vault, singing to his money. Huey, Dewey, and Louie watch on as he starts to embrace the coins, and they share with him their piggy bank, as they have saved up $1.95. Scrooge asks them what they plan on doing with the money, and they ask him to save it for them so they can be as rich as he. While he is willing to help them save, he tells them that they need to learn more about money itself. He begins with the history of money, starting with how Roman soldiers were paid with salt. They then see an old dubloon to learn about the history of “bits” before moving to Greek obals: coins so tiny they were carried in the mouth. Scrooge then explains that there was a time where money was nonexistent, and a musical number is used to explain how money came to be. The boys wonder why a few billion can’t be printed, which concerns Scrooge, as the term “billion” is thrown around so casually; if there isn’t anything to back up the money printed, then inflation occurs. Scrooge then explains to the boys about economics and budgeting, before going into income taxes. He convinces the boys to make a sound investment to get their money to work. He gets them to invest in his company, but doesn’t hesitate to charge them a “three-cent fee” for his advisement.
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