Tag Archives: 1940s

March 7, 1941 – The Donald Duck Short Film Golden Eggs is Released to Theaters

“This will never do with eggs 85 cents! Have to work faster than this!”

On March 7, 1941, the Donald Duck short film Golden Eggs was released to theaters. The film was directed by Wilfred Jackson, and stars Clarence Nash as Donald.

Donald is reading the Farmer’s Gazette, which declares that the price of eggs has skyrocketed, and labels them “liquid gold.” He leaps out of his chair and races to his chickens in the backyard, where they are lazily swaying around and laying eggs. Thinking that he needs to speed up production, he changes the record playing in the barn from “Lazy Daze” to “Hot Stuff.” With the music speeding up, the chickens lay eggs faster than before. Unfortunately, the rooster comes along and sees Donald collecting the eggs, and throws Donald out of the hen house.

Using a red rubber glove, a feather duster, and a burlap sack, Donald disguises himself as a chicken

Hiding in the shed, Donald watches as the rooster protects the eggs. Donald comes up with a plan to disguise himself as a chicken to retrieve the egg basket, although the glove he uses on his head keeps snapping off. The rooster is immediately smitten with Donald’s chicken, and Donald uses this to try to get close to the basket. Unfortunately, the glove snaps off his head again, and lands on top of a caterpillar. When Donald puts the glove back on, the caterpillar begins to wiggle about, which only causes the rooster’s love for Donald to grow. He is able to avoid the rooster’s advances for a moment, but when he tries to find the cause for the moving glove, the caterpillar moves away from Donald’s head and down his neck. The rooster returns and thinks Donald is dancing, and the two begin to samba together.

The rooster’s dancing begins to turn into spinning Donald about as fast as he can. Finally, all of the dancing tears off Donald’s disguise, leaving a very dizzy Donald crowing like a chicken. Having been found out, the rooster chases Donald across the farm, but Donald escapes and leaves him trapped in the pen. As Donald laughs, an egg drops out of the basket and breaks, and Donald slips on the yolk and falls into the basket, breaking every egg inside. The rooster crows with laughter at Donald’s misfortune.

February 18, 1944 – The Donald Duck Short Film Trombone Trouble is Released to Theaters

“Earthquake? Ha! That’s me!”

On February 18, 1944, the Donald Duck short film Trombone Trouble was released to theaters. This is the only Donald Duck short that features gods. It was directed by Jack King, with story by Jack Hannah and Carl Barks.

The gods Jupiter and Vulcan are woken up with loud noises from the earth, and wonder how long they must suffer. Zooming into earth, we see that Pete is(badly) playing the trombone, which has his neighbor Donald also unable to sleep. He storms over next door to tell Pete to stop, but is intimidated by Pete’s size. When Donald politely asks him to stop, Pete uses the trombone to send Donald flying back into his house.

Donald, delighted by the fact he now has mysterious powers, uses them to his full advantage

Jupiter turns to Vulcan and points out that Donald is also unable to stand the music. They decide to give Donald power to stop the sound. Donald is suddenly amazed that he is ablet o destroy a piano rather easily, and light up a bulb with his mouth. Becoming mad with power, Donald marches over next door while the gods watch excitedly. Donald grabs Pete’s house and begins to shake it violently. He then shoots Pete with lightning bolts and sends him barreling over a cliff, and he lands on a water wheel. The gods are satisfied with Donald’s results and attempt to go to sleep, when Donald stumbles on the trombone and begins to play a lively jazz tune.

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.

January 26, 1945 – The Donald Duck Short Film The Clock Watcher Premieres in Theaters

“Dear Royal, we’re loyal, we’ll always be joyful, we’ll work hard and long for to you we do belong.”

On January 26, 1945, the Donald Duck short film The Clock Watcher is released to theaters. The short was directed by Jack King, with the story written by Harry Reeves and Rex Cox.

The clock tower tolls 8 o’clock, and a figure is speeding through traffic. The figure stops to reveal that it’s Donald, who has to punch his time card, although he is a bit late. He fools the clock by turning the hand back with a magnet, and punches in to appear that he’s there early. He then goes to his job at the gift wrapping department at Royal Brothers Department Store, but is less than thrilled to hear the boss sing a song about “loyal workers.”  Just as the song ends, a barrage of merchandise slides down the shoot to meet Donald, and he quickly begins his work. But he doesn’t do a great job, as he breaks a fragile bowl, squashes a trombone into a tuba to make it fit in a box, and pops a football to fit in another box.

When the boss has an important announcement, Donald thinks that he’ll be getting a nice bonus

Donald is distracted by a magazine and pretends to be working, then gives himself a rather long lunch hour. The loudspeaker announces big news, which has Donald excited, thinking he’s earned a raise. The boss announces that production has increased in every single department – except Donald’s. Donald continues his less than stellar work, wrapping himself in a rocking chair and getting flustered when trying to wrap a jack in the box. Donald imposes every method to keep the jack-in-the-box wrapped, but it gets loose every time. Finally, it’s five o’clock, and Donald is almost at the door, when the boss informs him that he has to stay and wrap a few more packages. Donald, having had enough, runs to the boss’s office, and the sounds of a fight between the two are heard over the loudspeaker.

January 10, 1941 – The Donald Duck Short Film Timber is Released in Theaters

“Doggone it…I might just as well be in a concentration camp.”

On January 10, 1941, the Donald Duck short film Timber premiered in theaters. The antagonist, Pete, is named Pierre in this short, playing the part of a French-Canadian lumberjack. The short was directed by Jack King, and stars Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, and Billy Bletcher as Pete/Pierre.

Donald is seen walking the train tracks with a hobo sack, when he smells something delicious. Spying food in a nearby window, he decides to steal some. Inside, Pete is beginning to enjoy his meal when he spots Donald’s wandering hand. Donald begins to load up his sack, with Pierre, the owner of the shack, just watching. Finally, Pierre decides to trick Donald by baiting him with a lighted stick of dynamite in place of a hot dog. Donald’s clothes are blown clean off, and he emerges from a deep hole in the ground where the blast blew him.

The head of the axe flies off the handle, sailing close enough to Pete to sear through a layer of his clothes

Pierre then tells Donald that he will work for food as a lumberjack; Donald, however, has other plans. He breaks his axe when Pierre isn’t looking, hoping that Pierre will just let him go since he has no tool. But Pierre won’t let him off so easily, and fixes the axe for him. When Donald begins his attempt at chopping down a tree, the axe head breaks off and flies into another tree, cutting off part of Pierre’s clothing in the process. Donald, hoping to avoid trouble, attempts to use a saw instead, only to find himself in more trouble. As he flees with the saw in hand, it begins to vibrate, sending Donald bouncing around the forest. When he finally is able to chop something down, he saws off a branch, which knocks Pierre deep into the ground

After Pierre sends Donald flying and bouncing with the saw, Donald is knocked into a tree and chops it down accidentally with his beak. The tree falls on Pierre, who has had it with the duck. Donald flees the camp, with Pierre close behind. As the chase continues on train tracks, Pierre tries anything he can to stop Donald, including breaking his cart piece by piece. Luckily, Donald is able to evade him, and uses quick thinking to send Pierre flying through a line of empty boxcars. Donald walks off into the sunset, traveling once again.