Tag Archives: 1940s

May 21, 1948 – The Donald Duck Short Film Donald’s Dream Voice Premieres in Theaters

“I can talk…I can talk! I can talk! Oh, boy! I can talk!”

On May 21, 1948, the Donald Duck short Donald’s Dream Voice was released to theaters. It was directed by Jack King, with a story by Roy Williams, and features Clarence Nash as the voice of Donald Duck, Leslie Denison as the suave voice of Donald Duck, and Ruth Clifford as Daisy Duck. The suave voice of Donald is a case of topical humor; he sounds like screen actor Ronald Coleman, who was very popular with audiences of the ’40s.

The short begins with Donald going door to door, peddling brushes. At the first door, the owner of the house tells Donald that he can’t understand him, and demands that he leave, which makes Donald angry, but he lets it dissipate before he knocks on the door of the next house. Unfortunately, the lady of the house hears Donald and slaps him for “using such language in [her] presence.”

Donald is elated at the support that he receives from Daisy

Donald is next seen looking rather defeated at Daisy’s house, but she insists that he not give up, as she has faith in him. She kisses him and encourages him to try again, and Donald excitedly cartwheels out of the house, determined once more to try. Again, much to Donald’s dismay, he is misunderstood and sent packing by the owner of the house. Humiliated and angry, Donald continues to walk the city streets, until he passes a peddler selling “voice pills” for only 10 cents. Donald doesn’t believe it, but is willing to try anything once, so he buys a box.

Donald tries a pill, and instantly, his voice changes to sound like Ronald Coleman. Shocked, he tests it out a bit before bursting into rapturous praise. He begins to rush home to tell Daisy, when he decides to instead go sell his brushes, come home to her as a success, and ask her to marry him – although the pill wears off before he can actually state the last part of his plan. Popping in another pill, he completes the statement.

Donald holding the only pill he managed to save

With his new voice, Donald approaches a house, where the woman who lives there remarks on his fine, forceful voice and she can’t help but buy several brushes. Suddenly, several hands appear waving money, wishing to buy brushes from the duck with the amazing voice. Donald then runs home, popping in another pill as the other one wore off. As he runs, he trips on the sidewalk, and the pills pop out of his pocket and fly into the sewer, save for one that Donald manages to retrieve. With only one left, he decides he has to save it for the moment he proposes to Daisy.

Arriving at Daisy’s house, Donald is ready to ask the question when the pill wears off. Grabbing the last remaining pill, it slips from his hand and bounces down the sidewalk, falling into a sewer hole. A large, thug-like man emerges from the hole, with the pill safely in the top of his hat. Donald follows the man, trying to get the pill, but the man yells at Donald, informing him that he hates people. Donald then tries the approach of grabbing the pill from the man’s hat through a nearby window, but accidentally grabs the man’s nose.

Donald’s last resort when it comes to retrieving his pill

As a last ditch effort, Donald walks by, dressed as a woman, hoping the man will lift his hat in a polite greeting. He does so, and as the pill bounces away, Donald quickly slips down the street and races after the pill as he turns the corner. The pill bounces into a farmyard labeled “no trespassing,” and Donald watches in horror as it slips into a cow’s open mouth. The duck bursts into the fenced in yard and starts screaming at the cow, when the cow, now with the voice of Ronald Coleman, tells him to shut up and that the sign says “no trespassing.” As Donald tries to get the pill back, the cow informs him that he can’t understand a word the duck says, causing Donald to fly into a rage.

May 9, 1947 – The Donald Duck Short Film, Sleepy Time Donald, is Released to Theaters

“I must humor him. I mustn’t wake him, or it would be fatal.”

On May 9, 1947, the Donald Duck short film, Sleepy Time Donald, was released to theaters. The short was directed by Jack King, with story by Roy Williams, and starred Clarence Nash as the voice of Donald Duck, and Gloria Blondell as the voice of Daisy Duck. This is one of those rare shorts that, while Donald’s name is in the title, Daisy gets more of the starring role, with great results.

The scene opens with Donald fast asleep in his suburban home, when suddenly he rises from his bed, places a boot on his head, and sleepwalks to Daisy Duck’s house. Daisy wakes up, alarmed, but becomes puzzled when Donald walks right past her and out the other door, only to turn around and ring the doorbell. Daisy leaps out of bed and throws on a date-night outfit before answering the door for her “date.”

As Donald tries to kiss Daisy, she begins to play hard-to-get

Deciding that she needs to “humor” Donald, she opens the door and greets him, and Donald asks if he’s on time for their date. Daisy giggles as she reassures him he is, and then she is seen being escorted to the zoo. There’s a moment where she wonders if he’s going to kiss her, and she ducks when he tries to, and begins to play hard to get with him. She tricks him into kissing a tree branch, with Donald thinking it’s her arm. He then slips an engagement ring on the branch, with Daisy swooning at his romantic gestures. As he lets the branch go, the ring catapults into the monkey’s pen, with the female monkey giving the male a big kiss. Unfortunately for her, Daisy slips the ring away from the pair, causing the female monkey to deck the male.

Daisy admires the ring on her hand, noticing just a bit too late that Donald has sleepwalked into the lion’s cage, narrowly missing being eaten. After the zoo, Donald walks up the side of a building, with Daisy watching in horror on the ground. She calls out his name, and he only motions for her to join him. She tells him that her way is the shorter way; he shrugs and decides she’s right, although he continues to walk on the side of the building as they continue down the street, with Daisy trying to prevent him from getting into trouble as best she can.

Donald wakes and accuses Daisy of sleepwalking

Donald continues his sleepwalking by walking straight into traffic. Daisy flips the traffic sign to a stop so Donald won’t get hit by a car, causing a massive pile-up. Finally, she decides to make him think that they’re boarding a boat as she leads him back to his house and gets him back into bed. As she tries to slip out, Donald wakes up and accuses her of walking in her sleep. She argues with him that she has not been walking in her sleep, but Donald laughs, until Daisy hits him over the head with his boot, causing him to sleepwalk back into bed and fall fast asleep.

April 23, 1943 – The Donald Duck Short, Fall Out – Fall In, is Released to Theaters

“After supper…? Please?”

On April 23, 1943, the Donald Duck wartime short, Fall Out – Fall In, was released to theaters. As with the other Donald Duck wartime shorts, it was based on the experiences many of the animators had when they were in the army during World War II. It is also one of the few times that Donald’s headshot in the opening shows him without his usual sailor hat—he’s wearing an Army hat instead. The short was directed by Jack King, with Clarence Nash as the voice of Donald Duck.

The short opens just as the sun is rising, with a rooster letting out his call. Soldiers are marching on the horizon, with Donald Duck the last one in line. When he passes a sign saying that the group has traveled five miles, Donald marks it down on the bag of the soldier in front of him, and continues marching with a smile. At the 10-mile mark, Donald’s cheer has waned slightly, and his rifle seems to be pulling his shoulder down, but he adjusts it and continues to march, though definitely not as enthusiastically as before.

Donald using ingenuity to keep himself dry

A harsh storm hits the troops by mile 20. Donald is annoyed with the raindrops hitting his helmet, but he comes up with an idea to shield himself from the rain by using the bag of the soldier ahead of him. As they continue to march, the rain turns into snow, and icicles hang from the duck’s tail. Donald is still wearily keeping track of the miles on his fellow soldier’s bag, with the count at 35 miles traveled.

As suddenly as the snowstorm arrived, the snow disappears and is replaced by scorching hot weather, 40 miles into their march. Donald isn’t so much as marching any more as he is limping, and sweating buckets. As the sun sets on the troops, their commanding officer calls them to a halt, and we see that Donald has marked the soldier in front of him up and down with hash marks for each mile they’ve crossed. When Donald is told to fall out, he collapses.

Donald rushes madly to grab his meal after the excruciating hike

When a trumpet sounds, Donald revives, knowing that the sound means that it’s dinnertime. Excited, he opens his overstuffed bag, grabs his utensils, and runs to get his food – but his commanding officer won’t let him eat until he’s made up his tent. Donald leaps to the task, driven by the promise of food; unfortunately he has the worst luck when it comes to building his tent, and we see him still trying to build it long after the other soldiers have gone to sleep. Exhausted, Donald collapses and refuses to take care of his tent, but he can’t sleep because all of the other soldiers’ snoring keeps him awake.

Donald has only closed his eyes for a second, when the trumpet again sounds, telling the soldiers that it’s time to wake up. Too exhausted to even notice that he’s tied his belongings around a tree, Donald falls in line, carrying the tree and his belongings with him for the long trek back to camp.

April 10, 1942 – The Donald Duck Short Film, Donald’s Snow Fight, is Released to Theaters

“Snow, oh boy! I’m crazy about snow!”

On April 10, 1942, the Donald Duck short film, Donald’s Snow Fight, was released to theaters. Directed by Jack King, it stars Clarence Nash as the voice of Donald and the nephews. There are many clever gags in this short, including a couple that is seen kissing underneath a mound of snow, which is swept away when Donald rushes by.

It’s a wintery day in suburbia, and Donald Duck is excited that there’s snow on the ground. He peeks outside to see how much there is, his beak turning blue in the process. Seeing the ice build up on the tip of his beak does not deter him from running to grab his overcoat.

Donald merrily on his way to go sledding

Bundled up and ready for a snow day, Donald treks up a hill with his sled, singing “Jingle Bells” while jingling the icicles on his sled rope. When he reaches the top of the hill, he notices his nephews building a snowman right in the sled path. Donald decides this is the perfect moment to “have some fun,” and dive bombs into the nephews’ creation, sending snow flying everywhere. Donald cracks up with laughter and rolls around in the snow, and the nephews quickly come up with a plan for revenge.

Their first idea is to disguise a rock with another snowman, one that looks like Donald. They cry for Donald’s attention, and the duck takes the bait, flying full speed toward the “snowman.” Donald hits the rock so hard that all of the fur is shaken off his fur coat. Not to be beaten by his nephews, he chases them across the snow, only to be cut off by the nephews escaping into their elaborate snow fort, with the springs of the door bouncing Donald back into a tree where the built-up snow and icicles trap him.

Captain Donald plays a bowling game while his nephews play the part of the pins

Inside, the nephews think they’ve won, but Donald swears revenge. The next scene shows that Donald has built his own fort that looks like a boat on the ice-covered pond, and he declares war on the nephews. He shoots snowballs at the three with elaborate trick shots, covering them with snow and making them appear to be bowling pins. Donald then grabs a large ball of snow and, throwing it like a bowling ball, throws a strike. Not satisfied, Donald grabs another large mound of snow shaped like a bullet and starts dunking it into a bucket of water, turning it into a deadly ice bullet. He fires it over to the nephews’ fort, splitting their flagpole into three sections, which ends up knocking into the nephews.

“Do you surrender?” Donald asks, but the nephews refuse. They gather all the materials they have, including mousetraps and rope, and plant the mousetraps into snow sculptures shaped like rockets. They place all the rockets into a basket and let it fly from a catapult, and Donald is trapped by the mousetraps. They continue their attack with more snow cannons, even though Donald calls it “unconstitutional.”

The first set of coals and arrows spell the end for Donald Duck

Not done with their uncle yet, the nephews gather hot coals and fire them attached to arrows, melting part of Donald’s boat. The largest arrow causes the whole boat to melt, with poor Donald stuck on the top. He falls through a hole in the ice and is seen frozen at the top of the splash of water, and the nephews are seen performing a victory war dance around the ice.

March 31, 1944 – The Donald Duck Short Film, Donald Duck and the Gorilla, is Released to Theaters.

“Where’s Uncle Donald?”

On March 31, 1944, the Donald Duck short film, Donald Duck and the Gorilla, was released to theaters. The short was directed by Jack King, with Clarence Nash voicing Donald Duck and the nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. As with many of the early Donald Duck shorts featuring the nephews, it was hard to tell which one was which, as the colors for their outfits were used interchangeably. This would be remedied with the show Ducktales, in which the nephews played lead roles and the stories were vastly more complicated.

Donald laughs at the nephews' fear of the killer gorilla, Ajax

But back to Donald Duck and the Gorilla: It’s a stormy night, and Donald is sitting around the radio with his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. The announcer informs the audience that the terrible gorilla, Ajax, has escaped from the city zoo. The nephews cling to each other in fear, while Donald laughs. He then notices a pair of gloves next to him that resemble gorilla hands, and gets the fiendish idea to scare the boys. He turns out the light, and the boys, frightened, call out for their uncle. When the boys turn on the light again, Donald is gone from the chair.

Still holding on each other, the boys are unaware of two large, hairy hands coming around the corners of the couch until the hands almost grab them. The boys scream and take off into the other room, slamming the door shut. Peering out through the keyhole, they see their Uncle Donald laughing hysterically at their flight. Angered by their uncle’s prank and bent on revenge, the three find a gorilla costume and begin to creep into the room where their uncle is getting ready to relax. Donald grabs a book and sits down in his chair to read, unaware that it is now occupied by a “gorilla.” Donald continues to be oblivious to the guest in his chair, even when the guest covers the duck’s mouth when he yawns.

Donald finally gets the hint that something may be off about the chair he's sitting in...

Donald finally gets the hint when he takes out a giant lollipop, and sets it aside for a moment while reading. The nephews take a big bite out of the lollipop with the costume’s teeth. When Donald picks up the lollipop again, he is  alarmed to see the teeth marks in the candy. He finally notices the “gorilla” in the room and bolts out of there as fast as he can, leaving the nephews to laugh at their success.

Unbeknown to both parties, the real Ajax is standing at the window, watching the scene unfold. With a menacing smile, he tears open the window and growls at the boys.  They run into their angry uncle hiding in an umbrella stand, and decide to run off in another direction, only to meet up with Ajax again. They run into separate rooms, with Donald following close behind. When Donald enters the hallway, he sees Ajax and, thinking it’s his nephews, starts pulling at the gorilla’s head, only to find that he was pulling on the head of the real gorilla.

Donald sees a terrifying image when he tries to intimidate Ajax

Just as things are looking bleak for the duck, the radio announcer informs all listeners that one can tame all wild animals by looking them straight in the eye. Donald attempts to do so, only to see a tombstone in the gorilla’s eye staring back at him. Donald uses the umbrella to escape Ajax’s clutches, and rejoins his nephews to hunt down and rid themselves of their unwelcome guest. As they sneak around, there are many comical instances with the nephews’ clumsiness with the candle, including pouring wax all over Donald’s tail. Donald snatches the candle from the boys and shoves them into another room, not noticing that he has placed the flame right under the doorknob, which burns his hand.

Donald continues his search, and falls into the gorilla’s trap, but is able to escape – barely. The chase continues through the house, leaving destruction in its wake. Unfortunately, Donald is trapped by the hungry gorilla, and just as it seems that all hope is lost, the radio announcer gives another timely message: the gorilla can be subdued with tear gas. Hearing this, the nephews find some and throw the grenade in just in time. Seeing the gorilla begin to cry, Donald laughs at him, but ends up a victim of the tear gas as well. The two sit together, crying in each other’s arms.