As part of our month-long salute to Donald Duck, we asked Disney historian, J. Kaufman, to share with us the history of Donald's early days. Over the course of nearly eight decades, Donald Duck has become one of the most celebrated and fondly remembered of all Disney characters. What is sometimes not remembered is that Donald began life in as a very different duck.
Mickey Mouse, assuming his classic design within his first three films, was the exception to the rule. His appearance was simply that of a generic cartoon duck, with the long bill, extended neck, and waddling gait common to his species. As he returned to play additional supporting roles in and , his appearance remained essentially the same.
His bill, still long and ducklike, became more malleable and expressive. By , Donald had surpassed Mickey Mouse as Disney's most popular character. Before , Donald Duck had appeared in about 50 cartoons. Between and , Donald would star in over Several of Donald's shorts during the war were propaganda films, most notably Der Fuehrer's Face , released on January 1, These pictures appear in many places, such as on the assembly line in which he is screwing in the detonators of various sizes of shells.
In the end he becomes little more than a small part in a faceless machine with no choice but to obey till he falls, suffering a nervous breakdown.
Then Donald wakes up to find that his experience was in fact a nightmare. At the end of the short Donald looks to the Statue of Liberty and the American flag with renewed appreciation. Other notable shorts from this period include the so-called Army shorts, six films that follow Donald's life in the US Army from his drafting to his life at boot camp under sergeant Pete to his first actual mission as a commando having to sabotage a Japanese air base.
Titles in the series include: Donald Gets Drafted - May 1, The Vanishing Private - September 25, Sky Trooper - November 6, Fall Out Fall In - April 23, The Old Army Game - November 5, Commando Duck - June 2, Donald Gets Drafted also featured Donald having a physical examination before joining the army.
According to it Donald has flat feet and is unable to distinguish between the colors green and blue, which is a type of colour blindness. Also in this cartoon sergeant Pete comments on Donald's lack of discipline. It is also noteworthy that thanks to these films, Donald graced the nose artwork of virtually every type of WWII Allied combat aircraft, from the L-4 Grasshopper to the B Superfortress.
Since this cost Disney a lot of money, he decided to create a new audience for his films in South-America. He decided to make a trip through a lot of Latin American countries with his assistants, and use their experiences and impressions to create two feature length animation films.
The first was Saludos Amigos, which consisted of four short segments, one with Donald Duck. Here, he meets his pal Jose Carioca. The second film was The Three Caballeros, in which he meets Panchito. Post-war animation Many of Donald's films made after the war recast the duck as the brunt of some other character's pestering. Donald is repeatedly attacked, harassed, and ridiculed by his nephews, by the chipmunks Chip 'n Dale, or by other one-shot characters such as Humphrey the Bear, Buzz the Bee, Bootle Beetle , the Aracuan Bird, Louie the Mountain Lion or a colony of ants.
In effect, the Disney artists had reversed the classic screwball scenario perfected by Walter Lantz and others in which the main character is the instigator of these harassing behaviors, rather than the butt of them. However, by turning the tables, Donald's aggressors come off to some as sadistic or cruel, and some critics have found the films unfunny as a result.
The post-war Donald also starred in educational films, such as Donald in Mathmagic Land , and made cameos in various Disney projects, such as The Reluctant Dragon and the Disneyland television show For this latter show, Donald's uncle Ludwig von Drake was created in Donald has since appeared in a lot of different television shows and short animated movies.
He featured in a rather small part in the television animated series Duck Tales. There, Donald joins the Navy, and leaves his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie with their Uncle Scrooge, who then has to take care of them. Some of the stories in the series were loosely based on the comics by Carl Barks. However, critics have complained that the new, original characters in 'Duck Tales' were poor substitutes for Donald, like Launchpad McQuack and Fenton Crackshell.
Donald made some cameo appearances in Bonkers , before getting his own television show Quack Pack. This series featured a modernized Duck family. Donald was no longer wearing his sailor suit and hat, but a Hawaiian shirt. Huey, Dewey and Louie now are teenagers, with distinct clothing, voices and personalities. Daisy Duck has lost her pink dress and bow and has a new hairdo.
Oddly enough, no other family members, besides Ludwig von Drake, appear in 'Quack Pack', and all other Duckburg citizens are humans, and not dogs. In an alternate opening for the Disney film Chicken Little , Donald would have made a cameo appearance as "Ducky Lucky". In the latter show, he is the co-owner of Mickey's night club. Both Donald and Daisy believe each other to be dead. A few days later, Donald sends out a male dove to check for land, while in the process angrily pulling him away from his mate when he tries to sneak back without leaving.
Donald realizes that he is missing Daisy more and more. Daisy feels the same. When the ark lands, Donald looks out as the animals climb off. Noah ruffles Donald's head feathers affectionately as he walks by him. Donald pulls out a picture of him and Daisy and looks at it sadly. Daisy is walking down the plank when she realizes that her locket with a picture of her and Donald inside has fallen off its chain.
Donald is sweeping just inside the ark and sees the locket on the floor. He and Daisy reach for it at the same time and see each other. They are both overjoyed to see the other is alive. Daisy kisses Donald as they walk out together hand-in-hand and admire their new home. Donald is a janitor in Paris, France. The only thing standing in Donald's way is the fact that he's a complete coward in the face of real danger.
Donald meets the princess and develops a crush on her assistant Daisy, so he initially strikes a pose to her by saluting her, but she wasn't interested until the end. After proving themselves worthy by defeating the Beagle Boys, Donald is kidnapped in the middle of the night by the Beagle Boys while Goofy is kidnapped by Pete's lieutenant Clarabelle.
The Beagle Boys take Donald to Pete's lair, where the duck is nearly decapitated. Fortunately, he escapes his death and rushes back to the palace to warn Mickey.
Mickey, however, wants to stay on his job but the fear of Pete prompts Donald to quit. Later on, Goofy, who was freed by his newfound love Clarabelle, convinces Donald to change his mind and the duo rushes to help Mickey. After the princess is saved, Donald and Daisy proclaim their mutual love and along with Mickey and Goofy, Donald becomes a royal musketeer.
In the computer-animated sequel to Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas , Donald appears in the first, second, fourth and fifth stories. In the first story Belles on Ice , Donald attends the skating competition with Daisy and tries to no avail to calm down his girlfriend when she gets furious at Minnie for being in the spotlight and could do nothing but watch with shock and disapproval as Daisy does everything to out-perform Minnie and when this escalates to Minnie tripping on a Christmas bell, Donald is left saddened by how his girlfriend's actions had accidentally hurt their friend Minnie.
However, his mood quickly becomes happy when Daisy makes up with Minnie and works together to make the festival better. In the second story called Christmas: Impossible , Donald is pranked by his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, repeatedly. At first, he can tolerate their antics but things get worse and Donald instantly snaps when they stole all the cookies, angrily sending them off to their bedroom without giving them a chance to prove they did not do it and immediately about to rage at his nephews when they shamelessly revealed their act by stating the cookies were delicious, even furiously struggling against his girlfriend and uncle to punish them when Daisy and Scrooge restrained him.
His nephews realize they need to put their names on Santa's Good List themselves, as they are on the Naughty List this year. At the end of the segment, Donald's mood gets progressively worse, starting from being annoyed when a piece of the wrapper of Scrooge's Christmas present gets on his head and being desperate to find his present, only to find out his only gift was The Big Book of Manners , leaving him utterly annoyed and not at all being amused by Daisy's laugh, and when Scrooge plays his bagpipes, Donald does not hesitate to unceremoniously rip apart the pages and using them to block his ear.
Donald later appears in his own segment, Donald's Gift , where he is exhausted, wanting nothing more than to relax in peace with a cup of hot cocoa; however, he is annoyed by We Wish You a Merry Christmas playing continuously.
Donald tries relaxing with a cup of cocoa until Daisy made him go with her to Mousey's holiday display with the boys. Donald, still tired, becomes increasingly angered when he starts hearing the song from everywhere around him multiple times; this leads to him damaging the Mousey's display in a panic to end it. This causes Daisy and his nephews to turn their backs on him out of absolute disgust for what he did despite his frantic attempts to apologize. After being thrown out of the mall by a police officer who berates his lack of Christmas spirit, Donald, being left alone sadly, contemplates on his actions that had not only cost his family and girlfriend to lose the respect for him but also ruined Christmas celebration in the mall.
Guilty and realizing that the unceremonious destruction of the mall's Christmas display is his fault, Donald walks home broken-spirited and can't even muster the spirit to join Daisy, Huey, Louie, and Dewey in a restaurant that sold his favorite hot cocoa. However, he later redeems himself when he finds an off-key chorus attempting to sing the song and although annoyed by their singing, teaches them to sing in harmony, earning him Daisy and his nephews' respect again.
Donald also appears alongside the others in the fifth and final segment of the film, Mickey's Dog-Gone Christmas , in which he joins the search party for Pluto. After Pluto is found on Mickey's roof by Huey, Dewey, and Louie, everyone including himself head into Mickey's house for Mickey's Christmas gathering to sing Christmas carols.
Donald, funnily enough, begins to sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas , which he initially showed no appreciation for in the earlier segment. The Aracuan Bird sees them both and introduces them to the Samba, which manages to cheer them up. He also appears at the end of the movie when the toon characters look at the melted remains of Judge Doom. In The Little Mermaid , Donald made a cameo with Mickey and Goofy at the beginning of the film, in the crowd of merpeople who were waiting for the concert of Ariel and her sisters.
They can be briefly spotted before King Triton illuminates the coral chandelier. In James and the Giant Peach , a skeletal duck resembling Donald appears.
Donald was also briefly seen on Weebo the Robot 's monitor via archive footage in the live-action film, Flubber. Donald appears as a plush toy in Giulia 's room in Luca. Throughout the year run of the Walt Disney anthology television series, Donald played a central role in many of the specials that originally aired as episodes of the series. These particular specials were all compilation films consisting of various classic shorts featuring Donald, bridged together by new linking animation.
In On Vacation with Mickey Mouse and Friends , Jiminy Cricket has to call the armed forces to search for Donald and bring him to the studio, and in Mickey's 60th Birthday , Donald demands to be featured in Mickey's birthday special; this leads to Donald being falsely accused of kidnapping Mickey when the mouse seemingly goes missing. Donald made recurring appearances in the live-action wrap-around skits alongside the other costumed characters and celebrity guests.
Donald had a rather small part in the television series DuckTales. Aside from making physical appearances, Donald is often mentioned by the other characters in the series, usually by the nephews and Scrooge. Donald makes non-physical appearances in " Scroogerello ", as an illustration in Webby Vanderquack 's wristwatch, and in DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp , where a picture frame of him can be seen briefly in Scrooge 's home when Webby wishes that everything was back to normal.
This series featured a modernized Duck family. Donald was no longer wearing his sailor suit and hat, but instead wore a Hawaiian shirt which he would wear again as Maui Mallard in the video game Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow. Following the conclusion of his naval tour of duty disregarding a single day he was later forced to shore up in the episode "All Hands on Duck" , Donald has taken up residence in Duckburg, serves as the primary caretaker of the now-teenage Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and still continues to date Daisy.
No other Duck family members besides Ludwig Von Drake appear in Quack Pack , and most of the other Duckburg citizens are now humans and only a small amount of anthropomorphic animals. In the series' storyline, Donald works under the narcissistic Kent Powers as a cameraman for the latter's television series entitled What in the World? Donald's job is often complicated by his fun-loving tendencies, his perpetual bad luck, and the strong contempt directed at him from Kent, who uses every possible opportunity to fire Donald to no avail.
Ironically, the one time Kent finally managed to rid himself of Donald, every last replacement turned out to be far worse than him. Unlike the other series, he and Daisy have a more better and steady relationship. Though the show mainly focused on Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Donald appeared in every episode and several of the episodes revolved around him.
These included " Leader of the Quack ", where Donald was revealed to be the ruler of the country of Quaintinia after accidentally saving the land from a dragon during a vacation. In " Snow Place to Hide ", Donald's terrible jealousy is put into the front when he suspects Daisy is having a romantic rendezvous with Kent Powers.
Donald next played an important role in Mickey Mouse Works. Here, Donald returns to wearing his blue sailor suit as seen in the laters and s cartoons as his trademark outfit, except that this time his black bow tie is now colored red like in the comics.
In the Mouse Works shorts, his role was more or less the same as in the classic shorts. In these shorts, though, he garnered a new adversary in the form of a baby turtle named Shelby , whom he would often have to look after and have a hard time doing so.
The series also featured Donald in a series of mini-shorts titled Donald's Dynamite , in which his activities are interrupted by the appearance of a bomb that he then has to try and rid himself of.
At the end of the show's intro in each episode, Donald would attempt to display a large sign reading "Starring Donald Duck" or "Duck Works" covering the show's logo in an attempt to steal the spotlight for himself, but an accident would occur, harming Donald and ridding the sign.
Donald appears once again in the series House of Mouse as a greeter and co-owner of the club. In the series, Donald secretly despises Mickey's role as the leader and wishes to someday be in charge, but lets his friendship proven to be greater. A recurring gag in the series is other characters referring to Donald as "Dooald", sometimes by mistake and other times to annoy him. Several episodes revolve around Donald.
To get back, Donald was to use Pumbaa to stink up the club. However, after Donald learned he was to be given an award that night, he called off the prank and apologized to Mickey for his actions. In " Dennis the Duck ", Donald was shown to have a disliking for some black-and-white characters. In " Donald Wants to Fly ", he attempted to gain the ability to fly. The entire evening proved unsuccessful until Peter Pan arrived. With Tinker Bell 's pixie dust, Donald was able to live his dream.
Donald also appeared in the show's spin-off films. While trapped, the gang decides to have a Christmas party, but Donald doesn't have any Christmas spirit.
Everyone then tries to change Donald's mood, only to fail. Eventually, Mickey asks Donald to put the star on the tree, finally giving Donald the Christmas spirit. Donald Duck reappears as a main character in the computer-animated series. He joins in nearly every adventure Mickey and friends set off on and helps the gang solve many puzzling problems. But sometimes he loses his temper so to mix-up the problems.
He is usually an unwitting target for many of the gags on the show and tends to say "Why does this always happen to me? A recurring gag in the series is Donald seeing a Mickey Mouse symbol and muttering to himself "Why is it always Mickey Mouse? Another recurring gag that appears in recent episodes where Donald and Goofy often bicker over childish things.
Donald is also the second main character to be used as a Mouseketool, which took place in the episode " Mickey's Clubhouse Rocks ". Interestingly, at the beginning of the series, Donald's temper was a rarity. However, as the series progressed, his temper, attitude, and stubbornness would increase more and more. In the series, Donald has a new pet and beloved friend and gem, Boo-Boo Chicken. Donald is also a major character in the spin-off Mickey Mousekersize and made guest appearances in Minnie's Bow-Toons.
Donald returns in this animated series starring Mickey and the gang. Donald's first appearance in the series was in the episode " No Service ". However, Mickey comes up with the idea to have one of the duos wear a full outfit and go into the shack to order take-out for everyone. They draw straws and Donald cheats his way to victory. Taking Mickey's shorts and shoes, Donald heads inside to order but spends much of his time laughing at Mickey's expense while the mouse tries to prevent Minnie and Daisy from seeing him nude.
While Donald was portrayed as a trickster in "No Service", his appearances in " Stayin' Cool ", " Potatoland ", and " Tapped Out " where he brutally defeated champion wrestler Pete in a rage follow his more dominant personality, where he is easily aggravated by the antics of Goofy and the wholesomeness of Mickey, often leading to the duck getting himself harmed and humiliated comically.
Donald can also be extremely selfish at times, such as in " Wonders of the Deep ", where he initially refused to journey into the ocean to save an endangered Ludwig Von Drake.
In " No ", he initially refused to help Mickey overcome his difficulties in saying the word "no". Despite this, Donald can pull through and act with heroism, as he eventually did in both instances. The first episode to fully revolve around Donald is " Flipperboobootosis ", where Donald comes down with a rare foot disease but refuses to have it properly treated because of his fear of the doctor. After several failed attempts to cure the duck themselves, Mickey and Goofy eventually force Donald to the hospital, though it pays off in the end, as the Bear Doctor was able to cure the Flipperboobootosis.
He also had a starring role in " Captain Donald ", where his deepest, darkest secret is revealed — he can't sail. It was also revealed that Donald got his sailor suit from Daisy because she likes men in uniform.
In " Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special ", Donald decides to live out his dream of experiencing Christmas by staying in the north with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto as opposed to migrating to the south with Daisy and the rest of his family.
Being a duck, however, the harsh winter weather sickens Donald to a deadly degree even though it has never affected him this way in previous productions. By the end, Mickey and the others manage to transfer him to the south, where they learn that Christmas can be celebrated anywhere in the world. Donald appears in the madcap racing series taking place in the town of Hot Dog Hills.
He works alongside Mickey in a local car garage, and has a transforming roadster modeled after his boat home known as the "Converting Cruiser". Unlike the other racers who typically participate for the fun of it, Donald is somewhat obsessed with winning and being praised as the best racer in town and he has won several races. Despite his determination, Donald still plays fair and square by the rules and shows good sportsmanship. Donald is a main character in the DuckTales series.
He plays a significantly larger role compared to the original series. This was also the first he wore his white hat since the classic shorts and the first appearance of the black sailor outside of the comic timeline series.
Ten years before the start of the series, Donald, Scrooge, and Della were partners and regularly embarked on fantastical adventures. After having explored virtually every known region in the world, Della wanted to explore space.
However, she had three eggs that were nearly ready to hatch. This did not dissuade Della, who still sought to pursue her astronomical goal. Donald scolded his sister for choosing adventure over family, but unbeknown to him, Scrooge had built a rocket ship as a surprise gift to Della in honor of her triplets' birth.
Della found out early and stole the rocket before Scrooge noticed. Scrooge tried to guide Della to safety through radio transmissions, but a cosmic storm consumed her ship and rendered her lost. Della's unhatched triplets, meanwhile, were left motherless.
Donald claimed custody and raised Huey, Dewey, and Louie as a single parent from the moment they hatched. Blaming his uncle for the loss of his sister, he refused to speak to Scrooge and cut all contact, the two becoming estranged. A decade later, Huey, Dewey, and Louie had no idea that Scrooge was their great-uncle at the start of the series.
In " Woo-oo! He gets the job, but the employer is Flintheart Glomgold , who enlists Donald on his search to find the jewel of Atlantis which Scrooge and the boys are also after. Though they are left in the city for dead by Glomgold, Dewey uses the wisdom he gained from Scrooge to rescue them. Impressed, Donald warmly allows the boys to remain in contact with their great-uncle, as he believes Scrooge will, at the very least, teach the boys how to get out of the dangers they'll inevitably face throughout their adventurous lives.
Unfortunately, Donald's home catches fire, which prompts Scrooge to charitably invite his four nephews to live in his mansion while Donald fixes the houseboat, which now resides in Scrooge's pool. In " The Last Crash of the Sunchaser! Seeing the boys so downhearted prompts him to move the family to Cape Suzette. Before leaving, Webby , Launchpad , and Mrs.
Beakley throw a "going away party", which is a ploy to convince Donald and the boys to forgive Scrooge and rekindle their broken family. Beakley reveals that Scrooge has been tormented by the loss of Della and almost sent his company into bankruptcy by funding numerous rescue missions to recover her.
Donald, finally realizing the love Scrooge has for his family, declares that they've been apart for too long. With Huey, Dewey, and Louie in agreement, they decide to stay in Duckburg. Before they can reunite with Scrooge, however, Magica De Spell takes over the city. Donald leads a heroic rescue mission to stop the sorceress and save his uncle.
He rallies together some of Duckburg's residents, easily defeats the shadow versions in battle including the Gizmoduck's robotic suit , and accidentally destroys Magica's staff, which takes away her power.
After the dust settles, the boys reconcile with Scrooge, thus finally bringing their family together again. They then team up to defeat a murderous flower and Donald kills it with his bad singing. In " Storkules in Duckburg! In " Last Christmas! He also meets a teenager Donald who didn't want to celebrate Christmas with Della at first. This was one of Taylor's final freshly recorded performances before her death. In " The Golden Spear! His family gives him a free cruise vacation for one month.
However, he sees Della's rocket ship crash. He goes to look for her but pushes the launch button. The rocket floats up to outer space. He is broken free by Della's friend Penumbra , who helps him escape. The two stumble upon Lunaris's war room and discover that he has been planning an invasion on Earth even before Della's arrival. Lunaris arrives and taunts Donald, but Donald battles him and eventually escapes the moon on a prototype rocket, but not before warning Scrooge and the kids of the invasion.
It's revealed that he felt the world is out to get him, however when Huey, Dewey and Louie were born he took anger management classes to become a better person.
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