Yesterday marked the 85th birthday of the one and only Donald Duck. That is why this addition of Cartoons for Saturday Morning will feature nothing but Donald. So sit back and enjoy.
Donald made his first cartoon appearance in a Silly Symphony called The Wise Little Hen (1934). He was not a main character in this cartoon but with his design and the unique voice Clarence Nash gave him. He was planned as a character that would only appear in one film, but of course that would not end up being the case. Donald was not the only character planned for just this one film, but who's career did not end there. His pal Peter Pig would later appear in the classic Mickey Mouse cartoon, The Band Concert (1935). This cartoon interestingly had a rival very similar cartoon coming for the Ub Iwerks Studio called The Little Red Hen (1934). That cartoon was released a few months before this one. That is why this film's original title The Little Red Hen was changed to The Wise Little Hen. Ub Iwerks was of course Walt's right hand man before going and making his own cartoons. As these would not be as successful he later returned to Disney to do special effects on such films as The Three Caballeros (1944) and Mary Poppins (1964). The animation of Donald here is handled by Art Babbitt, Frenchy de Tr'emaudan and Dick Huemer. Though Donald's later personality is not fully evident here the character is still clear Donald with the design and voice.
During World War 2 a whole series of cartoons were made with Donald in the Army having Pete as his sergeant. This were fast paced and funny shorts that brought some much needed levity to what was going on in the world at this time. These were directed by Jack King who directed most of the Donald Duck cartoons around this era. His Donald Duck cartoons were always fast paced energetic and fun. This is interesting considering that his cartoons for Warner Brothers were quite slow paced affairs. So enjoy The Old Army Game (1943).
Next is one of the only two Disney cartoons directed by animation legend Dick Huemer, The Whalers (1938) (his other cartoon he directed for Disney was Goofy and Wilbur (1939)). When Don Peri interviewed him, Don asked Dick what his favorite Disney shorts were. Dick immediately responded with the two he directed and said that he wished he could have stayed as a director of shorts, but Walt moved him to being an animator on features. This is one of those great cartoons of the era which teamed Mickey, Donald and Goofy.
We end with a more recent short. I love the recent Mickey Mouse cartoons by Disney. These cartoons perfectly embrace the cartoony-ness of classic 1930's cartoon while inserting some modern humor in there. So enjoy No Service (2013).
-Michael J. Ruhland
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