June 9 - Donald Duck

Image copyright Disney

On this day, in 1934, Donald Fauntleroy Duck made his world debut in a Silly Symphony called The Wise Little Hen. If you want to get technical about things, Donald was actually three years old by the time Hen was released. He’d first been mentioned in a storybook, 1931’s The Adventures of Mickey Mouse, as a barnyard friend of Mickey’s. However, on the cover of that book, he looks more like a normal duck, albeit one wearing a green hat and overalls (interestingly it’s a shirt he’s missing at this point). When Hen premiered, he had his signature look of sailor cap and shirt (sans pants), but still wasn’t much of a character yet.  Donald’s second appearance, later that same year, was when things began to come together for everyone’s favorite foul tempered fowl.

For Orphan’s Benefit, Dick Lundy, an animator most remembered for being a co-creator of Donald, gave the Duck several of the physical characteristics that continue to define him today. And the foremost of those traits has to be his short temper. While slapstick was fairly common on the big screen, the temper tantrum pratfalls tend to send Donald into was something new. As soon as something or someone gets the better of Donald, he starts hopping on one foot, shaking his fist and making unintelligible quacking sound (although you can almost read his lips) which is a reaction quite unlike Charlie Chaplain or Buster Keaton. The audience response to Orphan’s Benefit was overwhelming and divided: kids either loved Donald and cheered him on or hated him and booed him. Either way, it was quickly obvious that the pants-less little bird was here to stay. 

Image copyright Disney

By 1935’s The Band Concert, Donald had become the perfect comedic foil for Mickey, a pairing the two stars would enjoy for decades, even as Mr. Duck’s popularity began to eclipse Mr. Mouse’s. In fact, Donald would go on to appear in more shorts than any other Disney character. One of the reasons he was created in the first place was to showcase personality traits that Mickey no longer could (like temper tantrums). In time, though, even he would evolve into more of the straight man role when two little chipmunks from his garden, Chip and Dale, became his comic foils. And with the addition of his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, he would become even more of a responsible citizen, for the boy’s sake. During World War II, Donald even became a stand in for American GIs in a string of anti-Nazi propaganda shorts, including the Academy Award winning Der Feuhrer's Face. One thing that has never changed though, is that short fuse of his (or his aversion to pants). 

Image copyright Disney

Starting quite early in the company’s history, Disney had several daily and weekly comic strips that appeared in newspapers. Donald began showing up in them as soon as he debuted and quickly earned his own strip. As comic books began to take over the imaginations of America’s youth and began selling millions of copies every month, Disney licensed most of their characters to Western Publishing to get in on the trade. Once again, Donald proved his popularity by appearing in more comic book stories than anyone (not just Disney characters but any character) who wasn’t a superhero (let’s face it, supers have always been the kings and queens of the genre).  Drawn by the likes of Al Taliaferro, Don Rosa and (most famously) Carl Barks, the universe that Donald lives in is the largest, most complete of any of the classic Disney characters because of his career in comics. A whole slew of his friends and relatives, including Scrooge McDuck, Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, and Huey, Dewey and Louie first appeared in the comics before making the transition to movies. 

Image copyright Disney

Which brings us to the topic of Donald’s girlfriends (and yes there is an s on the end of that word). Most people nowadays only know Daisy Duck as the love of his life, but, truth be told, Donald has been a bit of a player over the years.  For most of his comic book career, he kept two ladies on the hook, Daisy and her rival Donna Duck. Donna actually appeared on the big screen first in the 1937 short Don Donald (where she is established as being a Mexican duck) while Daisy didn’t come along until 1940’s Mr. Duck Steps Out. Some would claim that Donna is simply an early version of Daisy (much like Goofy was known as Dippy Dog at first) and initially that might have been true as Donna never appeared on film other than that one time. However, in 1951, the comics introduced her as Daisy’s rival for Donald’s affection and they coexisted for decades. Since Donna was basically a female version of Donald (complete with a feisty temper) and Daisy is much more of a yin to his yang, I choose to believe that they have always been separate characters.  

Image copyright Disney

As if juggling two women weren’t enough, in the Seventies the comics introduced another girlfriend for Donald. Reginella is an alien duck that Donald apparently falls deeply in love with, has a bit of an affair with in a Swiss chalet and, over the course of five adventures, struggles to be with until they finally realize that, for various reasons, their love can never be and, with deep sadness, they part. Let’s just say that Donna and Daisy do not figure into those story lines at all.

In recent times, Donald continues to enjoy immense popularity while still rebelling against his status as second banana to Mickey Mouse. Even though that’s something he’s been doing constantly since The Mickey Mouse Club television show, he can never seem to convince most people that he’s actually number one (in spite of the fact that his official signature includes that exact sentiment). The world continues to love him anyways and nothing is going to change that. Not the fact that we can’t understand most of what he says, nor the fact that he still refuses to wear pants. He was, is and will remain our favorite Duck. (And for those of you wondering about his middle name, to my knowledge no one ever actually uses it, but that is how his draft notice reads in the 1942 short Donald Gets Drafted.) Happy birthday, Donald!