In Deference to a Different Donald, We Get Our Ducks in a Row

travsd

Jun 9

By someone's decree, I guess the Walt Disney Corporation's, June 9 is Donald Duck Day, marking the anniversary of Donald's first appearance in a short, 1934's The Wise Little Hen. But why should Disney always have a monopoly? I can find no mention of a day to celebrate ALL ducks, but I'm unilaterally opening it up wide anyway. Forthwith, a brief survey of ducks in vaudeville and motion pictures . A little diversion perhaps from the top story of the day concerning another Donald.

Gus Visser and His Singing Duck

Read more about this vaudeville act here.

Joe Penner

Vaudeville, radio, and movie comedian Joe Penner was forever trying to sell a duck. More on him here.

Duck Soup (1927)

Very early Laurel and Hardy silent comedy short.

Duck Soup (1933)

The Marx Brothers comedy, cited by many as their favorite. Like the Laurel and Hardy comedy of the same name, it was directed by Leo McCarey.

Donald Duck (1934)

One of those most beloved and eternal of American cartoon characters. There has always been much speculation about Donald's pantslessness, but to me it makes perfect sense given the boat-like arrangement of a duck's body when it floats atop the water with feet folded beneath. The sailor suit reinforces the gag, long since forgotten, that he's kind of a visual riff on a RUBBER duck from your bathtub. He's comically nautical. Beyond this, the character is very vividly realized, one of the most oddly three dimensional cartoons. That voice (completely invented by Clarence Nash, previous to the character's advent) drives the personality: Donald is always peevish, ill tempered, making a fuss, scolding, scowling. "Mad as a wet hen" as the expression goes -- except he's a duck! Yet he's goodhearted. And he was a key part of America's propaganda battle against the Axis Powers!

Daffy Duck (1937)

Warner Brothers' cartoon duck character has seen at least two different iterations, the one evolving into the other. Originally the character was a screwball, who put the "loony" into "loony tunes". He was wacky and zany and nonsensical, and bounced up and down on his head while laughing and cooing like a maniac. He was more of a trouble causer than the recipient of trouble. Pretty quickly the character became more of a foil in the Donald mode, basically Bugs Bunny's frenemeny, and the one who is always bested by Bugs in their contests. Mel Blanc voiced him; the characterization has always reminded me a little of Jack Lemmon for some reason.

Huey, Dewey and Louie (1938)

Donald's triplet nephews are almost as old as he is!

Dinky Duck (1939)

Terrytoons' duck character was quite different from Donald and Daffy, more of a cute, innocent baby in the "Tweety" vein. He was never as popular as those characters nor the other Terry properties like Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle.

Daisy Duck (1940)

Donald's main squeeze, briefly called "Donna" when she was introduced. Everyone knows that "Donna" is just Donald's OWN female alter ego! Daisy is obviously a riff on the Minnie Mouse idea, where you make a female by slapping a bow on her head, still emulated decades later by such things as Ms. Pac-Man (they couldn't just make her Pac-Girl?)

Scrooge McDuck (1947)

Donald's miserly Scottish uncle enters the scene. Interestingly, his success in comic book form would even exceed his screen popularity.

Baby Huey (1950)

Another duck named Huey! I've always been a huge fan of this huge character, so much so that I've often quoted from it or made reference to it, usually to uncomprehending stares. Baby Huey was a product of Paramount's Famous Players studio, the same folks who produced Caspar the Friendly Ghost. The idea was that Huey was an innocent, but gigantically enormous, so there was a lot of pathos around his combination of sweet naivete and a huge clumsy body. Today, I think the character may read as problematic because he seems an awfully lot like a mentally impaired adult. But I think it's really just supposed to be a big infant. Like Gargantua!

Yakky Doodle (1961)

Hanna-Barbera launched its own duck character on The Yogi Bear Show, a sort of mix of the ideas of Dinky Duck and Warner Bros' Tweety. It's fame falls somewhere in between.

Ernie sings "Rubber Duckie" on Sesame Street (1970)

It seemed relevant.

Howard the Duck (1973)

Marvel's cigar smoking, interdimensionally challenged Duck character, who was "Trapped in a World He Never Made"

"Disco Duck" (1976)

The inevitable overlapping of the disco craze with comical cartoon ducks! This was the era when there was even a disco version of Beethoven's Fifth Sympthy. Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots calculated that a Disco Duck could be a hit. Sound calculation -- it went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Howard the Duck (1987)

George Lucas' ill-conceived and disturbing live action Howard the Duck movie is one of Hollywood's most famous bombs. They must keep it under lock and key -- I feel like I haven't seen it in well over 30 years.

DuckTales (1987)

Part of the Disney Renaissance of the late '80s and early '90s, this show featured the great Alan Young in his character of Scrooge McDuck, along with Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louise.

Darkwing Duck (1991)

Disney's very fun and inspired spoof on such old timey serial franchises as the Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, and The Shadow -- oddly more in the style of Warner Brothers, and I always think its Daffy under that big hat.