When I was growing up, my favorite Disney cartoon character was Donald Duck (known south of the border as Donaldo El Ducko). South of what border, you ask? It’s a borderline call. Anyway, back then, if you played word association and said “Donald,” chances are you’d get “Duck” in response. Today, if you said “Donald,” you’d probably get “Trump” in response (known without borders as Donaldo El Ego).
Good, old, irascible Donald Duck. None of that Mickey Mouse stuff for him. Donald has an attitude. He also has a “birthday” today. Quoting Wikipedia: Donald Duck first appeared in the 1934 cartoon The Wise Little Hen which was part of the Silly Symphonies series of theatrical cartoon shorts. The film’s release date of June 9 is officially recognized by the Walt Disney Company as Donald’s birthday.
To celebrate, here’s a 1949 cartoon marking Donald’s 15th birthday. I don’t know that it stands the test of time as well as some other animated cartoons of the period, perhaps partly due to it not being one of his best. In any event, it’s the most appropriate one for the occasion. Happy Birthday, Donald(o) (El) Duck(o)!
Mom says I had a Donald Duck accent as a toddler. Which is to say, she couldn’t understand anything I said.
Happy birthday Donald Duck!
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Love that Donald Duck voice! It’s probably the most memorable of any cartoon character not voiced by Mel Blanc (the Man of a 1000 Voices, including Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam and 998 others).
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Wait a second if you say Donald people say Trump? You mean they don’t say…. Mattingly?
You know when you haven’t watched these in awhile it’s amazing to see the quality of the artwork. Even with modern day computers they can’t match it.
Happy Birthday Donald Duck!
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Or Frankel would be even better, Don.
As for the artwork, one could say Disney could afford the best, but he wasn’t the only one producing great animated cartoons in those days.
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I’m pretty sure Mattingly was (is) a Don, not a Donald.
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Same with Mafia Don, though I’m not sure which one had the most hits.
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As a kid I wanted to like Donald Duck, but I ended up shying away because I could see when he lost his temper he was just digging a deeper hole for himself and I couldn’t bear it.
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Wile E Coyote always dug a hole for himself too, but though you knew it was coming, that was the fun of it..
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