Donald Duck

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Who is Donald Duck?
Full Name: Donald Fauntleroy Duck
Birthdate: Egg hatched June 9, 1934
(Egg laid Friday, March 13, 1934)
Besides in my opinon, being the greatest cartoon character ever, Donald is the one in the little blue suit that is more often in a rage than not. His personality shows through actions. He gives new meaning to the phrase: "Actions speak louder than words." His lines are few and almost indecipherable, forcing his actions to speak the volumeof his parts. His personality makes his character almost unpredictable and yet so predictable. One can almost guarantee a rise in temper, but why? We'll just have to wait and see.

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"Whenever the corners of Donald Duck's eyebrows begin to meet and his webbed foot begins to stamp, most audiences squirm in pleasant anticipation of Donald's forthcoming anger. Never in motion pictures has there been such a funny fury as Donald's."
Richard Tobin, 1935
"Make the duck kinda cocky. And since he's a duck and likes water, how about giving him a little middy blouse and a sailor hat?"
Walt Disney to Spencer
"Although he takes many a blow on the chin, he always dusts off his feathers and rises to take it on the chin again."

How Nash Came to be Donald
Nash worked as an impressionist on a Radio show called The Merrymakers anddrove a miniature team of horses around town giving goodies to kids while he was "Whistling Clarence, the Adohr Bird Man" In 1932, Walt Disney accidentally heard a reprise of The Merrymakers and said "That man sounds like a duck" Later Nash was in an audition and Walt Disney heard his impression of a duck, and said "There's our talking duck!" Walt Disney and Nash worked together to build Donald's voice adding things like laughter. Clarence "Ducky" Nash provided the voice of Donald Duck until 1985, when he died of leukemia.

A Word from Mr. Walt Disney
From Extra to Star
Donald Duck came into being in 1934 to fit a voice which had interested me a couple of years before. He first appeared in a bit in our The Wise Little Hen, and proceeded to steal the picture. He squawked and strutted his way into the production until he was practically the star of the film. He was a character we simply couldn't keep down. And the public took him to heart completely after his second appearanc...

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...ly inherited Barks' title as the "New Duckman" for his work with both Donald and $crooge).
LITTLE KNOWN SECRETS: Donald's first depiction was drawn in the book "Mickey Mouse Annual," in the poem "More HooZoo," where he was an unassuming little winged duckling who wore buttoned pants (perhaps the last time he would ever wear pants). At least two cartoons present Donald and Daisy as married "Donald's Diary" (Mar. 5, 1954) and "How to Have an Accident at Work" (Sep. 2, 1959). The later of which even gives them an unnamed son. Though the first was most assuredly, like "Mickey's Nightmare," a dream. The second was more like the "Geef" shorts, presenting Donald as "everyman" and was presumably just a film role. The studio's general theory is that Donald's temperament is the one thing that stands between Donald and Daisy ever actually tying the knot.
WORKING THEORIES: none

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