Duck, duck...DUCK?!?

Yep, today's post is a salute to the most famous of all sailor fowl - Donald Duck. According to Wikipedia, on June 9, 1934, Donald made his debut in a Silly Symphonies (not Disney) short film -- The Wise Little Hen.

The director of The Wise Little Hen, brought Donald back in a Mickey Mouse cartoon on Aug. 11, 1934. In it, Donald is one of a number of characters who are giving performances in a benefit for Mickey's Orphans. Donald is to recite the poems Mary Had a Little Lamb and Little Boy Blue, but every time he tries, the orphans eat his specially made pie, leading the duck to fly into a squawking fit of anger - now a trademark.

Donald began appearing in most Mickey Mouse cartoons as a regular member of the ensemble with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. In 1936 he got an extreme makeover and became fuller, rounder, and cuter. He also began starring in solo cartoons. His first was the Jan. 9, 1937 cartoon, Don Donald, which introduced his long-time love interest, Daisy (first called Donna).

A fun fact about the original Donald:

• According to the cartoon Donald Gets Drafted, Donald's full name is Donald Fauntleroy Duck. (The middle name appears to be a reference to his sailor hat, which was a common accessory for Fauntleroy suits.)

The names for Donald in other languages:

• Arabic: بطوط (Buttoot, Butt means duck)
• Croatian: Paško Patak
• Danish: Anders And
• Finnish:Aku Ankka (this is also the name of the weekly magazine, which until 2004 was the most popular weekly magazine in Finland)
• Greek: Ντοναλντ Ντάκ
• Icelandic: Andrés Önd
• Italian: Paperino
• Japanese: ドナルドダック (Donarudo Dakku)
• Chinese: 唐老鴨 (Tánglăo Yā "Old-duck Tang")
• Russian: Доналд Дак
• Serbian: Паја Патак (Paja Patak)
• Spanish (Mexico): El Pato Donald
• Swedish: Kalle Anka
• Turkish:Vakvak Amca

But one of my favorite facts about Donald Duck, it that's Donald's a true patriot. During WWII, film audiences were looking for brasher, edgier cartoon characters. By 1949, Donald had surpassed Mickey Mouse as Disney's most popular character. Before 1941, Donald Duck had appeared in about 50 cartoons. Between 1941 and1965, Donald would star in over 100.

Several of Donald's shorts during the war were propaganda films, most notably Der Fuehrer's Face. In it, Donald plays a worker in an artillery factory in "Nutzi Land" (Nazi Germany). He struggles with long working hours, very small food rations, and having to salute every time he sees a picture of the Fuhrer. These pictures appear in many places, such as on the assembly line in which he is screwing in the detonators of various sizes of shells. In the end he becomes little more than a small part in a faceless machine with no choice but to obey till he falls, suffering a nervous breakdown. Then Donald wakes up to find that his experience was in fact a nightmare. This cartoon won the 1943 Academy Award for Animated Short.

Other notable shorts from this period include the so-called Army shorts, six films that follow Donald's life in the US Army from his drafting to his life at boot camp to his first actual mission as a commando. Titles in the series include:

Donald Gets Drafted, The Vanishing Private, Sky Trooper, Fall Out Fall In, The Old Army Game and Commando Duck.

Donald Gets Drafted also featured Donald having a physical examination before joining the army. According to it Donald had flat feet, is unable to distinguish between the colors green and blue and has a lack of dicipline.

Thanks to these films, Donald graced the nose artwork of virtually every type of WWII Allied combat aircraft, from the L-4 Grasshopper to the B-29 Superfortress. He also appears as a mascot-such as in the Army Air Corps 309th fighter Squadron and the U.S Coast Guard Auxiliary "Corsair Fleet."

Way to go Donald! He's a sailor, mascot and patriot despite being a foul-tempered fowl. What a bird.