Top Ten Donald Duck Shorts

Today's article is written by our good friend and frequent contributer Michael Wermuth. Be sure to also check out Michael's article on The Top Ten Mickey Mouse Shorts.

Michael Wermuth- Donald Duck is one of everybody’s favorite Disney characters. While Mickey Mouse is the face of The Walt Disney Company, Donald is allowed to have more personality, making him a stronger character. He’s starred in many movies and TV shows, and now, here is a list of my top ten favorite Donald Duck cartoons.

10. The Dognapper

One of the few black and white cartoons featuring Donald, this short finds Donald and Mickey as police officers after Peg-Leg Pete, who has stolen Minnie’s dog, Fifi. There’s a lot of funny visual gags, including the saw mill.

9. The New Spirit

In this cartoon, Donald listens to a news report on what he can do to support America in World War II. He’s all enthusiastic over what the radio says he can do, even though he won’t get a medal for it, but initially gets disappointed to learn that this important thing is paying his income tax on time, but perks up when he learns that although it doesn’t seem important, it still is important, and paying taxes on time allows for the army to spend the money on material to defeat the enemies, “taxes to defeat the axis!” This is a good cartoon to promote patriotism. In fact, I’ve read that this short caused more people to pay their taxes on time.

8. The Wise Little Hen

This was the first Donald Duck cartoon, and probably his only appearance in a Silly Symphony. In this one, Donald Duck and Peter Pig both get out of helping a hen with making muffins, claiming to have bellyaches as their excuse. And when it’s time to eat, they both expect a good treat, but instead get a good, funny payoff. It’s a shame that Peter Pig didn’t return, he seemed like a great character, with his grunting when he talks (much like Donald’s quacking when he talks).

7. Working for Peanuts

This is one of only two classic Disney animated shorts that were made in 3D, though that’s not why this is on the list. This short finds Donald as a zoo keeper who, with the help of Deloris the Elephant, keeps Chip and Dale away from Delore’s peanuts. But eventually, Chip and Dale paint themselves white and trick Donald into thinking they are albino chipmunks. And when Dale gets halfway into a pool, washing off half the paint, he comes up with a funny way to convince Donald that it’s not what it seems (leading to a funnier punchline at the end).

6. Sleepytime Donald

In this short, Donald Duck sleepwalks (a plotline previously used with Popeye and Olive Oyl in “A Dream Walking”, and later used by Tom and Jerry in “Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary” and by Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales in “Skyscraper Caper”), with Daisy making sure he doesn’t get in trouble while sleepwalking. Spoiler: He does get into trouble.

5. The Spirit of ‘43

A follow-up to “The New Spirit”, this short finds Donald battling over how to use his money on payday – put it towards his taxes and help the army, or spend it on entertainment? Donald has a good and bad conscience, though not in the forms of an angel and devil – instead, the good conscience is a thrifty Scottish duck (with some resemblance to Scrooge McDuck, though I don’t think Scrooge had been around at that point), and the bad a frivolous-spending duck.

4. Derr Fuhers Face

The one Donald Duck cartoon that won an Oscar, and deservedly so. This short finds Donald in the army as a Nazi officer, eating very small amounts of food, having to salute every PICTURE of Adolf Hitler, and having to make bullet shells of different sizes. Thankfully for Donald, it all ends up being a dream.
To avoid any controversy over the short's propagandist nature of the film, not to mention the depiction of Donald Duck as a Nazi officer, and the Nazi symbol scattered throughout the short, Disney kept it out of circulation until 2004 where it was released on the Walt Disney Treasures set.

3. Duck Pimples

This is perhaps one of the weirdest Disney shorts. Donald reads a scary story, and various people from the book come out of the book, including a cop who accuses Donald of a crime, an attractive dame, a gorilla, and even the author of the book. And this is one of the few Donald cartoons to feature human characters, making it stand out more (of course, Quack Pack was also full of human characters).

2. Donald’s Happy Birthday

In this short, Huey, Dewy, and Louie want to buy Donald a box of cigars for his birthday, but after making enough money, Donald makes them save the money, not allowing them to spend it. So it’s a struggle to get the money away from Donald, and after they do, Donald catches them buying cigars (without knowing why) and decides to punish them by making them smoke all the cigars. The ending is a very funny ending, one that likely wouldn’t be in a Disney cartoon today (I’m surprised I even saw it on The Disney Channel in 1998, though it was a late-night Vault Disney showing), and I guess this also shows that society has changed, since the nephews, who are obviously children, were actually able to go into a store to buy the cigars. Just try to send a young child into a store today to buy you cigars, with no I.D., and be believed by a shopkeeper that the cigars are not for the child.

1.   Donald’s Dilemma

Most of my favorite Disney shorts are ones that are somehow historically important or well-known successes. This is among the few “average” Disney shorts that I really like. It finds Daisy telling a psychologist about Donald getting hit on the head, giving him a golden singing voice (singing the classic “When You Wish Upon a Star”) but also getting amnesia, forgetting about and having no interest in Daisy. There’s some great scenes with Daisy going somewhat crazy (as she says, “I didn’t want to eat. I didn’t want to sleep. I didn’t want to live”), and when she learns of a cure for Donald, it’s funny to see how she reacts when realizing she has to choose between what she wants or the world getting to appreciate Donald’s singing voice.

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

Top Ten Mickey Mouse Shorts

Michael Wermuth- Mickey Mouse is one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time, not just for The Walt Disney Company. And he has starred in a lot of great shorts. Let’s take a look at my top ten favorite Mickey Mouse shorts.

10. His red shorts. You know which ones I’m talking about, the ones with the two yellow buttons.

9. His other red shorts with the yellow buttons. Man, nobody wears red shorts with buttons quite like Mickey.

8. Those other red shorts with the two yellow buttons. I’d like to see Donald and Goofy try to wear shorts like those.

….Hmm, as I guess I didn’t think this list through. All of Mickey’s shorts look the same.

Oh, right, animated shorts starring Mickey Mouse. Silly me….

10. Get a Horse!

Get a Horse is the most recent theatrical short starring Mickey Mouse, and it’s a lot better than I had expected (and keep in mind I already had great expectations for this short). It starts out in the style of a 1928 Mickey Mouse cartoon – Mickey doesn’t wear gloves, has his round black eyes, there’s barely any dialogue (though existing audio from Walt Disney is used for the few times Mickey’s voice is heard), but then when  Mickey tries to save Minnie from Pete, they leave the theater screen, becoming computer animated as Mickey, Minnie, Pete, and others constantly go in and out of the screen. In fact this short seems like something that would have made a great Disney theme park attraction (unfortunately, I didn’t see the short in 3D). I would have liked to have placed this higher on the list, except it’s too new and I’ve only seen it once so far.

9. Mickey’s Rival

In this short, Mickey and Minnie have a picnic, which gets interrupted by an old acquaintance of Minnie’s, Mortimer Mouse (“Mortimer” was what Walt Disney had originally wanted to name Mickey). Mortimer not only causes jealousy for Mickey, but is also a very rude jerk to Mickey. It’s especially funny when Mortimer asks Mickey if he wants the buttons on his shorts. Eventually, Mortimer finds a bull behind a fence, and foolishly holds a red cape over it, unaware that the gate is open, and cowardly runs off, accidentally getting Minnie wrapped in it and needing Mickey (and Mickey’s car, who happens to be alive in this) to rescue her.

8. Mickey’s Delayed Date

In this short, Mickey is late to his date with Minnie, and goes through a lot of trouble getting dressed and arriving, causing much of his clothes to get ruined. But then it turns out that they’re going to a costume party, and Minnie thinks Mickey’s outfit is a costume.

7. The Little Whirlwind

This short was made during a brief time when Mickey’s ears had some perspective in them. In this short, Mickey finds a pie on Minnie’s window, which Minnie won’t let him have, but agrees to let him have some pie in exchange for doing yard-work. However, the wind keeps messing things up for Mickey. What’s interesting about this short is that Mickey and Minnie don’t appear to be a couple. There have been other shorts where they aren't a couple at first but instantly fall in love upon meeting, but here Minnie doesn't seem interested in Mickey at all.

6. Mickey’s Good Deed

In this short, Mickey is a homeless street musician on Christmas Eve. A very spoiled, very bratty boy sees Pluto and wants him, but Mickey refuses to sell his dog until he comes across a house of poor children, and sells Pluto so he can buy presents for the children. However, the kid plays rough with Pluto, and eventually the boys father gets so fed up that he orders his butler to throw Pluto out and gives his son a well-deserved spanking. Mickey and Pluto are reunited, and Pluto happened to have some turkey tied to his tail.

5. Plane Crazy

The first Mickey Mouse cartoon produced. Mickey takes Minnie on a plane ride, which gets wild and crazy at first, eventually going off on its own as pilot Mickey falls out of the plane. This cartoon shows a rare mean side to Mickey, with him intentionally scaring Minnie when she refuses to kiss him, and later laughing at Minnie after she falls off the plane (saved by her panties, which inflates into a parachute for her). It’s fun watching the early, more mischievous side to Mickey (before he had to become a goody-two-shoes role model).

4. Lonesome Ghosts

In this short, Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy work as ghost exterminators (pre-dating Ghostbusters by a few decades). They get a call from ghosts who are bored. Although the ghosts constantly get the better of them, the ghosts end up getting scared away when the trio gets stuck in dough, making them look like ghosts.

3. Runaway Brain

I saw this one in the theater. In Runaway Brain, Mickey forgets about his and Minnie’s anniversary, and in an attempt to convince Minnie that he had remembered, plans a golf date, only when showing her the ad in the paper, she sees the wrong ad, thinking Mickey was taking her to Hawaii. With a trip to Hawaii being too expensive, Mickey accepts a job that pays the amount needed in just one day, but unfortunately it’s to have Mickey’s brain switched with a Frankenstein’s Monster-type monster, who soon becomes crazy about Minnie.

2. Mickey’s Birthday Party

In this cartoon, Minnie and the gang throw a surprise birthday party for Mickey, with some great music and dancing, as well as funny scenes with Goofy struggling to make the cake.

1. Steamboat Willie

Yes, I honestly feel like the first (theatrically released) Mickey Mouse cartoon is the best. There’s so much to like, including the classic image of Mickey steering the helm of the boat, Mickey and Minnie making music from animals, and the ending, in which Mickey throws a potato at a parrot, is hilarious.

The Mickey Mindset: mickeymindset@gmail.com

Disney Fan Art Showcase: Kevin Arsenault

Today we're thrilled and really, really proud to present a dozen pieces of original, amazing fan art from our friend Kevin Arsenault. Kevin's art style is one of my favorites and I really can't get enough of it. Be sure to visit Kevin's EeyorbStudios Deviant Art page for even more outstanding artwork!

"It's the World According to Goofy"

"Foul-Feathered Friend"

"Croissant de Triomphe"

"Panchito Pistoles"

"Have You Been to Bahia?"

"We're Just a Couple of Crazy Rascals!"

"Huey, Dewey, and Louie"

"Bless Me Bagpipes!"

"Olaf"

"Roger Rabbit"

"We Love You, Uncle Donald"

"Battle of the Mallets"

Huge thanks to Kevin Arsenault for letting us share his amazing work!

The Mickey Mindset, mickeymindset@gmail.com