1937 Donald Duck cartoon
Donald's Ostrich
is an
animated
short film
produced in
Technicolor
by
Walt Disney Productions
and released to theaters on December 10, 1937, by
RKO Radio Pictures
.
[3]
It was the first film in the
Donald Duck
series of short films, although billed at the time as a
Mickey Mouse
cartoon. It was the first of the series to be released by RKO.
[4]
Donald's Ostrich
was directed by
Jack King
and features the voices of
Clarence Nash
as
Donald Duck
,
Pinto Colvig
as Hortense the Ostrich, and
Elvia Allman
and
Billy Bletcher
as radio voices.
Plot
[
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]
Donald is working along as a custodian at a
whistle stop
train station and is responsible for loading and unloading luggage. A train passes the station and dumps a large pile of luggage on Donald without stopping. Donald finds that one of the crates contains an
ostrich
and tied around the ostrich's neck he finds the following note: "My name is HORTENSE. Please see that I am fed and watered. P.S. I eat
anything
!"
Hortense begins to eat anything she can find at the station starting with the message. This includes Donald Duck's bottom. She then eats a
concertina
, a wind-up alarm clock and several balloons. This causes Hortense to have hiccups which Donald tries to cure by scaring her.
Finally Hortense swallows Donald's radio and her body begins to react to what is playing on the radio. Donald realizes Hortense has swallowed the radio and grabs a pair of forceps to try to pull it out (but ends up getting the concertina out instead). When Hortense starts to react to a broadcast car race, Donald is unable to control her. Hortense finally crashes through a door which at last knocks the radio out of her, but she also gives Donald the hiccups.
Hortense
[
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]
While
Donald's Ostrich
was the first and only time that Hortense the Ostrich appeared in animation, she later appeared as a comic book character as Donald's pet. Her first comic appearance was in the first publication of the
Donald Duck Annual
in 1938.
[5]
Hortense also appeared in the
Donald Duck
comic strip
, first appearing on October 3, 1938 for a few weeks,
[6]
and then appearing very occasionally until her last appearance on October 30, 1944.
[7]
Deleted scenes
[
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]
One of the scenes involves Donald dressing up as Frankenstein's monster and scaring Hortense. The reason for cutting this out of the official version might have been that the design of the monster was copyrighted by
Universal
. These scenes were not included for theatrical release in the United States, but they are left intact on a Pathescope
9.5mm
release of the film in the United Kingdom, dated from February 1938. The scenes were also compiled as a separate Pathescope release, titled
Donald's Disguise
.
[8]
[9]
Voice cast
[
edit
]
Home media
[
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]
The short was released on May 18, 2004, on
Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941
.
[10]
It was also released on VHS on
Walt Disney Cartoon Classics Vol. 2: Here's Donald
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Scott, Keith (October 3, 2022).
Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2
. BearManor Media.
- ^
Donald's Ostrich
Archived
November 24, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
at The Encyclopedia of Animated Disney Shorts
- ^
Lenburg, Jeff (1999).
The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons
. Checkmark Books. pp. 74?76.
ISBN
0-8160-3831-7
. Retrieved
June 6,
2020
.
- ^
Donald's Ostrich
at the
Internet Movie Database
- ^
"Donald Duck Annual #1"
.
ComicVine
. Retrieved
July 2,
2019
.
- ^
"Donald Duck Settles a Grudge"
.
Inducks.org
. Retrieved
July 2,
2019
.
- ^
"Donald Duck 44-10-30"
.
Inducks.org
. Retrieved
July 2,
2019
.
- ^
"Donald's Disguise (1938)"
.
YouTube
.
Archived
from the original on December 21, 2021
. Retrieved
December 8,
2020
.
- ^
http://www.pathefilm.uk/95flmcat/95flmcatpsiln.htm
- ^
"The Chronological Donald Volume 1 DVD Review"
.
DVD Dizzy
. Retrieved
February 13,
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Silly Symphony
short films
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Mickey Mouse
short films
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Donald Duck
and
Donald & Goofy
short films
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Other short films
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Feature films
| Theatrical
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Direct-to-video
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TV series
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TV specials
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Film cameos
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