Cartoon a Day: Don Donald

Don Donald
1937
Directed by Ben Sharpensteen
Available on: Walt Disney Treasures - The Chronological Donald Vol. 1

It's never enough to have just Superman, there needs to be a Supergirl. Batman had help defending Gotham from Batgirl. Minnie Mouse joined Mickey Mouse on screen from the beginning. So, of course, Donald Duck got matched up with Daisy, a version of whom made her first appearance in "Don Donald."

In this short Donald is south of the border and he comes a courtin' ridding on a burro. The burro ends up causing all sorts of trouble so Donald trades him in for a car, which Daisy goes nuts for. Now, some Disney fanatics would probably have a problem with me calling her "Daisy" in this short. Some folks refer to this version of the character as "Donna" and see her as a completely different character. This version is more of female version of Donald than Daisy would become. This character has a temper to match Donald's, though the later Daisy had a temper too, she was a bit more controlled with it.


The animation of Daisy (or Donna or whatever) is very well done. The animators seem to capture a bit more femininity than they had even achieved with Minnie Mouse previously. I also really enjoyed the interesting backgrounds, southwestern in style but also very unique when compared to other cartoons with a similar setting. A brief sequence with some cacti come to life is also a highlight.