Browse: Home / Disney Byways: “Donald’s Happy Birthday”

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Contact Us
  • Login

The-SoluteLogo

A Film Site By Lovers of Film

Menu

Skip to content
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • Long Reviews
  • News
  • Articles and Opinions
  • Other Media
  • The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here
  • Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

Disney Byways: “Donald’s Happy Birthday”

Posted By Gillianren on January 6, 2017 in Features | 7 Responses

It’s a bit disappointing to that Disney has changed things so that Donald Duck’s birthday is never again Friday the thirteenth. It’s now officially June 9, which isn’t funny. Okay, so “The Wise Little Hen,” the first-ever appearance of Donald Duck, premiered on June 9, 1934, so it’s more historically accurate. I get that, and I understand why they did it. It’s still a little sad to me.

But in the days this short was made, they were less fussy about that sort of thing. It is March 13, presumably 1949—when the short was released—and Huey, Dewey, and Louie are looking through catalogues, trying to figure out what to get their uncle for his birthday. They settle on a box of cigars, but they don’t have the $2.98 it will cost. So okay, they settle on a way to earn the money—doing Uncle Donald’s yardwork and charging him the money. So far, so good; the problem is that he insists that they save the money. The rest of the short is the boys’ attempting to get the money back to buy the present and then Donald’s reaction to the next inevitable misunderstanding.

I mean, I’m all about teaching kids how to save money. It’s an important skill. Not enough people have it, even leaving aside that some people are in situations where it’s just not possible. But Donald actually shames his nephews for stealing from their own bank without a trace of awareness that it’s their money. They earned it. He doesn’t know that they earned it so they could buy him a birthday present, because telling him would ruin the surprise. However, he apparently won’t even consider the idea that they might have legitimate reasons for keeping their money to spend rather than saving it for a future date, and after all why did they do the unsolicited yardwork if they didn’t have a reason to want the money?

Now, I’m also thinking that having someone do as much work for you as the boys do is probably worth a whole lot more than $2.98 and would be a fine birthday present. “We don’t have money, so we did the thing.” And according to the site I use for these purposes, $2.98 in 1949 comes to roughly thirty bucks today. I am not an expert on cigars, goodness knows, but a little research suggests we’re looking at twenty-five in a box. So those cigars cost about a dime each and were probably pretty bad cigars. Okay, so Donald is unlikely to be a connoisseur, but still. Throw in a nice homemade card, and that much yardwork, and I’d count myself ahead.

Naturally, too, this is another one of those shorts where the “obvious” solution to boys’ interest in smoking is to make them smoke a whole lot. I never had the slightest interest in smoking, at least in part because I’ve long believed it killed my father. And I get that smoking that many cigars (eight or nine per, probably) would probably make you sick, especially since he’s cramming multiple cigars in the kids’ mouths at once. But I feel like this is one of those parenting things that’s probably fallen by the wayside because it’s actually a terrible idea. Maybe I’m wrong. But don’t the kids see the adult smoke and know that, eventually, you stop getting sick from smoking?

And in a last thing that’s always bothered me about the cartoon, why is the note from the boys at the bottom of the box? The short answer, of course, is so Donald can be ashamed of himself for the final gag and the emotional completion of the cartoon. But from a logistical standpoint, wouldn’t the note have been on top? I realize I’m way overthinking the whole cartoon, but it just seems to me like what we have here is another one of those cartoons where the point is Donald Duck being mean for no good reason, and that part doesn’t amuse me. So I amuse myself, and that means overthinking.

Posted in Features | Tagged Animated, Disney Byways, Donald's Happy Birthday

About the Author

gillianmadeira@hotmail.com'

Gillianren

Gillianren is a forty-something bipolar woman living in the Pacific Northwest after growing up in Los Angeles County. She and her boyfriend have one son and one daughter, and she gave a daughter up for adoption. She fills her days by watching her local library system’s DVD collection in alphabetical order, watching everything that looks interesting. She particularly enjoys pre-Code films, blaxploitation, and live-action Disney movies of the ’60s and ’70s. She has a Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/gillianren

Related Posts

Also the movie includes an adorable love story, so there's thatDisney Byways: WRECK-IT RALPH→

Reaching into children's brainsDisney Byways: FRANKENWEENIE→

Really, this was a lovely movieDisney Byways: JOHN CARTER→

That's certainly an expressionDisney Byways: “Pests of the West”→

  • Comments
  • Popular
  • Most Recent
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleWonderful piece, Sam. It's made…
  • j*****@yahoo.com'
    mr_apollo on Year of the Month: Mon OncleFellow heretic here. I've never…
  • n***********@gmail.com'
    Ruck Cohlchez on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEI wouldn't have called it…
  • j***********@gmail.com'
    Son of Griff on LIFE ITSELFGlad to hear back from…
  • n*********@gmail.com'
    Jake Gittes on Film on the Internet: AN AMERICAN CRIMEThis is the single most…
  • “The End” of SAVAGES

    38549 views / Posted November 10, 2014
  • The Untalented Mr. Ripley: The Craft of Standup Comedy and the Non-Comedy of TOM MYERS

    31197 views / Posted June 26, 2018
  • What the fuck did I just watch? SPHERE

    30590 views / Posted March 19, 2015
  • Gordon with Mr. Looper

    Attention Must Be Paid: Will Lee

    27740 views / Posted January 7, 2023
  • Scenic Routes: SHOWGIRLS (1995)

    23692 views / Posted November 20, 2014
  • The truth is FAR out there.

    The Friday Article Roundup: The Truth is In Here

    December 6, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • This is a way lower res image than I will be allowed to get away with at the new site.

    Lunch Links: Schwarzfahrer

    December 5, 2024 / The Ploughman
  • Websites on the Internet: THE SOLUTE

    December 4, 2024 / ZoeZ
  • New on DVD and Blu-Ray

    December 3, 2024 / Greta Taylor
  • Movie Gifts Holidays 2024

    December 2, 2024 / The Ploughman

Last Tweets

    ©2014 - 2016 The-Solute | Hosted, Developed and Maintained by Bellingham WP LogoBellinghamWP.com.

    Menu

    • Home
    • Who We Are
    • About
    • Privacy
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!