Today, June 9th, is Donald Fauntleroy Duck’s birthday. It is also Donald Duck Day! To commemorate the occasion you can check out the Donald Duck collection on Disney+!
Including Donald’s first appearance on June 9, 1934 in the Silly Symphony short “The Wise Little Hen.” So he is now 86!
Fun facts:
Donald Duck was created when Walt Disney heard Clarence Nash reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb in his “duck voice.” Since Walt wanted a character, with a bad-temper, to play opposite Mickey, Donald Duck came to be. Then Clarence Nash voiced him from 1934-1983 (almost 50 years!)
Donald has appeared in more films than any other Disney character!
Donald’s middle name is Fauntleroy, which means “Child King.”
Donald’s firs appearance with Mickey Mouse was in the short “Orphan’s Benefit.”
Donald Duck Day started in 1984 for his 50th birthday.
Donald Duck plays a huge part in Disney comics and his now famous, Uncle Scrooge, was developed by Carl Barks in 1947. His comics are famous all over the world, but especially in Europe. (Plus, Pirates and Princesses (PNP) very own Thom P. used to work on the Gemstone comic collections that included Donald Duck.)
Donald Duck has an asteroid named after him.
I hope you enjoyed those fun facts about the famous duck that we all know and love!
As a side note- knowing that his middle name was Fauntleroy got me and my friends early access to line up for Body Wars back in the day. They had a quiz at rope drop. If you could answer correctly they let you line up early. I knew what Donald Duck’s middle name was because I was a Disney geek even as a teen and wanted to be a Disney animator.
Another funny, yet not quite related tidbit, is that sometimes when you type in “duck” on your phone it autocorrects to a much worse word. One time PNP’s Thom accidentally sent a message to his Disney Comics Editor where it was autocorrected to the other, not nice word. But thankfully people have a sense of humor.
So Happy Birthday to Donald Duck!
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: National Calendar Day, Wikipedia,
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