On this day in 1953, hunting season on bears was open with the Donald Duck cartoon short Rugged Bear. That bumbling bruin, Humphrey, who first appeared in the 1950 short Hold That Pose, returned to the big screen.
Terrified of being shot,
he takes cover in Donald’s cabin where he prefers to grin and “bear” the torture of being a household rug to the alternative.
Rugged Bear was just one of a string of successes for Disney that year, and Walt Disney ended up competing against himself for an Academy Award® with Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom beating Rugged Bear in the Best Short Subject (one reel) category. Disney also had dual entries in the Best Short Subject (two reel) category with Bear Country nominated against Ben and Me for the Oscar®, and this time the bear won. The Living Desert won for Best Documentary (feature), and The Alaskan Eskimo took home the award for Best Documentary (short subject). One newspaper noted that Peter Pan was not nominated simply because there was no appropriate category for the animated feature film.
