It was in this Donald Duck short, released on this day in 1954, that we first make our acquaintance with the portly park ranger J. Audubon Woodlore, the play-by-the-rules overseer at Brownstone National Park. In Grin and Bear It, J. Audubon address the park’s bears and admonishes them to play nice with the guests that have arrived during tourist season. All the bears quickly pair up with tourists except for one, Humphrey, who sets his sights on our stingy duck for no other reason than the gargantuan ham Donald has brought with him to the park. Humphrey’s efforts to separate ham from duck are foiled, even at the end of the short when the bear fools the departing Donald into thinking he has run Humphrey over on the highway. J. Audubon arrives to end the resulting fracas, but is spoiled, too, in his efforts to escape with the ham. J. Audubon Woodlore would go on to star in five more shorts with Donald and Humphrey. Keen viewers can also spot J. Audubon in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the cartoon crowd seen near the end of the film.
