Donald and the nephews are spending a cozy night together listening to the radio when news that a gorilla has escaped breaks the familial bliss in Donald Duck and the Gorilla, released on this day in 1944. Donald and the nephews, of course, seize the opportunity to scare the wits out of each other with the help of Donald’s fake gorilla hands and Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s very real-looking gorilla outfit. Of course, the actual gorilla, Ajax, soon makes his appearance—the scene where Donald goes to ridiculous lengths to prove the gorilla is actually his mayhem-minded nephews in the gorilla outfit is a showstopper—but eventually Donald and the nephews join forces and vanquish the ape with the help of some handy tear gas. This theme is repeated with minor variations in 1950’s Lion Around, in which the nephews disguise themselves as a lion to extract a pie from Donald, only to have a real one show up—to whom Donald must keep serving a steady diet of pies in order to stay alive.
