Saludos, amigos! It was on this day in 1942 that the 16 mm film South of the Border with Disney was delivered to the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. That’s my business, I can do that. As Walt Disney once explained, “I was asked by the government to go to South America . . . and …
See more
In May 1942, Donald Gets Drafted became the first Disney war-themed cartoon released during World War II. In this hilarious short, Donald Duck finds himself in the army with that villainous Black Pete as perhaps the toughest drill sergeant of the war. At the end of that short, our poor hero found himself peeling potatoes, …
See more
On this day in 1942, America’s Mousekesweetheart Annette Funicello was born in Utica, New York. Just a few years later she become the last of the initial 24 children selected to appear as Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club, quickly becoming a mouskefavorite. In fact, by the end of the first season of the show, …
See more
2,716 years after the first Olympic games, a champ was born. A courageous, well-rounded individual who on this day in 1942, in the debut of The Olympic Champ, demonstrated to audiences the fine arts of foot racing, the hurdles, the pole vault, hammer throwing, and the javelin. The dashing, demure, debonair, dauntless, darling is none …
See more
Donald Duck was not seen by audiences on this day in 1942, because he was covered with camouflage paint which made him invisible in The Vanishing Private. A private in the military, Donald is painting a cannon in a beautiful rainbow of colors, but his villainous commander Pete demands that he camouflages it. So Donald …
See more
Baseball, the great American game, the national pastime of millions, both young and old, is the subject of How to Play Baseball, the Goofy cartoon sport short that swung into theaters on this day in 1942. Audiences learned the game, the Goofy way, as he played batter, pitcher, and every position on both teams with …
See more
“Saludos amigos, a fond greeting to you!” Those lyrics were sung in the 42-minute feature film Saludos Amigos, which had its grande World Premiere in Rio de Janeiro on this day in 1942. Four mucho entertaining animated segments were introduced, Lake Titicaca, Pedro, El Gaucho Goofy, and Aquarela do Brasil, which featured Donald Duck and …
See more
Starting on this day in 1942, audiences howled at the antics of Pluto in the animated short T-Bone for Two. This time around, our prized pooch lets the desire of a tasty bone get the best of him, and he outwits his bulldog nemesis to steal the treat. Butch, Pluto’s raging rival, appeared in 11 …
See more
1923 was not just an historic year for Disney, but for author Felix Salten as well. That’s the year his most popular book, Bambi: A Life in the Woods, was published. The Austrian novel was translated to English in 1928 and Americans quickly started “fawning” over it. Although bunny Thumper and skunk Flower were not …
See more
Near the end of production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1936, Walt Disney and his team began work on Bambi. Five years later, the film was still not complete. Walt explained that it was difficult to make “the story of all life with its loves and its tragedies and triumphs told in …
See more