013 #blogjune - DUCKFACE

"Happiness is the richest thing we will ever own."-  Donald Duck

Not the biggest fan of the latest cartoon versions of Donald (nor Mickey)

This month, June 9th, marked 85 years since Donald Fauntleroy Duck made his first appearance in the cartoon "The Wise Little Hen". No, not Calimero - allthough he was pretty wise for his age as well. I was chatting to a friend last night, who suggested the topic "It all started with a mouse..." - but Mickey has had so much coverage over the years, it's time to focus of Mr. Duck!

Old cover I found in a box.

As a kid there were always Donald Duck comics around the house and I would read all the adventures of him and his nephews from cover to cover. In Holland these three family members had different names, they went by KWIK, KWEK and KWAK! Plus Donald's of and on girlfriend, Daisy, was renamed Katrien in the Dutch versions.
Our dutch Donald Duck magazine also had great posters, some of which I still kept over the years. Other parts of the magazine were very handy to cut things from to use for primary school projects. I even had a Donald Duck car, but sadly the Donald (not to be confused with the other Donald) did not survive and was replaced with Uncle Scrooge (Who we called DAGOBERT in Holland!)
 

The great wall of Disney in my man-cave... Insert:the almost 50 year old Donald Duck car!

It all became REAL for me when I actually met the Donald in the fur on my first trip to Disneyland in 1977. My nine year old self snapped a shot of Donald, doing his best duck face YEARS before Instagram made this look a phenomenon. I have seen Donald a few times in his "natural habitat", but only managed to get a photo with his girlfriend Daisy 40 years later on our last Disney trip in 2017.

My first ever pic of the Donald (1977) and my first ever pic with Daisy (2017)!

The Donald really needs his own proper Disney movie, I am not talking "Ducktales" here (whoohoo) ... no, a cool origin story done in a pixar animated style. Come on Disney - give this Duck what he deserves! He has been walking around the theme parks for many years, give him the chance to walk on the red carpet to his own premiere! 

Donald sure went through some changes in the parks as well over the years.