Donald Duck and Steve Martin. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
We all know Donald Duck as Mickey Mouse’s mischievous yet loyal friend, but it didn’t start that way for this quirky Disney character.
On June 9, 1934, the world first saw a glimpse of the unintelligible Duck in Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies series in the episode called The Wise Little Hen . In the seven-minute animation (that you could view at the end of this article), Donald Duck appeared a bit leaner and taller than his modern-day version. Although he wore the same sailor suit and hat, he didn’t have a lot of personality in this particular story.
The Wise Little Hen is an adaptation of the fairy tale, The Little Red Hen. Donald Duck, along with his friend Peter Pig, refused to help the little hen plant corn and pretended to have belly aches.