There Is a New Duck in Town – Donald Duck’s First Appearance

The Idea Behind Donald Duck

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Walt Disney with a toy Donald Duck. Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

It is said that Donald Duck’s character came from an Australian cricket player called Donald Bradman . Bradman played in America and was dismissed for not scoring any points, which in cricket is called a “duck.” It so happened that Walt Disney was thinking of a character to be Mickey’s sidekick and, on hearing about Bradman, decided to call the new character Donald Duck.

Voice artist Clarence Nash was hired to voice Donald, impressing Disney with his duck impressions. The first animators to work on Donald were Dick Huemer and Art Babbit. Later on, Dick Lundy would develop Donald Duck as a character.

While Donald Duck was first created to be Mickey’s sidekick, Disney made it a point that his personality would be completely different from Mickey Mouse. He wanted to show negative traits that won’t fit Mickey’s cheerful and kind demeanor. Donald Duck’s short temper and shifting moods indeed create a balance with Mickey’s constantly upbeat vibe.

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