Donald's Happy Birthday - Misplaced Pages

1949 Donald Duck cartoon

Donald's Happy Birthday
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jack Hannah
Written by	Nick George Bill Berg
Produced by	Walt Disney
Starring	Clarence Nash
Music by	Oliver Wallace
Animation by	Bob Carlson Volus Jones Bill Justice Jack Boyd
Layouts by	Yale Gracey
Backgrounds by	Ralph Hulett
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	February 11, 1949 (1949-02-11)
Running time	6:40
Country	United States
Language	English

Donald's Happy Birthday is a 1949 Donald Duck cartoon featuring Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. In the short film, Huey, Dewey, and Louie would like to buy a box of cigars for Donald's birthday but Donald decides to keep the money.

Plot

On March 13, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are in their treehouse debating what to get their uncle Donald for his birthday, ultimately setting on a box of cigars. Their plans are halted when they realize they do not have the required $2.98. To raise funds, the boys do a frenzied set of chores for Donald's lawn and gardens, after which they hand Donald an invoice for $2.98. Finding the charges reasonable, Donald happily pays the boys, but then immediately forces them to deposit the funds in a locking coin bank (whose song advises the boys to "Take my advice, Do as I say, Save a little money for a rainy day"). Later, believing Donald to be napping, the boys take the bank, and sneak it to their treehouse to open it, but Donald, not actually asleep, gets up and follows the boys. After admonishing them, he takes the coin bank and returns it to the house.

A subsequent attempt to take the coin bank fares better, and the boys run off with the money. Donald uses his telescope to spot the trio exiting the cigar store, and mistakenly concludes they bought the cigars to smoke themselves. A furious Donald then makes his nephews forcibly smoke all of the cigars themselves to teach them a lesson, and the triplets end up passing out due to extreme smoke inhalation. Just as the cigar box is emptied, Donald discovers a birthday card written by the trio inside the box, making him realize that the triplets were actually going to give the cigars to him as a birthday present. Horrified of what he has done, Donald shrinks out of shame and jumps out a hole in the tree house floor.

Voice cast

Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie

Continuity of Donald's birth date

Although this short lists Donald's birthday as March 13, Disney later decided that Donald's official birthday would be celebrated on June 9, the date of his film debut.

Home media

The short was released on December 11, 2007, on Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume Three: 1947-1950.

References

Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 74–76. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
"When Is Donald Duck's Birthday, and How Old Is He?". AllEars.net. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
"The Chronological Donald Volume 3 DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved 13 February 2021.

External links

Donald's Happy Birthday at IMDb

Donald Duck in animation

Filmography

Silly Symphony
short films

The Wise Little Hen (1934)
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938; cameo)

Mickey Mouse
short films

Orphan's Benefit (1934)
The Dognapper (1934)
The Band Concert (1935)
Mickey's Service Station (1935)
Mickey's Fire Brigade (1935)
On Ice (1935)
Mickey's Polo Team (1936)
Orphans' Picnic (1936)
Mickey's Grand Opera (1936)
Moving Day (1936)
Alpine Climbers (1936)
Mickey's Circus (1936)
Donald and Pluto (1936)
Magician Mickey (1937)
Moose Hunters (1937)
Mickey's Amateurs (1937)
Hawaiian Holiday (1937)
Clock Cleaners (1937)
Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
Boat Builders (1938)
Mickey's Trailer (1938)
The Whalers (1938)
Tugboat Mickey (1940)
The Nifty Nineties (1941; cameo)
Orphan's Benefit (1941; remake)
Mickey's Birthday Party (1942)
Symphony Hour (1942)
Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952; cameo)
Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
The Prince and the Pauper (1990)

Donald Duck and
Donald & Goofy
short films

1930s	Don Donald (1937) Modern Inventions (1937) Donald's Ostrich (1937) Self Control (1938) Donald's Better Self (1938) Donald's Nephews (1938) Polar Trappers (1938) Good Scouts (1938) The Fox Hunt (1938) Donald's Golf Game (1938) Donald's Lucky Day (1939) The Hockey Champ (1939) Donald's Cousin Gus (1939) Beach Picnic (1939) Sea Scouts (1939) Donald's Penguin (1939) The Autograph Hound (1939) Officer Duck (1939)
1940s	The Riveter (1940) Donald's Dog Laundry (1940) Billposters (1940) Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940) Put-Put Troubles (1940) Donald's Vacation (1940) Window Cleaners (1940) Fire Chief (1940) Timber (1941) Golden Eggs (1941) A Good Time for a Dime (1941) Early to Bed (1941) Truant Officer Donald (1941) Old MacDonald Duck (1941) Donald's Camera (1941) Chef Donald (1941) The Village Smithy (1942) The New Spirit (1942) Donald's Snow Fight (1942) Donald Gets Drafted (1942) Donald's Garden (1942) Donald's Gold Mine (1942) The Vanishing Private (1942) Sky Trooper (1942) Bellboy Donald (1942) Der Fuehrer's Face (1943) The Spirit of '43 (1943) Donald's Tire Trouble (1943) The Flying Jalopy (1943) Fall Out Fall In (1943) The Old Army Game (1943) Home Defense (1943) Trombone Trouble (1944) Donald Duck and the Gorilla (1944) Contrary Condor (1944) Commando Duck (1944) The Plastics Inventor (1944) Donald's Off Day (1944) The Clock Watcher (1945) The Eyes Have It (1945) Donald's Crime (1945) Duck Pimples (1945) No Sail (1945) Cured Duck (1945) Old Sequoia (1945) Donald's Double Trouble (1946) Wet Paint (1946) Dumb Bell of the Yukon (1946) Lighthouse Keeping (1946) Frank Duck Brings 'Em Back Alive (1946) Straight Shooters (1947) Sleepy Time Donald (1947) Clown of the Jungle (1947) Donald's Dilemma (1947) Crazy with the Heat (1947) Bootle Beetle (1947) Wide Open Spaces (1947) Chip an' Dale (1947) Drip Dippy Donald (1948) Daddy Duck (1948) Donald's Dream Voice (1948) The Trial of Donald Duck (1948) Inferior Decorator (1948) Soup's On (1948) Three for Breakfast (1948) Tea for Two Hundred (1948) Donald's Happy Birthday (1949) Sea Salts (1949) Winter Storage (1949) Honey Harvester (1949) All in a Nutshell (1949) The Greener Yard (1949) Slide, Donald, Slide (1949) Toy Tinkers (1949)
1950s	Lion Around (1950) Crazy Over Daisy (1950) Trailer Horn (1950) Hook, Lion and Sinker (1950) Bee at the Beach (1950) Out on a Limb (1950) Dude Duck (1951) Corn Chips (1951) Test Pilot Donald (1951) Lucky Number (1951) Out of Scale (1951) Bee on Guard (1951) Donald Applecore (1952) Let's Stick Together (1952) Uncle Donald's Ants (1952) Trick or Treat (1952) Don's Fountain of Youth (1953) The New Neighbor (1953) Rugged Bear (1953) Working for Peanuts (1953) Canvas Back Duck (1953) Spare the Rod (1954) Donald's Diary (1954) Grin and Bear It (1954) The Flying Squirrel (1954) Dragon Around (1954) Grand Canyonscope (1954) No Hunting (1955) Bearly Asleep (1955) Beezy Bear (1955) Up a Tree (1955) Chips Ahoy (1956)
1960s	The Litterbug (1961)

Other short films

The Volunteer Worker (1940)
All Together (1942; cameo)
Donald's Decision (1942)
How to Have an Accident in the Home (1956)
How to Have an Accident at Work (1959)
Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959)
Donald and the Wheel (1961)
Steel & America (1965)
Donald's Fire Survival Plan (1966)
Family Planning (1967)
Plusaversary (2021; cameo)
Once Upon a Studio (2023)

Feature films

Theatrical	The Reluctant Dragon (1941) Saludos Amigos (1942) The Three Caballeros (1944) Fun and Fancy Free (1947) Melody Time (1948) Fantasia 2000 (1999)
Direct-to-video	Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999) Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001) Mickey's House of Villains (2002) Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) Once Upon a Halloween (2005; archive footage)