A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.
Donald THE AUTOGRAPH HOUND attempts to find celebrities at mammoth Hollywood Studios - if the security guard doesn't throw him out first.
This very enjoyable little film was Walt's sly way of reminding the rest of the Industry that his creations - in this case Donald - were as popular as any of the flesh & blood stars. It's interesting that the animators seemingly go out of their way to make Mickey Rooney appear like a bullying punk. Clarence Nash provides Donald with his unique voice.
At the end of the cartoon a host of caricatured celebrities flood across the screen, making them exceedingly difficult to identify. For the record, here are all the stars depicted in order of appearance: Greta Garbo, Mickey Rooney, Sonja Henie, the Ritz Brothers, Shirley Temple, Clark Gable (with Garbo), Charlie McCarthy, Stepin Fetchit, Roland Young, Joe E. Brown, Martha Raye, Hugh Herbert, Irvin S. Cobb, Edward Arnold, Katharine Hepburn, Eddie Cantor, Slim Summerville, Lionel Barrymore, Bette Davis, Groucho & Harpo Marx, Mischa Auer, Joan Crawford & Charles Boyer (still dressed for his role as Napoleon in CONQUEST, 1937).
Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.
