''Donald's Vacation'' is a

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known fo ...

cartoon made by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and released by

RKO Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...

on August 9, 1940. The film, which was directed by Jack King, shows Donald Duck having many troubles with the outdoors when he goes on vacation.

Plot

is taking a vacation in a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

. He is shown to walk over rocks while playing a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

when the canoe can't go, since his feet and legs are sticking out the bottom of it. While playing his guitar, he unwittingly goes through a small waterfall. He coughs violently and shakes water off, and gets a fish in his instrument, but he quickly calms down. However, just as he continues playing, he goes over a waterfall and falls to the bottom. After a furious outburst, he emerges from the water with the canoe on his back like a turtle's shell. Arriving at his campsite, he pulls a lever which ejects all the supplies he brought along. He then converts the canoe into a

tent A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using gu ...

and puts down a sign that says ''Camp Peaceful.'' He gets out a folding chair with an umbrella, but has trouble making it fold. His actions eventually cause the chair to come up below him, put the umbrella inside his shirt, and catapult him into the lake and a patch of cattail grass. He emerges with grass on his head like an Indian warrior's dress and stalks back to the campsite underwater. As he continues to struggle with the chair, a group of chipmunks are attracted by the noise and come to investigate. Donald finally gets the chair to work and settles down for a nap. However, unknown to him, the chipmunks are using this as an opportunity to steal his food, and begin carrying it off. One of the food items they steal is a Pumpkin, which the chipmunks drill holes into, to make a Jack O' Lantern. Some chipmunks carry

celery Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, lea ...

which tickle Donald’s feet, he laughs hysterically for a while, but goes back to sleep. Donald doesn't notice them up until two of them, carrying a

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

, walk below his bottom, poking it with the pineapple's stalks. Donald squawks in pain and gets trapped in the chair again. When he sees the chipmunks taking his food, he gets angry. After getting hit in the face with a banana, he chases after the chipmunks, using the chair as legs for running. During the chase, Donald's umbrella closes on him, giving the chipmunks time to escape, but they wake up a sleeping

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

in the process which proceeds to eat all of Donald's food. An incensed Donald finally breaks free, only to discover what appears to be the chipmunks eating his food. He smashes all the food away and is left clinging to the snout of the bear. After seeing that the "chipmunk's mouth is too big," he realizes that it's a bear and runs away. The bear chases Donald across a log, where Donald thinks he's safe but ends up standing on top of the bear. The bear swipes at him and chases him to a tree. Donald climbs up the tree, but the bear responds by clawing down the bark. Donald slides down the now-slippery trunk to the bottom. The bear rips away Donald's part of the tree with its paw and Donald (who thinks he is still with the rest of the tree) tries to climb up again but realizes it's only thin air and falls down, almost into the bear's mouth. He escapes just in time and the bear chases him up until it trips. Donald quickly breaks camp, gets into his canoe, and rows up the waterfall and away.

Voice cast

* Donald Duck: Clarence Nash

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941''.

Notes

The chipmunks in this short are considered by some to be the predecessors of Chip 'n' Dale (who appear in their own cartoon in 1947), although they are in a group, are non-

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

, and do not have any lines.

References

External links

* * {{Jack King 1940 short films 1940s Disney animated short films Donald Duck short films 1940 comedy films 1940 animated films Films directed by Jack King Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace 1940s English-language films Films with screenplays by Carl Barks American animated short films RKO Pictures short films RKO Pictures animated short films Films about ducks