''Mr. Duck Steps Out'' 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 produced by

Walt Disney Productions 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 ...

, which is released on June 7, 1940, and featured the debut of

Daisy Duck Daisy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the girlfriend of Donald Duck, she is an anthropomorphic white duck that has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers around her lowest region to suggest a skirt. She is ...

. The short was directed by Jack King and written by

Carl Barks Carl Barks (March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000) was an American cartoonist, author, and painter. He is best known for his work in Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of Scrooge McDuck ...

, Chuck Couch,

Jack Hannah John Frederick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts. Biography Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. He moved to Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles in ...

, Harry Reeves, Milt Schaffer, and

Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator, cartoonist, children's writer, illustrator, screenwriter, and film director. He was best kn ...

Clarence Nash Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor. He was best known as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of Watonga, Oklahoma, and ...

performs all the voices in the film—Donald, Daisy and

Donald's nephews ''Donald's Nephews'' (1938) is a Donald Duck animated cartoon which features Donald being visited by his three nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. This cartoon is Huey, Dewey, and Louie's first appearance in animation. Al Taliaferro, the artist f ...

Plot

Donald Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

visits the house of his new love interest, Daisy, for their first known date. Donald tried to woo her and hug her, but at first Daisy acts shy and has her back turned to her visitor. But Donald soon notices her tail feathers taking the form of a hand and signaling for him to come closer. But their time alone is soon interrupted by

Huey, Dewey, and Louie Huey, Dewey, and Louie are triplet cartoon characters created by storyboard artist ( screenwriter) Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company from an idea proposed by cartoonist Al Taliaferro and are the nephews of Donald Duck and the grand-ne ...

who have just followed their uncle and clearly compete with him for the attention of Daisy. Donald and the nephews take turns dancing the

jitterbug Jitterbug is a generalized term used to describe swing dancing. It is often synonymous with the lindy hop dance but might include elements of the jive, east coast swing, collegiate shag, charleston, balboa and other swing dances. Swing dan ...

with her while trying to get rid of each other. In their final effort the three younger ducks feed their uncle

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

in the process of becoming

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

. The process is completed within Donald himself who continues to move wildly around the house while maintaining the appearance of dancing. The short ends with an impressed Daisy showering her new lover with red kisses.

History

The short stands out among other Donald shorts of the period for its use of modern music and surreal situations throughout. After this short, the idea of a permanent love interest for Donald was well established. However, Daisy did not appear as regularly as Donald himself. In later versions of this short, Daisy's lines were re-dubbed by

Diane Michelle Diane Michelle is an American voice actress, famous for voicing Daisy Duck in several modern Disney projects such as ''The Spirit of Mickey'', ''Mickey Mouse Works'' and ''Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas''. Early life Michelle is a Southern Ca ...

Releases

*1940 – Theatrical release *1961 – ''

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 to the present. The pr ...

'', episode #8.6: "Inside Donald Duck" (TV) *1977 – ''Donald and His Duckling Gang'' (theatrical) *c. 1983 – ''

Good Morning, Mickey! ''Good Morning, Mickey!'' is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It was first aired on April 18, 1983 when Disney Channel was launched. It was one of the Disney Channel's first original programs, a ...

'', episode #61 (TV) *1984 – "From Disney, With Love" (TV) *c. 1992 – ''

Mickey's Mouse Tracks ''Mickey's Mouse Tracks'' is an American animated television series on The Disney Channel which ran from 1992 to 1995, and featured Disney cartoons and animated short films, dating from before the advent of The Disney Channel. A similar show was ...

'', episode #31 (TV) *c. 1992 – ''

Donald's Quack Attack ''Donald's Quack Attack'' is an American animated television series which ran on The Disney Channel and was later rerun on Toon Disney. It premiered on November 2, 1992,''The Disney Channel Magazine'', Vol. 10, no. 5, October/November 1992: p ...

'', episode #45 (TV) *1994 – "Love Tales" (VHS) *1997 – '' The Ink and Paint Club'', episode #1.20: "Huey, Dewey & Louie" (TV) *1998 – '' The Ink and Paint Club'', episode #1.40: "Crazy Over Daisy" (TV)

Home media

The short has been re-released on home media multiple times since its first distribution. These releases include: *1984 – "Cartoon Classics - Limited Gold Edition: Daisy" (VHS) *1994 – "Love Tales" (VHS) *2004 – "Mickey and Minnie's Sweetheart Stories" (DVD)) *2004 - '' "Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941''" (DVD) *2006 – " Classic Cartoon Favorites: Best Pals - Donald and Daisy" (DVD) *2019 –

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

(Streaming)

References

* Douglas L. McCall, ''Film Cartoons: A Guide to 20th Century American Animated Features and Shorts'', McFarland, 2015, p. 166.

External links

* * * 1940 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 American comedy short films 1940 short films Films with screenplays by Carl Barks American animated short films 1940s English-language films Films about ducks {{1940s-Disney-animation-film-stub