''Soup's On'' is a 1948

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

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

directed by

Jack Hannah John Fredrick Hannah (January 5, 1913 – June 11, 1994) was an American animator, writer and director of animated shorts. He worked for Disney and Walter Lantz. Biography Hannah was born on January 5, 1913, in Nogales, Arizona. After attend ...

, produced in

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

and released to theaters by

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

. In the short, Donald cooks a turkey dinner for his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, but when they come to the table with dirty hands, he punishes them by sending them to bed. The nephews escalate the battle, and when Donald is knocked unconscious, they trick him into thinking that he has died and become an

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

. While Donald's relationship with his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie had deepened significantly by 1948 in

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 comics, Disney comic books, as the writer and artist of the first Donald Duck stories and as the creator of ...

' Duck comics, the nephews of the cartoons are still the identical mischievous troublemakers that they were when first introduced ten years earlier. The ''Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters'' spotlights this short as a particularly potent example of the nephews' malicious behavior:

Plot

is preparing a turkey dinner, while his nephews play

Apaches The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

. When he calls his nephews in for dinner, they start fighting over the turkey. Donald orders the dirty ducks to take a bath, and they try to trick him by running the water, but Donald spots that Louie's hand is still dirty, and he sends them to their room. The ducks pretend to cry themselves to sleep, making Donald feel guilty. When he comes upstairs to tell them they're forgiven, they trick him into snapping his fingers on a mousetrap, and they grab the food and run. Donald chases his nephews out the door, but as he rounds a curve, he falls off a cliff and narrowly misses being hit by a boulder, only to be knocked out by a small rock. When he regains consciousness, the nephews have dressed Donald up as an angel, and are pretending to be crying over his 'squashed' body. He gives them a tearful goodbye, and they rush home to eat. When Donald tries to fly, he hits the ground and realizes that it was a joke. When he gets home and finds his nephews feasting on the turkey, the "angel" Donald turns into a devil in a fit of rage, and chases them out of the house and across the countryside.

Voice cast

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

as Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie

Music

As the cartoon begins, Donald sings a chorus of "

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" is a song composed by Allie Wrubel with lyrics by Ray Gilbert for the Disney 1946 live action and animated movie ''Song of the South'', sung by James Baskett. For "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", the film won the Academy Award for Best ...

", a song from Disney's 1946 film ''

Song of the South ''Song of the South'' is a 1946 American Live-action animated film, live-action/animated musical film, musical comedy-drama film directed by Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, produced by Walt Disney, and released by RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pi ...

''.

Television

* ''

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology series, 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 onwa ...

'', episode #8.11: "Kids is Kids" * '' Good Morning, Mickey!'', episode #32 * ''

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 #64 * '' Donald's Quack Attack'', episode #69 * '' The Ink and Paint Club'', episode #1.51: "Triple Trouble"

Home media

The short was released on December 11, 2007 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume Three: 1947-1950''. Additional release include: * ''Kids is Kids Starring Donald Duck'' (VHS) * ''Huey, Dewey and Louie's Greatest Hits'' (VHS) * '' Walt Disney's Funny Factory, Vol. 4: Huey, Dewey, and Louie'' (DVD)

References

{{Huey, Dewey, and Louie in animation 1948 films Donald Duck short films 1940s Disney animated short films Films directed by Jack Hannah Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace 1940s English-language films English-language short films 1948 animated short films