''The Wise Little Hen'' is a 1934

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

's ''

Silly Symphony ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

, based on the

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular m ...

The Little Red Hen ''The Little Red Hen'' is an American fable first collected by Mary Mapes Dodge in '' St. Nicholas Magazine'' in 1874. The story is meant to teach children the importance of hard work and personal initiative. The story A hen living on a farm fin ...

''. The cartoon features the debut of

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 ...

, dancing to the Sailor's Hornpipe. Donald and his friend Peter Pig try to avoid work by faking stomach aches until Mrs. Hen teaches them the value of labor. Though distributor

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

gave June 9, 1934 as the cartoon's release date, it was actually first shown on May 3, 1934 at the

Carthay Circle Theatre The Carthay Circle Theatre was one of the most famous movie palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age. Located on San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, it opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1969. The auditorium itself was shaped in the f ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

for a benefit program, while it was later given its official debut on June 7 at the

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was animated by

Art Babbitt Arthur Harold Babitsky (October 8, 1907 – March 4, 1992), better known as Art Babbitt, was an American animator, best known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He received over 80 awards as an animation director and animator, and al ...

Dick Huemer Richard Huemer (January 2, 1898 – November 30, 1979) was an American animator in the Golden Age of American animation, Golden Age of Animation. Career While as an artist-illustrator living in the Bronx, New York City, Huemer first began his ...

Clyde Geronimi Clito "Clyde" Geronimi (June 12, 1901 – April 24, 1989), known as Gerry, was an American animation director. He is best known for his work at Walt Disney Productions. Biography Geronimi was born in Chiavenna, Italy, immigrating to the United S ...

, Louie Schmitt, and Frenchy de Tremaudan (with assistance from a group of junior animators headed by

Ben Sharpsteen Benjamin Sharpsteen (November 4, 1895 – December 20, 1980) was an American film director and producer for Disney. He directed 31 films between 1920 and 1980. Sharpsteen created a museum documenting the history of California's first millio ...

) and directed by

Wilfred Jackson Wilfred Jackson (January 24, 1906 – August 7, 1988) was an American animator, arranger, composer and director best known for his work on the ''Mickey Mouse'' and '' Silly Symphonies'' series of cartoons and the ''Night on Bald Mountain''/''Ave ...

. The story was also adapted in the ''Silly Symphony'' Sunday comic strip by

Ted Osborne Theodore H. Osborne (February 6, 1900California Death Index
for Theodore H. Osborne. Retrieved 23 May ...

and Al Taliaferro, which was Donald Duck's first appearance in

Disney comics Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with th ...

Plot

The Wise Little Hen of the title is looking for someone to help her plant her

corn 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. The ...

for the

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...

. Peter Pig and Donald Duck both feign belly aches to get out of the chore since they would rather play than work. So, with help from her chicks, she plants it herself. Harvest time comes; again, Peter and Donald claim belly aches, but the hen sees through this when boards of their

clubhouse Clubhouse may refer to: Locations * The meetinghouse of: ** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal ** In the United States, a country club ** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club * A ...

fall off showing their little act when they shake hands with each other for evading responsibility. Upon wising up to their ruse, she and her chicks wink at each other upon knowing what to do with Peter and Donald later. She cooks up a tantalizing assortment of corn dishes, and heads over to Peter and Donald to help her eat them, but before she can open her mouth, they already fake their belly aches. Once she ask them to help her eat the corn, they snap out of their façade and are excited to eat, but all she gives them is

castor oil Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans. It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which about ...

. As the hen and her chicks eat the corn themselves, Peter and Donald repent with all their might by kicking each other in the rump.

Cast

Florence Gill Florence Gill (27 July 1877 – 19 February 1965) was a British actress. In Walt Disney's animated films, Gill made a specialty for 20 years of voicing hens, including Clara Cluck, The Wise Little Hen and other assorted fowl. Gill was a member ...

- The Wise Little Hen *

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 ...

, Peter Pig *

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. C ...

- Peter Pig (moaning noises)

Adaptations

The ''

'' Sunday comic strip ran a three-month-long adaptation of ''The Wise Little Hen'' from September 16 to December 16, 1934. The 1962 storybook '' Walt Disney's Story Land: 55 Favorite Stories'' featured an adaptation of the cartoon called "Mrs. Cackle's Corn". In this version,

Clara Cluck The Mickey Mouse universe is a fictional universe, fictional shared universe which is the setting for stories involving The Walt Disney Company, Disney cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto (Disney), Pluto, Goofy, and ...

is telling the story. By 1962, Donald Duck was thought unsuitable for a bit part in a fairy tale, so they use Daniel Duck instead. Patsy Pig was substituted for Peter Pig.

Home media

The short has been released several times on home media. The first release was in 1986 on Betamax on ''Donald Duck Volume 1''. It was released in 1989 on VHS, Beta, and Laserdisc on ''Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck Volume 2''. It was re-released on those same three formats in 1991 on ''

Donald Duck's 50th Birthday ''Donald Duck's 50th Birthday'' is a 1984 television special broadcast on '' The Magical World of Disney'' on November 13, 1984 on CBS. As the title suggests, it was produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Donald Duck character, who first ...

''. It was released on December 4, 2001 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics'', and on May 18, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941''.

References

External links

*
The Wise Little Hen
' o
The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wise Little Hen, The 1930s color films 1930s Disney animated short films Donald Duck short films Fictional chickens Films adapted into comics Films based on fables Films directed by Wilfred Jackson Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Leigh Harline Silly Symphonies 1934 films 1934 short films 1934 animated films 1930s American films