''Donald's Ostrich'' is an

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 ...

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 on December 10, 1937, 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 ...

. It was the first film in the ''

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 ...

'' series of short films, although billed on the poster at the time as a ''

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

'' cartoon. It was the first of the series to be released by RKO. ''Donald's Ostrich'' was directed by Jack King and features the voices of

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 ...

, Pinto Colvig as Hortense the Ostrich, and Elvia Allman and Billy Bletcher as radio voices.

Plot

Donald is working along as a custodian at a

whistle stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a bus stop, stop or train station, station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or drop ...

train station and is responsible for loading and unloading luggage. A train passes the station and dumps a large pile of luggage on Donald without stopping. Donald finds that one of the crates contains an

ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds. Two living species are recognised, the common ostrich, native to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and the Somali ostrich, native to the Horn of Africa. They are the heaviest and largest living birds, w ...

and tied around the ostrich's neck he finds the following note: "My name is HORTENSE. Please see that I am fed and watered. P.S. I eat !" Hortense begins to eat anything she can find at the station starting with the message. This includes Donald Duck's bottom. She then eats a

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

, a wind-up alarm clock and several balloons. This causes Hortense to have hiccups which Donald tries to cure by scaring her. Finally Hortense swallows Donald's radio and her body begins to react to what is playing on the radio. Donald realizes Hortense has swallowed the radio and grabs a pair of forceps to try to pull it out (but ends up getting the concertina out instead). When Hortense starts to react to a broadcast car race, Donald is unable to control her. Hortense finally crashes through a door which at last knocks the radio out of her, but she also gives Donald the hiccups.

Production

The idea for the story began in 1933, as a Mickey Mouse cartoon called "The Station Agent". Over time, Donald was added to the outline as a secondary character, and once the studio began producing solo Donald Duck shorts, this became a Donald feature. While ''Donald's Ostrich'' was the first and only time that Hortense the Ostrich appeared in animation, she later appeared as a comic book character as Donald's pet. Her first comic appearance was in the first publication of the ''Donald Duck Annual'' in 1938. Hortense also appeared in the ''Donald Duck'' comic strip, first appearing on October 3, 1938 for a few weeks, and then appearing very occasionally until her last appearance on October 30, 1944.

Deleted scenes

One of the scenes involves Donald dressing up as Frankenstein's monster and scaring Hortense. The reason for cutting this out of the official version might have been that the design of the monster was copyrighted by Universal. These scenes were not included for theatrical release in the United States, but they are left intact on a Pathescope 9.5mm release of the film in the United Kingdom, dated from February 1938. The scenes were also compiled as a separate Pathescope release, titled ''Donald's Disguise''.

Voice cast

as Donald Duck * Pinto Colvig as Hortense the Ostrich * Elvia Allman as Lady Chef on Radio * Billy Bletcher as Villain on Radio * Jean Murtagh as Radio Singer * Zena Bar, Don Brodie, Jack Clifford, and Jack Crosby as Radio Voices

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004, on '' Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941''. It was also released on VHS on ''Walt Disney Cartoon Classics Vol. 2: Here's Donald''.

References

External links

* {{Jack King 1930s color films Donald Duck short films 1930s Disney animated short films 1937 films Films directed by Jack King Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Oliver Wallace Animated films about birds Fictional ostriches Films with screenplays by Carl Barks 1930s American films 1937 animated short films