Poster

Donald's Dog Laundry

A Donald Duck Cartoon

Release Date : April 5, 1940

Running Time : 8:17

Synopsis

Donald builds himself a "Modern Dog Washer" and Pluto just happens to be handy to try it out on. All Donald has to do is to find a way to get him into it.

Characters

Pluto
Donald Duck

Credits

Director
Jack King
Animation
Claude Smith
Preston Blair
Lee Morehouse
Norman Tate
Paul Allen
Grant Simmons
Johnny Cannon
John Lounsberry
Ken Muse
Nick George
Nick de Tolly
Emery Hawkins
Judge Whitaker
Layout
Bill Herwig

Video

Germany
Pluto Präsentiert
Donald Duck in die Größte Show der Welt
France
Donald Superstar
Italy
Buon Compleanno Paperino

Laserdiscs

Japan
Donald's Golden Jubilee

DVD

United States
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Classic Cartoon Favorites : Volume 2 : Starring Donald
Germany
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Alle Lieben Donald
France
Tout le Monde aime Donald
Italy
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Il Mio Eroe Paperino
Canada
Classic Cartoon Favorites : Volume 2 : Starring Donald
Sweden
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Alla Alskar Kalle
United Kingdom
Disney Treasures : Wave 3 : The Chronological Donald Volume 1
Everybody Loves Donald

Television

The Ink and Paint Club: Episode 37: Mickey's Pal Pluto
Mickey's Mouse Tracks: Episode 40
Donald's Quack Attack: Episode 15
The Mickey Mouse Club : March 4, 1958

Original Animator's Drafts


Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6

Page 7
Page 8

Technical Specification

Color Type: Technicolor
Animation Type: Standard animation
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Negative Format: 35mm
Print Format: 35mm
Cinematographic Process: Spherical
Original Language: English

Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Comments

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : Donald has had many adventures so far in the shorts, most of them involving his playing off another character, such as Gus Goose, the nephews or Pluto. That continues with Donald’s Dog Laundry, a short that features Donald and Pluto teaming up once more.

The premise of this short is that Donald has built a Rube Goldberg type contraption that will allow him to open a business washing dogs. Of course he has to test it out first, and Pluto is the nearby subject. The trick, though, is getting Pluto to take a bath, which is difficult, as anyone who has had a dog can attest.

The difference in this short and other Donald shorts is that we don’t get to see Donald get irritated and upset. That is the core of the character, of course, and not seeing it to full effect in this short makes this more of a Pluto vehicle than a Donald short.

Pluto does get the majority of screen time in this short, keeping up the old rule that any short he is in will immediately get taken over by the canine. A majority of the short involves Pluto sleeping/blowing a leaf and then trying to snag a rubber bone that Donald is using to lure him to the tub.

Most of that is interesting, but it’s not funny in the same way that a good Donald tantrum would be. Seeing Donald’s reaction to Pluto and being frustrated in his quest to get the dog in the tub would have been a much funnier bit of business. We get a little bit of it, but not nearly enough.

That is not to say that Donald’s Dog Laundry doesn’t have some high points. Watching Donald get attacked by the dog washing contraption is quite funny, and Pluto’s struggle with the rubber bone propping his jaws up is not bad, either. But those moments are fleeting, and the rest of the short seems to unfold at a slower pace, and doesn’t feature as much humor as other Donald shorts.

From Atsuko : Donald once again has trouble with machines. This time he builds an automatic dog-washer for Pluto, but only gets caught up in it himself. He is scrubbed, washed, and powdered before being hung on a clothesline to dry. Poor Donald!
From Ryan : While this short can get tiring seeing poor Donald have problems with the "dog washer", it was still a pretty good short. It is somewhat similar to Modern Inventions where Donald has trouble with modern technology.
From Ajisai : While most of Pluto's antics get old pretty fast, I love the end where we finally see the dog washer in action, even if the whole scene is far shorter than it could and should be. I really love the "homemade" look of the dog washer, and the music that plays along with the scene while Donald's getting scrubbed, showered, dried and flea-powdered fits perfectly. I always think Donald is at his best when he's on the receiving end of some misfortune, and he really gets it in this one!
From Baruch Weiss : I disagree with Ryan on his comment about this short that it is similar to Modern Inventions. Donald is not having trouble with modern technology, he is having trouble getting Pluto to take a bath. The plot was later used in the 1948 Goofy cartoon The Big Wash and 52 years later in a Spongebob episode titled "Gary takes a Bath". All end with the ironic ending that the main character ends up getting the bath instead. In my opinion, this cartoon was not all that great and it gets tiring after the first few minutes.
From Mikhail : This is one of my favourite Donald Duck cartoons, because unlike most of them, Donald is actually happy in the end! Also, the part where Pluto is hiding from Donald in the doghouse and nods and shakes his head with the roof was very creative, and acutely amusing.

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