"A Silly Symphony"

Release Date June 9, 1934

Running Time 7:40

Synopsis

A retelling of the old story with Donald Duck and Peter Pig unwilling to help the Wise Little Hen with her crops.

Characters

Wise Little Hen

Donald Duck

Peter Pig

Credits

Director : Bert Gillett

Animators

Art Babbitt

Dick Huemer

Dick Lundy

Ward Kimball (Inbetweener)

Milestones

The debut of Donald Duck. His trademark sailor suit, which he would wear throughout his career (save for a brief stint in the Army) is unmistakable.

Videos

United States

Cartoon Classics : First Series : Volume 9 : Donald Duck's First 50 Years

Germany

Micky und Company

Italy

Silly Symphonies Volume 1

Laserdiscs

Japan

Donald Duck : A Star is Born

Mickey and Company

DVD

Disney Treasures : Silly Symphonies

Disney Treasures : The Chronological Donald Volume 1 : (1934-1941)

Timeless Tales : Volume 3

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #4 : Disney Firsts

The Ink and Paint Club : #14 : Early Donald

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Technicolor

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Mono

Aspect ration : 1.37 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by United Artists Pictures

Gallery

Model sheet for "The Wise Little Hen"
This also seems to be the very first model sheet featuring Donald Duck

Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture

Comments

A Silly Symphony.

From Jerry Edwards : I enjoy this short just for the adaptation of the old story, in addition to the first appearance of Donald Duck. A mother hen with many chicks needs help in planting and harvesting her corn. When Donald Duck and Peter Pig refuse to help, continually claiming to be ill when they were dancing jigs moments before, the mother hen does the work herself. When all the work is done and corn delicacies cover her table, she invites Donald and Peter to share the contents of a covered bowl he brings out to them. After they fight over the bowl, they discover that the contents is a bottle of castor oil. Donald's appearance is more of that of a goose than a duck, with a long neck and beak - an appearance he keeps in his first few appearances. Supposedly, Walt thought that Peter Pig would be their next big cartoon star, but the audience went crazy over Donald, resulting in this being Peter Pig's only appearance.

From Ryan : This short really wasn't all that great, but it was an important one for it was the very first appearance of Donald Duck. Donald looked different than he does today. His bill was rounded and he was quite smaller. Two things, however, have remained constant about Donald: his incoherent voice and his short temper. One scene that I laughed at was where after the hen gives Donald and Peter Pig a basket with a napkin draped over it (they think it's corn), they open it and see it's medicine. They then take turns kicking each other in the butt. That food on their looked quite good and is bound to make you hungry (there was corn bread, corn chowder, and corn on the cob).

From Warren Harmon : Donald Duck's debut film nearly 70 years ago positioned our charming Mr. Duck as one of the most memorable characters in Disney animation history. Wise Little Hen shows us the original Long Bill Donald, but his temper and sly demeanor hasn't changed throughout all these years. Wise Little Hen succeeds because of that little character we love to hate. There's a little Donald Duck in each of us; that's why so many people relate to his antics and wit.

Through his many short films and outstanding comic book run (thanks to Mr. Barks), Donald Duck remains my favorite of all Disney creations. Happy 69th Donald!

From Niky Thomson : I give it a 10. It's just great and a good moral too!

From Gijs Grob : A simple Silly Symphony carried by a mediocre yet all too memorable song. I guess it might have fallen into oblivion, were it not for Donald Duck.

In his first cartoon Donald Duck is a real sailor, living on a boat and dancing the hornpipe. He's a strong voice character from the start. When he joyfully shouts 'oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!' we all know it's him, even when he looks different. Besides his voice, Donald Duck displays two of his typical character traits: egotism and his tendency to trick others. His short temper is not shown yet: when ultimately foiled by the Hen he's not breaking down in anger, but joins Peter in remorseful self-chastisement. But Donald would show his temper, in his next cartoon: "Orphan's Benefit."

Besides Donald Duck this cartoon is interesting for an appetizing and startling realistic animation shot of butter melting on hot corn.

From Jeff Wiener : To be honest, I don't particularly like this short. Like some of the other early colour Silly Symphonies from this period, the cartoon contains sappy music that I personally find a bit irritating. However, this Silly Symphony demonstrates the continuing development of classic Disney animation as we know and love it today. It is also historically interesting because it contains the very first screen appearance of Donald Duck. The Disney team probably didn't realise the enormous potential of Donald as a starring character when this cartoon was still on the drawing boards. The violent temper and belligerent behaviour that we all find so amusing today really came to the fore when he was teamed up with Mickey Mouse in 'Orphan's Benefit'. Within a year, Donald would eclipse Mickey in popularity and become the Disney studio's top star.

From Baruch Weiss : This is an important short in the history of Disney as it was the first appearance of Donald Duck, his hat would later be worn by one of the 3 little pigs then Tweety Bird wore it too. Great cartoon, the music was nice and the scene with all that corn on the table sure is bound to make anybody go hungry, so I wouldn't recomend watching this short if it's a fast day for you!

From Julie Arsenault : I had never knew that this Silly Symphony was Donald Duck's first theatrical appearance as well as for his voice-artist Clarence "Ducky" Nash too; and besides,I love Donald Duck (along with Mickey and Pluto). I love whenever the Wise Little Hen said:

"Will you help me plant my corn? Will you help me plant my corn?" And Donald and Peter Pig would say "Who? me?! oh no! I've got a belly ache!" (That was great timing). And one last thing, the little chicks are very cute.

Referenced Comments

Just Dogs (1932)