The Runabout was Dan Backslide's all along
It just happened to contain clothes that fit him perfectly in the trunk and just happened to be purple like his suit. Not to mention Dan being an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain would make it pretty in-character for him to steal something that originally belonged to him by mistake. Dan Backslide's alcoholism is the reason he failed in his plan
Given that he's at a saloon in the middle of the day and the barkeeper is quick to serve up the shots, it's not too much of a stretch to say Dan Backslide is a drunkard in addition to all his other unsavory traits. We, the viewer, have no idea how long he'd been at the saloon nor how much he'd had before getting there. The sickly green skin tone, thinness, and generally unhealthy look fits the Temperance Movement's stereotype of an alcoholic wreck. His drinking habit has adversely affected his scheme to force Dora into marrying him, since being impaired by booze likely caused he to misjudge her ability to defend her virtues. It might also explain why the conveniently placed roundabout happened to be there for the stealing since, going off the previous WMG, it's actually his own and he'd forgotten that fact. Dan Backslide is an early version of a different fictional villain
I mean, odd skin color, purple suit, shouts a whole bunch, Large Ham, doesn't really fight. Sound familiar?- Nope, sorry. The Joker debuted in 1940, two years before Dan Backslide. However, they might have based some of Jokers later mannerisms on him, since the original version was a lot more subdued.
- The odd skin color suggests Rattfink.
Dan Backslide is Waluigi’s ancestor
They look almost identical aside from the skin color, and different shaped mustaches. They both even wear purple clothing. Though that begs the question: Does that give Waluigi a definitive surname?- Related to the above, the short has a Shared Universe with Super Mario Bros, and is set 90 years before the first game in the series, with Mario and Luigi being descended from the moustachioed red-shirted guy in the opening, Wario being descended from the bartender in Dan Backslide’s introductory scene, Peach (And possibly Daisy) being descended from Dora Standpipe, and Waluigi being descended from Dan Backslide. But that begs another question: How do the Dover Boys themselves fit in this?
- Maybe the boys could be Mario and Luigi's ancestors. Dick and Luigi look to be about the same height.
