Did Walt Disney hate Donald Duck?

I've heard it occasionally mentioned that Disney did not like Donald Duck, and I'm a bit confused. Where did this come from? I can understand if your signature character is losing popularity, but didn't Disney intentionally plan Donald to be the next big star?(after the Wise Little Hen).

I thought I heard he hated Goofy. Abiding by his spotlight waning, you could assume he hated Mickey (which he apparently didn't because he placed so much of his own personality into him). Let's face it, we've heard a lot of stories about old Walt in the past.

I'd heard that Walt called Donald "The (Clark) Gable of our stable," referring to his importance. That's the only opinion of Walt's regarding Donald that I've ever heard.

I can't find any substantiated assertion for this. This here states that the poster read in a biography of Walt Disney that he "hated Donald Duck," but the title of the supposed biography isn't provided.

I find it strange how Disney supposedly liked Mickey the best (hence him being the main character in The Sorcerer's Apprentice instead of Dopey) when all the later Mickey short were basically Pluto shorts in everything but name.

I guess it was more the fact he had limited Mickey's personality so much that the writers didn't know what to do with him anymore. Just because a character is a Creator's Pet doesn't mean they have the slightest idea how to properly use them.

The stories I have heard say it was Disney's wife who hated Donald, particularly his voice.

To Robbery. I was JUST about to tell you that Clark Gable was a mega star known as The King Of Holly wood at the height of his career (Which happened to be when Walt Was Alive), thus that comment should mean that Walt held Donald in Pretty HIGH regard. But you already knew that,it seems. ._.

I'll shut up now.

Didn't Avery and Jones say they took some aspects of Clark Gable for Bugs Bunny, too?

Much is often made of Bugs mimicking Gable's posture from It Happened One Night, where Gable is eating a carrot, in some cartoon or another. I think it's blown a bit out of proportion as Bugs is really nothing at all like Gable (who's image was very much the he-man ladykiller leading man).

Well, to be fair, Bugs Bunny was known to be a bit of a playboy and a stud.

If he did, that explains all the "Donald gets jealous of Mickey" stories there are.

"Donald gets jealous of Mickey" and "Daffy gets jealous of Bugs" basically do follow the same basic pattern, it's just the latter takes it much further.

I don't really see as many "Daffy gets jealous of Bugs" stories. Of course, it's been a while since I saw Looney Tunes.

Admitedly the "Daffy as jealous rival" role was enthasised a lot more by revivals, while Bugs was always something of an Always Someone Better type to Daffy, the latter was only out and out after Bugs' spotlight in a handful of Friz Freleng shorts. The rest of the time Daffy was usually just a smug antagonist who thought he could outsmart him or use him as a patsy.

edited 25th Nov '12 7:50:04 PM by Psi001

It's less "Daffy gets jealous of bugs" and more "Daffy needs a scapegoat to make people think it's not duck season."

Friz Freleng (at least I think it was him) had at least one short where Bugs and Daffy were actually vaudeville-style stage performers, and Daffy was ticked at Bugs getting top billing.

Donald being jealous of Mickey is really only something that happened during the opening of the old Mickey Mouse Club tv show, as far as I know. Donald's heckling him made up the plot in Magician Mickey, but that's not really jealously. Usually, when put together, they're portrayed as friends, but Donald's personality is what it is in even the best of circustances...

I remember that one. I know it involved tap dancing at one point...

Each director had sort of a different formula for the Bugs vs Daffy rivalry, Freleng did the jealous actor formula, Jones did the Bugs as failed scapegoat formula, and Mc Kimson did a money motivated formula. In each case Daffy had a different motive for turning on Bugs, even if most of the time it devolved into him just wanting Bugs to get blasted to pieces out of vengence as he took more and more lumps.

edited 26th Nov '12 5:13:03 AM by Psi001

It seems someone posted Donald Duck as an example of Magnum Opus dissonance...

Well, either way, it seems whatever Disney thought, it certainly didn't diminish his reputation, considering Donald Duck's presence in animated shorts and comics.

Donald's also been jealous of Mickey in House of Mouse. The episode "Everybody Loves Mickey" has him complaining about how Mickey gets all the attention.

I can definitely say for certain that Mel Blanc hated Donald Duck and his voice, saying that a cartoon character that you couldn't understand what they were saying most of the time, was a waste.

This makes the Donald Duck / Daffy Duck scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit all the more funny.

"Thith ith the latht time I work with thomeone with a thpeach impediment!"

I don't think that Walt Disney necessarily liked Mickey Mouse "The best"...it was just the character he was the most nostalgic about. Mickey Mouse was the foundation for the Disney studios, and Walt was for a long time Mickey's voice. It is natural that he didn't want that the later more popular Donald Duck to replace him. But making Fantasia to make sure that Mickey would never be forgotten doesn't translate to "hating Donald Duck".

I highly doubt Walt hated ANY of his characters, due to them having some aspect of his real life friends and family. I do know Banks sure had big plans for the ducks.

I wouldn't say "hate", but I guess he didn't understand Donald's popularity. Mickey was always the good guy and closest to his heart, but Donald's gimmick was losing his temper all the time.