Donald Duck celebrates his 90th birthday

Augsburger Allgemeine Donald Duck celebrates his 90th birthday 90 years of Donald Duck: Happy Duck! The most famous duck in the world is now celebrating his 90th birthday. But it is actually a little older. About a lovable unlucky guy who is perfect just the way he is. It's nice that there are things you can rely on. For example, for decades we have been able to say: All's well that ends well. After all, things always turn out well for Donald Duck. No matter how much Uncle Scrooge bosses him around, no matter how much Cousin Gustav Gans drives him mad. Yes, even Adolf Hitler can't harm him - more on that at the end of this text. But first of all, no Happy Duck. Just a Happy Birthday! Walt Disney's comic and cartoon hero Donald Duck is turning 90. At least the publisher Egmont Ehapa Media is celebrating June 9, 1934 as his historical birth date. Extensively. Among other things, with a magazine and a four-part special edition of the "Lustiges Taschenbuch" (LTB), the third volume of which will go on sale on August 6th. Donald Duck's fan base grew rapidly Donald appeared as early as 1931, in green trousers and a green hat. In the picture book "The Adventures of Mickey Mouse" he was listed as one of Mickey's friends, alongside Carolyn Cow, Patricia Pig and Long Dog, the Dachshund. In 1934 the duck was seen in the film "The Wise Little Hen" - official cinema release: June 9th - as a supporting character and in a sailor suit top. The fact that the drake does not wear trousers, allegedly because trousers are a hindrance in animation, was not really a scandal in Germany. In contrast to the case of a certain lion Goleo, the mascot of the 2006 World Cup. In 1934, Mickey Mouse was the star. Walt Disney once said that the duck was the result of too many taboos imposed on Mickey Mouse. "People didn't feel that Mickey could lose his temper like the duck. In other words, he had to maintain a certain dignity. To give us some room to maneuver, we created this little duck." Donald as a creative counterpart and anti-hero. Mickey was cheeky, even malicious at first. In "Steamboat Willie" from 1928, he throws a potato at a parrot - and laughs as it sinks into the water. Donald Duck: the duck that never gives up Donald Duck's fan base grew rapidly. They preferred the clumsy, bad-tempered and yet cheerfully anarchistic - in short, human - duck to the mouse, who later became too smooth and well-behaved. It's easy to identify with Donald, whose favorite pastimes include hanging out in a hammock. Basically, he wants to do things right and properly. If only they let him. It's impressive how he slogs through every job, fails, excels - and fails again. But never gives up. Donald Duck's fan base grew rapidly - as rapidly as he moves through his adventures. Donald Duck is not perfect, and that is precisely why he is so likeable. The first German publication of "The Perfect Donald" in LTB Duck Edition Volume 84 "All the best Donald!" (336 pages, 8.99 euros) is about exactly that: in the intergalactic lottery, his name was drawn from the "list of those who are only moderately gifted"; aliens then use the concentrated power of their extraterrestrial generator to transform the lazy, unlucky guy, as they call him, into someone who suddenly succeeds at everything: even ironing Scrooge's bills. It's not the best version of Donald Duck. Giggle! Smile! Wow! An incredible amount has been written about him in the past few decades. Even the German Patent and Trademark Office: Donald's fame, it explained, had led to a prime example of patent law. According to this, in 1964 a Danish inventor applied for a patent in his home country for a process for raising sunken ships. Foam balls were to be pumped into wrecks so that the wrecks would be buoyant. The patent was confirmed by both the German Patent and Trademark Office and the UK. The Dutch Patent Office, however, refused to grant it. In a story published in 1949 by the legendary cartoonist Carl Barks - he was the "father" of Scrooge McDuck, for example - Donald Duck had used a similar process. Giggle! Smile! Oh my goodness! Donaldists know about this, of course. Like Donald's guest appearance in "Der Fuehrer's Face" from 1943. An anti-Third Reich propaganda short film that won an Oscar. Nevertheless, it still stabs one in the heart today to see Donald Duck wearing a swastika armband, shouting "Heil Hitler!" and reading "Mein Kampf" in a German munitions factory. Until he wakes up from this nightmare in his stars-and-stripes pajamas (he's wearing pants!) and hugging a statue of the Statue of Liberty on his windowsill. "Am I glad to be a citizen of the United States of America"