This Is Your Life, Donald Duck

This Is Your Life, Donald Duck is a 1960 story written by Vic Lockman and drawn by Tony Strobl & Steve Steere, with one sequence reusing a script, and, in some printings, even art, by Carl Barks. The tale features Donald Duck, Jiminy Cricket, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, Grandma Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey Mouse, Gladstone Gander, Daisy Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Gyro Gearloose, and Frank Swansong. Gus, Jaq, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Bongo, Lumpjaw, Dopey, Gus Goose, Clarabelle Cow, Brer Fox, Doc, Practical Pig, Goliath II, Zeke Wolf, a Beagle Boy, Dumbo, Minnie Mouse, and either Morty or Ferdie Fieldmouse make brief appearances at the end of the story. Ralph Edwards and Walt Disney are mentioned, and Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck disguise themselves as Zorro.

Plot[]

A very special episode of The Jiminy Cricket Show has been planned as the show's eponymous host, Jiminy Cricket, presents This Is Your Life, an episode that will tell the life story of the show's featured guest, in this case, Donald Duck. With help from special guests like Grandma Duck and Gyro Gearloose, Jiminy tells the story of Donald's life from his infant years to his adulthood.

References[]

Jiminy Cricket is the host of The Jiminy Cricket Show.
Jiminy refers to Donald Duck as "a star of radio, screen, and television!"
Donald came out of his egg squawking and fussing, as stated by Jiminy Cricket and confirmed by a photo of his hatching.
Grandma Duck has very poor vision and struggles to distinguish the flesh-and-blood Donald from an image of him on a television.
During his infant years, Donald was often cared for by his Grandma Duck, who affectionately referred to him as "Donnie" or "Donnie-Boy".
Even as an infant, Donald was prone to violent tantrums. One of these tantrums led to Grandma being arrested and accused of "disturbing the peace... mistreating a duckling... and damaging a statue", while another tantrum led to him receiving his blue sailor's cap.

Donald snatches a sailor's hat for himself.
In his infant years, Donald had a fascination with sailing and sailors. He once tried to climb a statue of a sailor. Another time, he tried to steal a cap from a sailor. Though the sailor fought against Donald's theft at first, he eventually relented and let the duckling keep the cap after one of Donald's tantrums inadvertently saved the sailor's ship from sinking.
Grandma did not live in Duckburg during Donald's infant years, as she had to travel there by car.
Mickey Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto knew Donald when he was still just a child.
It is implied that Goofy is older than Donald, as the Goof states that on one particular day when Donald got into a disagreement with Goofy and Mickey about how to utilize some lumber, Donald "really were a child". During the flashback to that day, Goofy says of Donald, "Gawrsh! He's advanced fer his years… Gettin' ideas at his age!", one again implying that Goofy is older than Donald.
Donald, Gladstone Gander, and Daisy Duck all attended Duckburg High School as teenagers. There was already something of a love triangle between the three even in their youth.
During high school, Donald spearheaded the "trash basket cramming" craze (a challenge to see how many students can fit into one trash can) and, after being forced to give up his trash can-cramming ways by a disapproving Daisy, tried to start a new fad, tuba cramming.
Gladstone played football in high school and even won a letter for it.
Donald tried out for both wrestling and football while in high school but failed at each. Instead, he set a record in track after running a mile in less than two minutes. This would imply that he is able to run at least 30 miles per hour.
Donald had at least minimal contact with his Uncle Scrooge during his teenage years, as can be seen when, in order to impress Daisy, teenage Donald took out a loan of $5 from Scrooge to buy a car, even promising to work a summer for his uncle to secure the cash. It appears the best $5 could buy him in the vehicle realm was 313.

Teenage Donald brags about his recent successes in life to Gladstone and Daisy
Frank Swansong was a popular singer during Daisy, Donald, and Gladstone's teen years. Daisy was one of his fans.
At some point in his life, Donald signed a contract with Walt Disney. This was after he was noticed by a Hollywood talent scout while he was performing during amateur night hosted by Mickey Mouse at "a local neighborhood theater". Donald would go on to star in several films for Disney, though it was his nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck, who helped him wake up early enough everyday to make it to the studio.

Continuity[]

The entire comic story is actually an adaptation of the 1960 television special, This Is Your Life, Donald Duck (1960). Both versions share the same framing device of Jiminy Cricket featuring Donald Duck for an episode on his show, but there are some notable differences. Most notable is that the non-Donald special guests and the stories they tell are quite different in each version. The only characters who are shown as special guests in both versions are Grandma Duck and Daisy Duck, though they tell different stories in each version.
Grandma Duck not living in Duckburg is consistent with stories which portray her as living in Quacktown, outside of Duckburg city limits. Her hand in raising Donald is also consistent with other stories, such as The Good Old Daze (1964), the Donald Duckling series, and another Donald Duck biography, From Egg to Duck (1984).
Donald's tremendous speed is displayed in other stories, too, such as The Old Army Game (1943), which implies he can run faster than 35 miles per hour. This is consistent him being able to run a mile in under two minutes.
This Is Your Life, Donald Duck provides one of several accounts for how Donald acquired the 313. This story's version of events is mostly consistent with the story told in Recalled Wreck (1987) where it is said that Donald built the car himself. All that This Is Your Life, Donald Duck reveals is that Donald purchased it with $5. It doesn't specify if he built it himself with parts he bought for $5 or if he purchased the entire vehicle, pre-made, for $5. However, this version of events doesn't splice as well with Don Donald (1937), which portrays Donald as having purchased the 313 (already built) while in Mexico and while partaking in a fling with Donna Duck. This is in stark contrast to This Is Your Life, Donald Duck, which depicts him as living in Duckburg and dating Daisy Duck at the time of 313's purchase.
This Is Your Life, Donald Duck actually includes Ray's A Riot (1952) within it, presented with the framing device of Gyro Gearloose telling the story. In the original version of This Is Your Life, Donald Duck, the story as a whole was redrawn, but later reprints sometimes spliced in the original Barks art, instead.
Donald's work as an actor for Walt Disney Studios is consistent with other stories as well. Among these stories which share this factor is The Goofy Success Story (1955), which portrays Goofy, Mickey Mouse, and Donald as all having worked as actors concurrently.

Behind the scenes[]

This Is Your Life, Donald Duck was released in August of 1960. It served as the comics adaptation to the cartoon of the same name. It was mostly written by Vic Lockman, though the The Think Box Bollix portion of the story was written by Carl Barks. Tony Strobl drew the story, while Steve Steere handled the inking. In the original 1960 print, Ray's A Riot, while still containing Barks's original script, was redrawn by Strobl. However, in an American reprint in 1994, Barks's original art for the Ray's A Riot was simply edited into the story while Strobl's redrawn version was scrapped.

Another difference between the original version and the 1994 reprint by Gladstone is in the "Zorro" references. The original printing of This Is Your Life, Donald Duck references Zorro, a fictional character that had just recently been the subject of a Disney-produced television series that ran from 1957 to 1959. In the 1994 reprint, references to Zorro were switched out for allusions to a new character parodying Zorro, "El Moro".