Buck Sergeant Duck and other tales of Donald’s 50th birthday celebration

Jim Hill

13 years ago

So what are you going to do with your Memorial Day Monday?
If you’re out in Southern California and looking for a really spectacular patriotic
event to attend … I’m afraid that you’re about a week late at this point.

You see, the City of Torrance’s 52^nd Armed Forces
Day Celebration and Parade was held last weekend. With the branch of the service
being honored this time around being the United States Army.

“And why should I care about an Armed Forces Day parade that’s
being held in Torrance, CA?,” you ask. Well, some 27 years ago, a similar sort
of celebration was held in this same city during the month of May. One that
honored a longtime Disney star who also happened to be a U.S. Army veteran.

Maybe you’ve heard of this character? Donald Fauntleroy
Duck?

Seriously, folks. The City of Torrance turned out on masse on May 19, 1984 for
a parade and retirement ceremony for Donald Duck. And – yes – I said “retirement
ceremony.” The Duck had supposedly been inducted into the Army with his May
1942 cartoon, “Donald Gets Drafted.” But the Studio had never produced a cartoon or a comic strip that
showed Donald being separated from the Service. Which meant that – by the late
Spring of 1984 – the Duck had been on active duty for 43 years.

There was plenty of media on hand
as Donald – in his WWII-era uniform – arrived
for his retirement / promotion
ceremony. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved

Well, as part of Walt Disney Productions’ year-long
celebration of Donald Duck’s 50^th birthday, the U.S. Army decided to
do something to acknowledge this cartoon character’s long time in service. Which
is why they sent a four star general – Lt. Gen. Arthur E. Brown, Jr., director
of the Army staff – out to Torrance, CA. to preside over a ceremony. During
which Donald would simultaneously be promoted and retired.

“And what rank was the Duck promoted to before the Army
then retired him?,” you query. Appropriately enough, E5. Which made Donald a
Buck Sergeant. Buck Sergeant Duck, to be specific.

Lt. Gen. Brown pins Donald’s new
E5 patch on the sleeve of his
uniform. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

I’m told that Walt Disney Productions really pulled out the
stops from Donald’s combination promotion / retirement ceremony. Which means
that they raided Disneyland‘s costume department and unearthed every single
Duck-related walk-around character that had ever appeared in that theme park.
Which is why – as Donald was being honored – not only was Daisy looking on, but
so was Scrooge McDuck, Ludwig Von Drake and Huey, Dewey and Louie. They even
reportedly put a cast member in Disneyland’s seldom used Grandma Duck costume.

But you know who was not there for Donald’s promotion /
retirement ceremony in the City of Torrance? The Disney Legend who had been the
Duck’s speaking voice for the past 50 years, Clarence “Ducky” Nash.

Clarence “Ducky” Nash and his
longtime feathered
friend. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All
rights reserved

Though – to be fair – the only reason that “Ducky” wasn’t on
hand when Donald was separated from the Service was because Nash had a previous
engagement. You see, on that exact same date (i.e. May 19, 1984), “Ducky” was down
at Walt Disney World. Where Nash was
serving as the Grand Marshall for the very first presentation of the Magic
Kingdom‘s Donald Duck 50^th birthday celebration parade.

And those who were in the Magic Kingdom on that day remember
this parade well. Given that it featured a cast member dressed in a Donald Duck
costume who was followed by 50 live Peking ducks. Who waddled after
Donald as he was their Momma … or Poppa, I guess.

Donald and his 50 friends rehearse
for their big moment. Copyright
Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

This particular publicity stunt was the brainchild of
longtime WDW PR guy Charlie Ridgway. Who – when he heard that Disney Corporate
was planning a Company-wide celebration of Donald Duck’s 50^th
birthday for the Summer of 1984 – hatched this promotional scheme.

As Ridgway recently recounted during his appearance at D23‘s
Destination D: Walt Disney World 40^th‘s “Making the Magic Happen”
panel:

Donald gets introduced to 50
Peking ducklings in the
Winter of 1984. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All
rights reserved

According to Charlie Cook – who was Disney World’s bird guy –
the only way that we could train the Peking ducks to perform this kind of
behavior was if Donald was introduced to them at birth. Which is why we then
arranged to have a cast member dressed as Donald Duck to be on hand at a Miami
hatchery when these fuzzy little duckling initially hatched out of their
shells.

Then – to further re-enforce the bonding between these live
ducklings and the costumed Donald Duck character – when these animals were finally
moved on property in the early Spring of 1984, they were always fed by a cast
member wearing the Donald Duck walk-around costume. Which is why these ducks
then began to associate the costume with the reward of food.

Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck
creator Carl Barks visit with the 50 Peking Ducks in
their holding pen at WDW’s
Fort Wilderness Campground. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights
reserved

Which isn’t to say that this Donald Duck 50^th
birthday publicity stunt went exactly as Charlie Ridgway had hoped. This Disney
Legend still regrets his decision to bring Donald & all 50 of those Peking
Ducks up to Cinderella Castle for a photo op.

We had made this giant birthday cake out of frozen corn that
the ducks were supposed to nibble at. But as soon as those ducks saw the water
in that moat around the Hub, that was all she wrote. It took us hours to
collect them all up again, fish them out of the water.

This picture was taken just
seconds before all those live ducks made
a break for the Magic Kingdom’s moat.
Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

This episode taught the folks at Walt Disney World that – no
matter how well an animal may have been trained – its natural instincts are
eventually going to kick in.

Which is why – after that initial photo op of those live
ducks following a costumed version of Donald up Main Street, U.S.A. – the parade
operations team opted to go for a far more manageable solution. Which would still allow
the public to get a peek at these 50 Peking Ducks over the course of Donald
Duck’s 50^th birthday celebration parade. While – at the same time –
give these fowls far fewer opportunities, as this parade rolled around the Hub
and/or past the Rivers of America, to take like a duck to water.

These Peking Ducks rode in style aboard
Donald’s 50^th birthday float,
penned inside of clear acrylic
circles. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

“But what became of all those ducks after Donald Duck’s 50^th
birthday celebration was wrapped up?,” you ask. Not to worry. Once this special
promotional event was wrapped up in August of 1984, these Peking Ducks were
broken up into pairs and donated to zoos all over the country.

And speaking of traveling … Borrowing a page from Walt
Disney Productions’ highly successful promotional campaign for Mickey Mouse’s
50^th birthday back in 1978 (which involved putting Disney Legend
Ward Kimball and a cast member in a
Mickey Mouse costume on the Southwest Limited. Where – over the course of a 5
day train trip – Ward & Mickey retraced Walt’s fateful trip from NYC
to Hollywood in 1928), the Company persuaded Pacific Southwest Airlines to dub
one of its Boeing 727s Duck One.

Here’s the prototype for that custom
paint job which Walt Disney
Productions officials wanted PSA to do on Duck One. Copyright
Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

In mid-May of 1984, Duck One then zoomed around the country, visiting 14 different cities in just 4 days. Starting its journey
(appropriately enough) at the Burbank Airport, this 727 then flew to San Jose,
Sacramento, Eugene, Oregon and Seattle. After an overnight stop in Seattle,
Duck One then zoomed to Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago and New York City. After
spending the night in NYC, this flying birthday party then took off for Boston,
St. Louis and Orlando.With the final leg of this journey going from Disney World to Atlanta to Camp Pendleton in California, followed by a special nighttime parade at Disneyland.

Which brings us back to Clarence “Ducky” Nash being the Grand
Marshall of Donald Duck’s 50^th birthday celebration parade on May
19, 1984 at WDW’s Magic Kingdom. You see, “Ducky” and his wife Margaret were on board for the full
four days of this whirlwind press tour. If you look closely at the photo below,
you can see those two in among the crowd posing in front of Duck One during one
of the stops on this trip.

And each stop along the way, this 80 year-old did what he
could to help promote Donald’s 50^th birthday. Be it doing a radio
interview with NPR and/or making an appearance at a New York City movie theater
which was – at that time – screening a retrospective of the Duck’s 150 shorts
and 5 feature-length films.

Now you have to understand that “Ducky” had officially
retired from Walt Disney Productions back in 1971 and was only doing Donald
Duck’s voice part-time at this point. But given that Nash felt that he owed his
career to the Company, when Disney officials asked him to take part in high
profile publicity stunts during the late Spring / early Summer of 1984, this
octogenarian immediately said “Yes.”

Please note the Mann’s Chinese employees who are pressing the
feet of this Donald Duck character costume into the cement. Photo
by Con Keyes of the Los Angeles
Times. Copyright Tribune
Newspapers. All rights reserved

Take – for example – the photo above. Which shows Ducky and
Donald at Mann’s Chinese Theater on May 21, 1984. Which is when Donald Duck
became the 150^th performer to have his feet immortalized in cement in
the forecourt at this Hollywood movie palace.

Given that Nash had
spent so many decades working in the shadows at Disney Studios, it was kind of
a thrill for all of his friends at the Company to see Clarence suddenly getting
all of this recognition. Sitting on the couch next to Johnny Carson on NBC’s “The
Tonight Show.” Getting a plaque from President Reagan during a special ceremony
in the White House’s East Room in recognition of all those years “Ducky”
visited kids in hospitals and then entertained them with his Donald Duck
puppet.

Mind you, what people didn’t know during the late Spring /
early Summer of 1984 was that Clarence “Ducky” Nash was already sick with
leukemia. But because he didn’t want to put a damper of Donald Duck’s 50^th
birthday celebration, Nash always put on a brave face and showed up for every
event Disney asked him to do. Be it the ceremony in June 9^th when
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley – in honor of the 50^th anniversary of
Donald’s first on-screen appearance (in the 1934 Silly Symphony, “The Wise
Little Hen“) declared it to be Donald Duck Day in LA. Which was then followed
by Clarence taking part in a ticker tape parade through Disneyland.

Or – better yet – Nash’s trip back to his old home town of
Watonga, Oklahoma. Where – on December 7, 1984 – Governor George Nigh declared
that date to be Clarence Nash Day in all of Oklahoma. What’s more, Watonga
renamed a street Clarence Nash Boulevard in Ducky’s honor.

Clarence “Ducky” Nash (1904 –
1985)

As it turns out, Nash’s trip back home to Oklahoma was basically
his last public appearance. Though Clarence has been selected to be the Grand
Marshall of the 1985 Tournament of Roses parade, when January 1^st finally
rolled around, Ducky was just too ill to take part in those proceedings. As he dealt
with the end stages of his leukemia, Nash was in & out of St. Joseph’s
Medical Center in Burbank multiple times over the next few weeks before finally
succumbing on February 20, 1985.

But even then, Clarence was still trying to do right by The
Walt Disney Company. In the weeks and months that led up his demise, “Ducky”
identified an ambitious young animator – one Tony Anselmo – who seemed to have
what it takes when it came to voicing Donald Duck. And in the limited time
that he had left, Nash shared with Anselmo his many secrets when it came to the
proper way to perform this irascible character.

Tony Anselmo with (L to R) Diane
Disney Miller and Clarence Nash’s
daughter & granddaughter during Anselmo’s
January 2011
appearance at the Walt Disney Family Museum. Copyright
The Walt
Disney Family Museum. All rights reserved

And given that Tony’s done a stellar job of safeguarding
Donald over the past quarter century (not to mention always going out of his way
to acknowledge Clarence “Ducky” Nash as the originator of this Disney character’s
voice), I think it’s safe to say the Duck is in good hands.

And given that I actually started out my career of covering
The Walt Disney Company back in June of 1984, when – as a reporter for the Fort
Devens Dispatch – I was assigned to write an article about Donald Duck’s
promotion / retirement ceremony in the City of Torrance …

… Well, I was somewhat pleased to learn recently (from a
friend who works for the Department of Defense) that the Duck didn’t actually
retire from the Service 27 years ago. That – if you check the U.S. Army’s active
duty roster – you’ll see that Donald’s current status is listed as “inactive.”
Which means that – in time of war, if need be – this cartoon character could
actually be called up once again.

Of course, given that Donald appeared on 400 military
insignia during World War II, one might argue that the Duck has already done
enough at this point to serve his country.

Anyway … Here’s hoping that you and yours have a safe and
happy Memorial Day. Just please make a point sometime today to remember all
those who have served our country. Including one Donald Fauntleroy Duck.

Your thoughts?