The Lives of the Three Caballeros
Chapter 1: Life of Donald Duck
by Gregory Dwayne Co
My name is Donald Duck, I'm 83 years young, lived in Main Street, U.S.A. and I'm here to tell you about the story of my life as a famous duck in the world and how I met my good friends, including José and Panchito.
I was drawn since June 9, 1934 by Mr. Disney, when I magically came out of the paper, and he found me very happy and cute at the same time. Mr. Disney welcomed me to his studio and showed the whole thing to me and he also said that I should be in his cartoon, it's called "The Wise Little Hen". Well, first of all I don't have a voice, I was trying to tell him but I didn't feel it, so he showed me my own voice actor, Clarence Nash and he told him to do my voice, so I listened to it and I liked it. After that, I started my carrer for acting, with the other actors and actresses in the set for "The Wise Little Hen". Of course, it took so many takes to make it.
Well I only met a few of the actors, but actually it's the beginning that I actually met Mickey Mouse. While I was taking a break, Mr. Disney said that someone wants to be my friend, and I said okay and then he showed me a mouse. He greeted me with a bashful smile and I greeted him back. He said his name and I said it too. Mickey has a lot of his old friends during the 1930's, well this is the first time he met me and we became best friends ever since, even with Goofy and Minnie. Then, during the shooting of "Don Donald", I met my first love, Daisy Duck. I found her beautiful, and trying to talk to her. I feel like that I have a crush on her and that's true. Then after the shooting, Daisy came to me and said that she loves me and then kisses me. I remembered last time with Mickey that we did the shooting of the cartoon "Orphan's Benefits", it was fun and funny, even my temper, I didn't found it funny at first, and at the end, it is very funny. It was a good time with all of my friends.
I remembered in 1937, I was with Mickey and Minnie for the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premiere at the theater, we watched it and it was amazing, Minnie almost cried at the ending part. Disney felt proud and humble on making this full length film.
During World War II, I felt bad, even Disney and all of us felt bad as well, because some army generals are forcing us to do some propaganda cartoons. I was even part of it, in that Adolf Hitler cartoon that Disney created, it was harsh, I mean very, very harsh. Some of my friends had even offended to this even me, we all really hate it, no one here wants war with other countries, everyone loses.
During the war in 1942, Disney have an another plan for another cartoon movie, it's called "Saludos Amigos", and he told me about this and also, he told me that I'll join with another actor, he's from Brazil and wants to meet me, and that's the beginning that I met my first Brazilian friend, José Carioca, he can speak English fluently. I'm having a good time with him during the auditions, we laugh, smile and hangout with him a lot. What I really love the funny part during the shooting of "Saludos Amigos", which is when I tried the cachaça, it's burning hot, it's so hot that I almost lost my voice, I really don't know how José handled it. During vacation, José invited me to Rio de Janerio, his hometown, to have a tour with him and it was amazing, I love the beaches, the fiesta carnival, Christ the Redeemer and etc. Also, we really hate the Aracuan Bird, he is always a clown to us, he never stops doing this to us, José and I really can't take it anymore.
2 years later, me and José went back to the studio to meet another actor that Disney drew was Panchito Pistoles, he's from Mexico, he also speaks English fluently and he says that his name was long, but I cannot memorize it. He is so enthusiastic and happy, he even screams like crazy, it goes like "YYAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!!!!!", it's very loud. We and Panchito became friends then, and that's the beginning of "The Three Caballeros" and we looked like a band because the movie is like a musical, we sing, dance and having fun, it's like a party for us, and then when the movie is released in the U.S.A and Mexico, it became a hit, we became famous after that. We mostly waved our national flags to the fans, mines is the flag of the U.S., José has the flag of Brazil and Panchito has a flag of Mexico, we waved it proudly.
In September 2, 1945, World War II ended, all of us are happy, we thanked God for that. Actually, José and Panchito didn't know about that because they were drawn 2-4 years ago, so I told them about that and I said that it finally ended. Now, Mr. Disney and the other felt comfortable and went back to work. Sometimes, I invited my nephews, Huey, Duwey and Louie, to join with me as secondary characters. You saw them in some old cartoons, they were naughty and playful, but in real life, they were such good boys because, of course, they're just acting and they're having fun with me.
I remembered in December 15, 1966, I was there at the funeral of Mr. Disney. I felt sad, everyone was sad even Mickey, he was crying a whole river. I stand beside him trying to making him feel better, I patted his shoulder telling him not to cry, then he embraced me with sadness, I knew that he missed him so much because he gave his so much love, he thank God for creating him. I felt bad for Mickey and the whole Disney company, it might be weak, but thankfully, his brother, Roy Disney, took over the company and I felt relieved. But sometimes after that, I often got so jealous to Mickey that I really want to be the icon, Mickey and I got into the fight sometimes but still, we're best friends.
Years later, I'm still the famous duck in the world. So far, I did played myself in "House of Mouse", "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", "Mickey and the Roadster Racers", "DuckTales", and other different movies that I played. My current voice actors are Tony Aselmo and Daniel Ross, they did my voice very well. I love my job at Disney, I still got my friends, my good ol' caballeros from Latin America, and my carrer as an ordinary duck. Even on my 50th birthday, I'm still happy that I made you laugh and smile. Thank you for all of your support for me and my Disney friends. My name is Donald Duck and this is my story.
