Donald Duck hit peak popularity during his horny era

Disney, both as a brand and concept is known for being family-friendly. Disney films can be animated or live action, fantasal or real. But even in 2023, the assumption is that if the Walt Disney Pictures logo is slapped on the front, the film that follows won’t be edgy, salacious, or sexual. Disney companies are not sexy by design.

And yet, let us consider Donald Duck — and not just to dredge up the long-standing question of why he wears a shirt and no pants. Today’s Donald Duck is both irascible and buttoned down enough to share a relationship with Daisy. Daisy can be seen as a chaste kisser that causes him to reel. But there was once a time when Donald Duck was not only very popular, but also very single — and occasionally, extremely and obviously horny.

Though Daisy made a couple sporadic appearances in Donald Duck shorts dating back to 1940, she wasn’t his girlfriend on the regular until the back half of the decade. Once upon a time, Donald was only a freewheeling duck dressed in a Sailor Suit who took a shore vacation down south. As Disney celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2023, it will also hit the 80th anniversary of one of its “package” animated features, Saludos Amigos. Both Saludos AmigosThe sibling film is also available. Three Caballeros The cultural connection between 1945 and 1995 was not just about Latin America. Each explored how it felt for Donald to be a sexually enticing duck, imagining his desire to swoon over the feminine curves.

Saludos Amigos only scratches the surface of Donald’s particular itch. Three CaballerosThe release of ‘innocent’ in America on February 1945 pushes him closer to sexual mania. The purpose of Donald’s sex-madness was to portray America as a neighbor. Both these package films, composed of interrelated short films, were the most notable examples of propaganda that Disney made as part of the U.S. government’s Good Neighbor policy during World War II. (Disney historian J.B. Kaufman’s South of the Border with Disney is an invaluable — and officially sanctioned — resource if you want to learn more about Disney’s WWII propaganda effort.)

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Donald Duck, who the Walt Disney Family Museum says has never been more popular than he was between 1941 And 1945 — was the American face of Disney’s WWII effort through appearances in films like Saludos Amigos and Three CaballerosAs well as the famous short Der Fuehrer’s Face. (That’s the one where Donald hallucinates being a Nazi grunt, then wakes up relieved and grateful that he’s an American citizen. Fun fact: That Oscar-winning short turned 80 on New Year’s Day.) Over the 11 segments combined, Saludos Amigos And Three CaballerosThe films depict the unique cultural characteristics and differences of Latin American countries like Brazil, Peru and Argentina. Donald plays the role of an American avatar, learning about Latin American cultures, and embracing them at a time in which there is war.

Saludos Amigos barely counts as a feature film: At 42 minutes, it’s the shortest feature in Disney’s official animated canon, and just barely longer than the 40-minute minimum established by the Academy for Oscar consideration. And it’s an appetizer in terms of watching Donald go gaga around beautiful women. It consists of 4 shorts. The last one is the longest. Aquarela do Brasil, Donald meets the second of the Three Caballeros, Brazilian parrot José Carioca. Donald is more attuned to Brazilian culture and soon he dances the samba in silhouette with an animated lady. The real feast for horny Donald fans comes in Three CaballerosIt becomes obvious that Donald loves human women as a hornduck.

José Carioca shows up again in Three CaballerosDonald receives some South American birthday gifts. Then, our unruly hero is taken to Bahia in Brazil, a storybook version. That’s the setting for an extended musical number, “Os Quindins de Yayá,” sung by chanteuse Aurora Miranda, who appears in live-action footage. Upon seeing Miranda, dressed up to sell cookies in an approximation of a quaint Brazilian village, Donald’s heart all but bursts out of his chest as he’s sent literally flying in the air at her beauty. He leads her around the song, but fails in his desire to fulfill his desires. (“This Donald! Did you ever see such a fast work?” José asks us, raising his eyebrows at the camera as Donald puckers up his lips and tries to kiss Miranda. He later declares to Donald, “You are a wolf!”)

The sexual energy in this sequence, even though it’s Disney-style fare is actually quite powerful considering that. Miranda is seen dancing towards the live-action trumpeter. His hat rises to the surface at his sight. Two male dancing artists transform into animating roosters in the next shot. They circle the singer in an action that is both literal and symbolic.

Donald’s sex obsession continues throughout Three Caballeros. They sing the title tune once the Mexican rooster Panchito Pistoles (third caballero) is introduced. One lyric sets Donald’s heart aflame: “When some Latin baby / Says yes, no, or maybe / Each man is for himself.” At the sight of a silhouetted woman, Donald’s eyes widen and turn neon blue. It’s as close as Disney comes to approaching Tex Avery’s infamous animated wolf, whose eyes bulge out at the sight of beautiful women.

Then Panchito takes José and Donald on a trip through his homeland, via a magical flying serape. Panchito takes Donald to Acapulco’s beaches, where he meets lots of young, attractive women wearing bathing suits. Or, as Panchito dubs them upon handing Donald a telescope, they are “the Hot stuff.” When Donald realizes how many attractive women are on the beach, he not only shouts, “Whoa, the hot stuff!” — the telescope also grows considerably and bounces around a bit. Again… ahem.

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Upon landing on the beach, Donald starts flirting with “my sweet little bathing beauties,” playing a blindfold game with a number of women. Panchito dubs him “a wolf in duck’s clothing.” After Donald is dragged away from the beach, clawing and screaming, Panchito and José lure him in a new direction by asking, “You like pretty girls, huh?” This leads to a wild 10-minute finale in which singer Dora Luz performs “You Belong to My Heart.” During the climax, Donald spirals into a “surreal reverie,” beginning with a series of kisses that sends him shooting into the sky like a rocket. Then he lands on a string of flower petals that are blooming. The sequence concludes with Donald playing the bull in a mock bullfight with his friends, where he attacks them for having gotten in his way with the various “pretty girls.” Finally, he explodes into fireworks. Once more… ahem.

Both Saludos AmigosAnd Three CaballerosAre fascinating cultural artifacts Three CaballerosIts sibling film is far superior in quality. The 1940s American audience was more open to other cultures. Though Disney has acknowledged certain aspects of its 1940s propaganda projects — for example, the Mexico pavilion at Epcot has a Three Caballeros-themed boat ride — the company may not be as full-throated in commemorating the 80-year anniversary of things like Saludos AmigosOr Der Fuehrer’s FaceThis calendar year.

Saludos AmigosAnd Three CaballerosYou have the benefit of including a well-known, familiar character that, while being sexually oriented, remains relatively innocent. Arguably, Donald’s place as an iconically familiar part of Disney history is why these films get away with focusing on a duck looking to get his groove quack — er, Retour. Perhaps sexualizing South American countries was a way of exploiting Americans and getting them to embrace their culture. These films, however, humanize Donald in an unexpected way.