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DISNEY STUDIOS Donald Duck and Nephews comic strip gag idea. Proposal drawing for comic strip featuring Hewy, Dewey and Louie, 1939. 10 x 12 inches.
This is an extremely scarce original Disney Donald Duck daily comic gag sketch on 5 hole Disney animation paper by studio artist Harold Goddard. The scenario features a roller skating Donald Duck, who spots his mischievous nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie stretch a rope across his path. Assuming they are trying to trip him, he pulls out a knife and cuts the rope which turns out to have been keeping an angry dog at bay.
It was not uncommon in the late 1930s to early 1940s for the Disney Studios Comic Strip Department to seek out gag ideas from artists all over the studio, and file them away for future use in comic strips by Floyd Gottfredson and other comic art talents.
Harold Goddard had a brief stint at the studio, beginning in April of 1939, and extending some time through later in 1940. It appears that at this point he was working in the studio's Traffic department, which handled the delivery of mail, memos, and various other items through the studio. This gag idea shows he had a good sense of visual storytelling, and submissions like this may well have led to his promotion into the story department. It is known that in 1940 he contributed gag ideas for the unfinished short Donald's Nightmare.
This piece bears Goddard's name at the top and the date May 8th, as well as a studio stamp of May 11th, 1939 along the side (presumably when it was received by the Comic Strip Department).
Examples of original Disney comic strip gag ideas from this time are a true rarity, and this piece is a wonderful artifact of the creative process behind the classic Donald Duck strips.
