Beach Picnic is a cartoon starring Donald Duck and Pluto, released on June 9, 1939.
Synopsis[]
Donald and Pluto's swimming trip to the beach is interrupted by a swarm of hungry ants, among other things.
Characters[]
- Donald Duck (voiced by Clarence Nash)
- Pluto (voiced by Lee Millar)
Releases[]
Television[]
- Disneyland, episode #1.6: "A Story of Dogs"
- Mickey Mouse Club, November 30, 1955
- Mickey's Mouse Tracks, episode #37
- Donald's Quack Attack, episode #26
- Have a Laugh!, episode #30
- Treasures from the Disney Vault, July 2, 2015
DVD[]
- Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald
- Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete Pluto
Streaming[]
- Disney+, November 12, 2019
Have a Laugh! changes[]
The following scenes were deleted from the short release due to time constraints:
- Donald placing a pie on the picnic blanket.
- Donald struggling to ride the inflatable horse.
- Pluto listening for the whinnying made allegedly by the horse (but actually by Donald).
- Pluto's confused battle with the inflatable horse; it only shows him deflating the horse with his mouth and getting himself inflated with air that sends him flying.
- One ant scouting for food and, after spotting the picnic (which is shown), calling out to the other ants in the sound of an Indian war hoop.
- The majority of the scene of the ants on and making off with the food; it only shows the ants finishing making a sandwich.
- Donald vowing to get even with the ants.
- The scene of one ant making off with a slice of cake.
- The scene of Pluto struggling with the fly paper is reduced significantly.
- Donald's face getting trapped in fly paper as Pluto licks his face.
Trivia[]
- At the start of the short, Donald is heard singing the popular song "By The Beautiful Sea", albeit with it lyrics sung in quacks rather than actual words.
- The animation of Pluto getting stuck to the flypaper (done here by Shamus Culhane) is a reworking of Norm Ferguson's animation of the same routine in Playful Pluto.
- The short was mentioned by Donald Duck before the next film on the Blu-Ray of Mickey & Minnie: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 1
- Due to the ants in the short are based on Native Americans, the short is known as a racist cartoon, and therefore has a 12-second content disclaimer warning on the Disney+ version stating that the short includes ethnic and racial stereotypes that will offend modern sensibilities but is still shown uncut for historical reasons.
- Similarly, two other later Donald Duck cartoons "Tea for Two Hundred" and "Uncle Donald Ants" (which coincidentally also featured Donald Duck feuding with ants stealing his food) also feature racially-stereotypical depictions in the ant characters, albeit this time as indigenous African "cannibals" as well as "Rochester"-type slowpokes ants as opposed to Native American ants.
- Pluto's ears after shaking his head resemble a African hairstyle from that time.
- This is the first Donald Duck cartoon to co-star Pluto.
Gallery[]
Pluto inflates
Pluto about to leap on Donald
Pluto happy that he manages to shake off the flypaper...
Pluto tries to shake Donald off
Donald, covered in pie cream, yells at the ants
Donald trapped in flypaper
