Sunday 22 November 2009

DAISY'S FIRST INCARNATION AS DONNA IN MICKEY MOUSE WEEKLY


Donald's longtime girlfriend had actually debutted as a Mexican lady named Donna in the cartoon Don Donald (1937). It appears that she might have been initially intended as a one-time character as she was not seen in any further cartoons for more than three years until she appeared in Mr Duck Steps Out (1940) as the Daisy we all know. Following the release of that cartoon, Daisy would accompay Donald in US newspaper comics strips even though Donna had not made it into comics in the US. However, Donna had frequently appeared in Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. Her first print appearance in MMW -the scan above- was in the editorial page of no. 47, dated Dec. 26th, 1936, promoting the upcoming Don Donald cartoon. Scan of the corresponding text is below:


In the next issue, Donna's portrait was seen on the wall of Donald's home in a gag-strip, titled 'A "Good" Start For The New Year!' and by an unknown British artist, in the color central pages, marking her debut in the comics format:



In the following weeks, she also appeared in the covers of no. 49, 52 and 54:



In no. 58, she was the subject of this depiction of a song:

The answer would be revealed in the next issue as 'Why did I kiss that girl?', apparently a popular song dating from 1920s. That issue included the below puzzle featuring Donald and Donna:


No. 66 of MMW announced an upcoming new comics serial headlining Donald and Donna, which would be the first-ever adventure comics of Donald:

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