Don's Fountain of Youth

1953 Donald Duck cartoon

May 30, 1953 (1953-05-30)

Running time

6:20CountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Don's Fountain of Youth is a 1953 American animated short film by Walt Disney Productions featuring Donald Duck.^[1]

Plot

Donald and his nephews are in Donald's car on vacation in Florida, and pass by an "old Spanish fort". The nephews, however, are more interested in their comic book, refusing to look up from it.

Donald's car begins to overheat, which sends him scrambling to find a source of water for his radiator. He comes across a small pond with a sign reading "This spring was mistaken for the Fountain Of Youth". Donald decides to use this to trick the boys, with the intent of making them believe Donald is experiencing dramatic reverse aging.

Donald breaks off the top half of the sign, leaving only the bottom portion reading "The Fountain of Youth", and yells for help to get the boys' attention. The boys find Donald wearing a baby bonnet and exhibiting baby-like behavior, including tearing pages from their comic book. "Baby" Donald's outlandish behavior causes the boys to decide that some discipline is called for, and the boys go off to find a tree branch to use as a switch. However, Donald uses this time to steal an egg from a nearby sleeping crocodile, place it where he had just been standing, and put his baby bonnet on it to fool the boys into thinking he has further regressed to an egg.

Donald watches from a nearby hiding spot alongside the very crocodile he stole the egg from (who had just woken up from Donald sitting on him). As the boys lament losing their Uncle to the reverse aging process, Donald attempts to share a laugh with the crocodile, who soon discovers that his egg is missing and Donald is the culprit. Enraged, the crocodile whacks Donald on the head with his tail and a dazed Donald sits on his egg. He then chases the triplets for the egg and they throw it to coincidentally where Donald is.

As Donald gets out of his daze from having the egg bounce off him, the two crocodile eggs hatch, imprinting the baby crocodiles into thinking Donald is in fact their dad. After further time spent evading the crocodile, Donald suffers a concussion that puts him into a stupor, after which the boys see him stumbling.

Reuniting with the triplets, the baby crocodiles come up to Donald excitedly, so Donald and the kids run to the car and make a hasty exit. The babies begin to cry from Donald getting away. The crocodile is reunited with his babies, but due to their earlier imprinting onto Donald, they are terrified at the sight of their biological daddy. The daddy crocodile quacks, which causes his babies to accept him after all.

Voice cast

Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie

Releases

1953 - theatrical release
1954 - Disneyland, episode #1.4: "The Donald Duck Story" (TV)
1961 - Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, episode #8.11: "Kids Is Kids" (TV)
1972 - The Mouse Factory, episode #2.1: "Alligators" (TV)
1978 - Donald Duck's Cartoon Mania (theatrical)
c. 1983 - Good Morning, Mickey!, episode #68 (TV)
1990 - The Magical World of Disney: "Donald, the Star-Studded Duck" (TV)
c. 1992 - Mickey's Mouse Tracks, episode #63 (TV)
c. 1992 - Donald's Quack Attack, episode #51 (TV)
1998 - The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.34: Donald's Nephews (TV)

Home media

The short was released on November 11, 2008 on Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume Four: 1951-1961.^[2]

Additional releases include:

2000 - bonus on Gold Collection DVD release of The Three Caballeros (DVD).^[3]
2006 - Walt Disney's Funny Factory, Vol. 4: Huey Dewey & Louie Vol. 4^[4]

References

^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 74–76. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
^ "The Chronological Donald Volume 4 DVD Review". DVD Dizzy. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
^ "The Three Caballeros DVD Review". Retrieved 2012-08-24.
^ "Disney Shorts - Walt Disney's Funny Factory with Huey, Dewey and Louie". Patrick Malone. Retrieved 2012-08-24.^{[permanent dead link]}

External links

Don's Fountain of Youth at IMDb
Don's Fountain of Youth at Disney A to Z

Donald Duck in animation

Filmography

Silly Symphony
short films

The Wise Little Hen (1934)
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938; cameo)

Mickey Mouse
short films

Orphan's Benefit (1934)
The Dognapper (1934)
The Band Concert (1935)
Mickey's Service Station (1935)
Mickey's Fire Brigade (1935)
On Ice (1935)
Mickey's Polo Team (1936)
Orphans' Picnic (1936)
Mickey's Grand Opera (1936)
Moving Day (1936)
Alpine Climbers (1936)
Mickey's Circus (1936)
Donald and Pluto (1936)
Magician Mickey (1937)
Moose Hunters (1937)
Mickey's Amateurs (1937)
Hawaiian Holiday (1937)
Clock Cleaners (1937)
Lonesome Ghosts (1937)
Boat Builders (1938)
Mickey's Trailer (1938)
The Whalers (1938)
Tugboat Mickey (1940)
The Nifty Nineties (1941; cameo)
Orphan's Benefit (1941; remake)
Mickey's Birthday Party (1942)
Symphony Hour (1942)
Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952; cameo)
Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
The Prince and the Pauper (1990)

Donald Duck and
Donald & Goofy
short films

1930s	Don Donald (1937) Modern Inventions (1937) Donald's Ostrich (1937) Self Control (1938) Donald's Better Self (1938) Donald's Nephews (1938) Polar Trappers (1938) Good Scouts (1938) The Fox Hunt (1938) Donald's Golf Game (1938) Donald's Lucky Day (1939) The Hockey Champ (1939) Donald's Cousin Gus (1939) Beach Picnic (1939) Sea Scouts (1939) Donald's Penguin (1939) The Autograph Hound (1939) Officer Duck (1939)
1940s	The Riveter (1940) Donald's Dog Laundry (1940) Billposters (1940) Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940) Put-Put Troubles (1940) Donald's Vacation (1940) Window Cleaners (1940) Fire Chief (1940) Timber (1941) Golden Eggs (1941) A Good Time for a Dime (1941) Early to Bed (1941) Truant Officer Donald (1941) Old MacDonald Duck (1941) Donald's Camera (1941) Chef Donald (1941) The Village Smithy (1942) The New Spirit (1942) Donald's Snow Fight (1942) Donald Gets Drafted (1942) Donald's Garden (1942) Donald's Gold Mine (1942) The Vanishing Private (1942) Sky Trooper (1942) Bellboy Donald (1942) Der Fuehrer's Face (1943) The Spirit of '43 (1943) Donald's Tire Trouble (1943) The Flying Jalopy (1943) Fall Out Fall In (1943) The Old Army Game (1943) Home Defense (1943) Trombone Trouble (1944) Donald Duck and the Gorilla (1944) Contrary Condor (1944) Commando Duck (1944) The Plastics Inventor (1944) Donald's Off Day (1944) The Clock Watcher (1945) The Eyes Have It (1945) Donald's Crime (1945) Duck Pimples (1945) No Sail (1945) Cured Duck (1945) Old Sequoia (1945) Donald's Double Trouble (1946) Wet Paint (1946) Dumb Bell of the Yukon (1946) Lighthouse Keeping (1946) Frank Duck Brings 'Em Back Alive (1946) Straight Shooters (1947) Sleepy Time Donald (1947) Clown of the Jungle (1947) Donald's Dilemma (1947) Crazy with the Heat (1947) Bootle Beetle (1947) Wide Open Spaces (1947) Chip an' Dale (1947) Drip Dippy Donald (1948) Daddy Duck (1948) Donald's Dream Voice (1948) The Trial of Donald Duck (1948) Inferior Decorator (1948) Soup's On (1948) Three for Breakfast (1948) Tea for Two Hundred (1948) Donald's Happy Birthday (1949) Sea Salts (1949) Winter Storage (1949) Honey Harvester (1949) All in a Nutshell (1949) The Greener Yard (1949) Slide, Donald, Slide (1949) Toy Tinkers (1949)
1950s	Lion Around (1950) Crazy Over Daisy (1950) Trailer Horn (1950) Hook, Lion and Sinker (1950) Bee at the Beach (1950) Out on a Limb (1950) Dude Duck (1951) Corn Chips (1951) Test Pilot Donald (1951) Lucky Number (1951) Out of Scale (1951) Bee on Guard (1951) Donald Applecore (1952) Let's Stick Together (1952) Uncle Donald's Ants (1952) Trick or Treat (1952) Don's Fountain of Youth (1953) The New Neighbor (1953) Rugged Bear (1953) Working for Peanuts (1953) Canvas Back Duck (1953) Spare the Rod (1954) Donald's Diary (1954) Grin and Bear It (1954) The Flying Squirrel (1954) Dragon Around (1954) Grand Canyonscope (1954) No Hunting (1955) Bearly Asleep (1955) Beezy Bear (1955) Up a Tree (1955) Chips Ahoy (1956)
1960s	The Litterbug (1961)

Other short films

The Volunteer Worker (1940)
All Together (1942; cameo)
Donald's Decision (1942)
How to Have an Accident in the Home (1956)
How to Have an Accident at Work (1959)
Donald in Mathmagic Land (1959)
Donald and the Wheel (1961)
Steel & America (1965)
Donald's Fire Survival Plan (1966)
Family Planning (1967)
Plusaversary (2021; cameo)
Once Upon a Studio (2023)

Feature films

Theatrical	The Reluctant Dragon (1941) Saludos Amigos (1942) The Three Caballeros (1944) Fun and Fancy Free (1947) Melody Time (1948) Fantasia 2000 (1999)
Direct-to-video	Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999) Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001) Mickey's House of Villains (2002) Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) Once Upon a Halloween (2005; archive footage)