The Autograph Hound

Dublin Core

Title

The Autograph Hound

Description

Note: This film contains racist imagery.

Donald Duck tries to get some Hollywood celebrities' signatures for his autograph book – if only the security guard at Hollywood Studios would stop trying to chase him off the lot.

Among the caricatured people included are the Ritz Brothers, who are some of the few featured stars Donald interacts with for a prolonged period rather than making a quick cameo appearance at the end. While the short includes Harry's use of effeminate gestures, the men are not shown in conventional drag. Instead, Disney references this aspect of their act with a twist gag by initially making the audience think they are seeing three beautiful women in silhouette, only to reveal that it's actually the Ritz Brothers.

Interestingly, a year earlier in Kentucky Moonshine (Butler, 1938), during one of the Ritz Brothers' musical numbers, they recreate a scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Hand et al., 1937), with Harry Ritz—likely one of the earliest people on film to do drag of a Disney character—portraying the Evil Queen.

Source

Director: Jack King
Year: 1939
Country: United States
Gender and Sexuality: Gender creative, queer coded 
Animation Style: Traditional
Genre: Comedy
Type: Implicit, short

Can currently be watched on Dailymotion, Facebook or YouTube: https://dai.ly/xynfl2

Files

TheAutographHound.jpg

Citation

“The Autograph Hound,” Queer Animation, accessed October 12, 2024, https://queeranimation.omeka.net/items/show/153.