Drip Dippy Donald
Studio: Disney Release Date : March 5, 1948 Series: Donald Duck

Cumulative rating: No Ratings Posted

Synopsis

Poor, tired Donald is kept awake by a dripping faucet.

Characters

Donald Duck
(Voice: Clarence "Ducky" Nash)

Credits

Director

James Patton "Jack" King

Animator

Don Towsley
Edwin "Ed" Aardal
Paul Allen
Sanford "Sandy" Strother

Story

Nick George

Music

Oliver Wallace

Backgrounds

Howard Dunn

Layout

Don Griffith

Producer

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney


Clips Used In:

Buyer Be Wise

Included in:

A Day in the Life of Donald Duck

Television

Mickey Mouse Tracks (Season 1, Episode 9)

VHS

United States

Donald

Germany

Donald Macht nie Pause
Donald Duck's Ferienabenteuer

France

Disney Parade 6

Italy

Paperino
Paperino

United Kingdom

The Cartoon Collection

CED Disc

United States

Donald

Laserdisc (CAV)

Japan

Donald

Laserdisc (CLV)

United States

Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions II : Life With Mickey
Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions II : From Pluto with Love

Japan

Disney Cartoon Festival 6
I Love Donald

DVD

United States

The Chronological Donald: Volume 3: 1947-1950

Germany

Disney Treasures : Wave 7 : The Chronological Donald Volume 3

Technical Specifications

Running Time: 6:45
MPAA No.: 11655
Animation Type: Standard (Hand-drawn-Cel) Animation
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Cinematographic Format: Spherical
Color Type: Technicolor
Negative Type: 35mm
Original Country: United States
Original Language: English
Print Type: 35mm
Sound Type: Mono: RCA Sound Recording

Reviews and Comments

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From Ryan :

I enjoy the opening scene of this short where Donald is riding home in a bus and the bus looks as though it is snoring. After Donald gets off the bus when it stops by his house, he gets ready for bed. Unfortunately, a leaky faucet is keeping him awake. While I find myself laughing at the different strategies Donald uses such as lying across a chair with his tongue under the faucet so that it can catch the water drops, I also find myself feeling sorry for Donald. This short has a happy ending, however, when the water company calls Donald and tells him that they're shutting off his water supply until his water bills are paid. Donald couldn't be any more overjoyed. The animation used in this short is wonderful as Disney artists put a lot of work into their background art in the late 40's.

From Baruch Weiss :

This short is ok, but it isn't one of my favorites. I've always called these kinds of cartoons "shut eye" cartoons where the character (in this case Donald Duck) goes to sleep, but can't due to loud noises, among other problems. These get tiring for me and besides, I've seen that kind of plot in Early to Bed and Wide Open Spaces not to mention some Warner Brother cartoons such as "Good Night Elmer" and "Tick Tock Tuckered".

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project :

The gag of having Donald unable to fall asleep because of some external stimuli is not a new one. It’s been done a few times, in a myriad of settings. Honestly, though, it seems to work every time. In the case of Drip Dippy Donald it works beautifully, as the short encapsulates the experience perfectly with just the right amount of hyperbole mixed with realism.

This really is the exact kind of thing that Donald excels at, and the animators put him through his paces in this short. He is in bed when a light shines through the window to keep him up, but that problem is really just a set up for the real one. The dripping faucet in Donald’s kitchen is the real irritant and the source of the title.

The fun of this is seeing the various ways that the dripping faucet causes Donald to go nuts. It really is like Chinese water torture as the drips keep making noise, and the noise keeps getting magnified. From dripping into a bowl of water to dripping onto a spoon that rattles the other dishes, it’s a scenario that I imagine a large number of viewers could relate to. I know it’s happened to me before.

Where this short turned from run of the mill Donald fun to brilliance for me was when we started getting the hyperbole. The drips of the faucet go from a normal perspective to one that looks like the water is falling from miles above. The rattling dishes seem to shake the entire house. The drips turn from harmless water into huge bombs. It’s an amazing sequence that shows how these things can grow in your mind, but does so without going off the deep end of surrealism.

Even more fun comes at the end, as Donald sets up an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine to catch the water. He gives in at the end, but is literally saved by the bell in a nice twist that I will not ruin. Donald is frayed, anxious and a little out of his mind. That’s when he works the best, and it’s why this short works so well.