Not that Witch Hazel, THIS Witch Hazel

October 31, 2015 7:41 AM

Cartoon Research takes an in-depth look at the 1952 Donald Duck short, Trick or Treat, directed by Jack Hannah and starring June Foray (previously) as yet another Witch Hazel.

(Bonus: at 4:11 starts an ur-paint gag that may have influenced the one plaguing MetaFilter's memory. Happy Halloween!)

posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide (2 comments total)

That's fascinating. It's also interesting that a genius like Carl Barks was refused payment and forced to do a bunch of re-do's! And that the motion picture team just didn't follow the comic books (which are much better than Disney's shorts in many ways).
posted by Nevin at 8:09 AM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]

This short is great! I just watched it for Halloween, actually (it's included as a bonus on the DVD of The Black Cauldron, for some reason). I remembered it from being in Disney's Halloween Hall of Fame, a clip show of shorts like Trick or Treat, Skeleton Dance, the Night on Bald Mountain sequence from Fantasia, and parts of Legend of Sleepy Hollow, that were framed with Jonathan Winters goofing around as a night watchman in the Disney props department on Halloween night.

It's interesting (though not surprising) that the Carl Barks comic elaborates on Donald and Witch Hazel's motives. I've been meaning to pick up the new Fantagraphics collection that includes it; their Carl Barks and Don Rosa Duck hardcovers have been spectacular.
posted by branduno at 11:54 AM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]