Thursday, November 24, 2005

Hey, Which Hazel?

Walt Disney's Donald Duck short 'Trick Or Treat' came out at the end of 1952, predating the WB shorts by a couple of years. The Hallowe'en story featured a kindly (to everyone but Donald, that is) Witch Hazel who helps Donald's nephews Huey, Duey and Louie teach the tight old duck how to be generous with the candy. The comic samples are from Walt Disney's Donald Duck #26, which debuted at the same time as the cartoon (Fall of '52)... click to enlarge. Hazel's voice characterization was done by the legendary June Foray, and the distinctive witches cackle was a big hit with filmgoers. Chuck Jones loved the voice of Hazel, too, and asked June Foray to come over and do it just the same for his own Witch Hazel at rival animation studio, Warner Bros. You see, Chuck knew that he could get away with it because Disney didn't own the rights to a Witch called Hazel... there was already one of those in the comic books...