National Donald Duck Day on June 9th each year commemorates the birthday of a funny animated cartoon character that is well known all around the world – in Poland too! Even though Donald Duck made his first screen debut on June 9, 1934, in “The Wise Little Hen”, it is still one of the kid’s favourite animated friends! Years later, when the classic cartoons were shown in Poland, Donald was dubbed by Mariusz Czajka and Jarosław Boberek.
Between 1920s and 1950s short animated films were then shown in cinemas and millions of viewers watched them! Cartoon characters were as popular as Hollywood stars. They had an impact on the cultural and social life, as well as the upbringing of children. According to Sitkiewicz, Donald Duck was the most popular and funny animated cartoon character in Poland and only Uszatek the Teddybear (Polish: Miś Uszatek) could compete with him.
In Poland, comic-books with Donald Duck were flying off the shelves too!