Hiya, toots! Donald is 70

It WAS a big day for the world’s best-known lisping waterfowl: Donald Duck turned 70 on Wednesday. Disney marked Donald’s seven-decade career achievement with festivities at its parks around the globe. ‘‘This is a duck with one short fuse and an amazing (if unintelligible) command of language, and when things don’t go right, he goes ballistic,’’ Donald’s Disney history explains. But ‘‘Donald has a good heart and good intentions.’’ Immortalised in 128 cartoons, and on merchandise from dolls to books, Donald does not look his age.

But the snow-white duck with outsized eyes, a golden beak and a cranky disposition has been one of Disney’s most enduring creations since his first appearance on June 9, 1934 in an animated cartoon called The Wise Little Hen.

But back in his heyday, Donald’s ill-tempered comic edge won him a huge following, and more of his cartoons made it into theatres than the more famous Mickey’s. And Donald, known for simple quips such as ‘‘Hiya, toots,’’ ‘‘Aw, phooey,’’ and ‘‘nothin’ to it,’’ starred in a daily newspaper comic strip beginning February 7, 1938.

Clarence ‘‘Ducky’’ Nash was the man who made Donald’s duckspeak instantly recognisable. He mastered the art of giving Donald a voice for 50 years, and then was succeeded by Disney artist Tony Anselmo. — (PTI)