Sunday, June 21, 2009

Donald Duck In Mathmagic Land



Donald in Mathmagic Land is a Donald Duck featurette which was released on June 26, 1959. It was directed by Hamilton Luske and is 27 minutes in length. Many people collaborated on this project, including Disney artists John Hench and Art Riley, voice talent Paul Frees, and scientific expert Heinz Haber, who had worked on the Disney space shows. This featurette was originally released on a bill with Darby O'Gill and the Little People. In 1959, it was nominated for an Academy Award (Best Documentary - Short Subjects). In 1961, two years after its release, it had the honor of being introduced by Ludwig Von Drake and shown on the first program of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. The film was made available to schools and became one of the most popular educational films ever made by Disney. As Walt Disney explained, "The cartoon is a good medium to stimulate interest. We have recently explained mathematics in a film and in that way excited public interest in this very important subject."

I loved this growing up! I found a copy the other day at a thrift store and ripped it to share. You can download it here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0HRWIGQS

Enjoy!

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