''Early to Bed'' is a

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

that was released on July 11, 1941, by

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

. The film was colored by

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

, produced by

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

, and directed by Jack King. The cartoon tells the story of Donald, who is trying to sleep, despite the annoyingly loud ticking of the clock keeping him awake. This short film not only portrays Donald as a human but also emphasises on a well known proverb, "Early to bed"."Early to Bed, Early to Rise..." - MamaLisa
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Plot

The film opens with

yawning at the sunset, ready to go to bed, but when he lays down, he hits his head on the bed. He angrily moves down the bed, fluffs his pillow, and lays back down. As soon as his head touches the pillow, it explodes with a burst of feathers. The screen cuts to Donald lying on the bed again with a new pillow. This time, whenever he places his head on the pillow, the clock on his bedside table begins to loudly tick-tock. He puts the clock away into a drawer, but then, the entire drawer begins to vibrate due to the loud sound of the clock. Donald, visibly becoming angry, retrieves the clock from the drawer and throws it against the wall. It lands in a vase, and the entire vase begins to shake with the loud tick-tock of the clock. Finally, Donald throws the clock out the window, where it gets caught in some laundry and bouncing back up, landing into Donald's yawning mouth and causing him to accidentally swallow it. After various attempts to break the clock that is still ticking inside him, Donald manages to spit out the broken clock into small pieces. Donald goes back to bed, relieved. This time, however, whenever he turns out the lights, his folding bed snaps shut with him inside. Donald struggles to get free, only to be launched into the ceiling by the bed springs. The screen cuts to Donald laying in bed again, this time with the bed affixed to the floor with a variety of boards and ropes. He settles back down to sleep. The broken clock, however, reassembles itself just enough to ring its alarm. Donald sits up fast, and his bed flies apart, launching Donald into the air. He lands back on his bed, now little more than a board with tacks in it, a sheet wrapped around his head like a

turban A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند‌, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Commun ...

. A sock lands in front of him on a spring, swaying back and forth so that he looks like an angry

snake charmer Snake charming is the practice of appearing to hypnotize a snake (often a cobra) by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerous ...

and the short ends with a frustrated Donald Duck.

Voice cast

Clarence Nash Clarence Charles "Ducky" Nash (December 7, 1904 – February 20, 1985) was an American voice actor and impressionist. He is best remembered as the original voice of the Disney cartoon character Donald Duck. He was born in the rural community of W ...

Television

* ''Good Morning, Mickey'', episode #55 * ''Mickey's Mouse Tracks'', episode #29 * ''Donald's Quack Attack'', episode #17

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941''. Additional releases include: * ''Have a Laugh!: Volume 2'' *

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

(streaming)

References

External links

* {{Jack King Donald Duck short films 1940s Disney animated short films 1941 films Films directed by Jack King Films produced by Walt Disney Films with screenplays by Carl Barks Films scored by Oliver Wallace 1941 animated short films