Modern Inventions

{{Infobox film

| name = Modern Inventions

| image = Modern Inventions.png

| caption = "Your hat, sir."

| starring = Clarence Nash
Billy Bletcher
Adriana Caselotti
Don Brodie{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Keith |title=Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, Vol. 2 |date=3 October 2022 |publisher=BearManor Media |language=en}}

| music = Oliver Wallace

| animator = Jack Hannah
Paul Allen
Johnny Cannon[http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=258 Modern Inventions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317142112/http://www.disneyshorts.org/shorts.aspx?shortID=258 |date=March 17, 2011}} at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts

| layout_artist =

| studio = Walt Disney Productions

| distributor = United Artists

| released = {{Film date|1937|05|29}}{{cite book |last1=Kaufman |first1=J.B. |last2=Gerstein |first2=David |title=Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: The Ultimate History |date=2018 |publisher=Taschen |location=Cologne |isbn=978-3-8365-5284-4}}

| color_process = Technicolor

| runtime = 8:30

| country = United States

| language = English

}}

Modern Inventions is a 1937 American comic science fiction animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. It is also the final Disney short to be released by United Artists. The cartoon follows Donald Duck as he tours the fictional Museum of Modern Marvels. Jack King directed it in his first directing role at Disney, and Oliver Wallace composed the original music. The voice cast includes Clarence Nash as Donald, Billy Bletcher as the Robot Butler, Adriana Caselotti as the Robot Baby Carriage, and Don Brodie as the Robot Barber.

Plot

Donald visits the Museum of Modern Marvels, which showcases futuristic electronic appliances and inventions. He drops a coin on a string in the admission box and yanks it out. Once inside, he meets the Robot Butler, a golden robot cyclops. The butler is programmed to greet guests and take their hats, but it has a flaw where it takes their hats whether they want to or not. It takes Donald's hat over Donald’s protest, but Donald does a magic trick to produce a top hat. He finds a robot hitchhiker that he tricks into activating by flattening his top hat and using it as a driver’s wheel and making ambulance siren sounds. When the hitchhiker finds out what he did, it pokes his eyes. The butler appears and takes his top hat, but he does a magic trick to produce a bicorne.

He finds a bundle wrapping machine. He ignores a sign that says not to touch it and pulls a lever, causing the machine to wrap him with cellophane and a red ribbon. After he frees himself, the butler appears and takes his bicorne. He does a magic trick to produce a kepi and taunts the butler, who chases him. He hides in a robotic baby carriage and swaps his kepi with a bonnet. The carriage coddles him and offers a milk bottle, which squirts milk at his face. As he tries to escape, the carriage thrashes him with a puppet toy, squirts more milk, and puts a diaper on him. When he finally gets free, the butler appears and takes his bonnet.

After he does a magic trick to produce a bowler hat, he finds a robotic barber chair that he activates by using his coin. It tosses him upside-down and trims his tail while giving his head a shoe-polish. After he is released, he puts his bowler hat on his well-polished head. However, the butler appears and takes his bowler hat. Fed up with the butler taking his hats, he throws an explosive tantrum.

Production

The story was originally conceived as Mickey's Inventions, a vehicle for Donald's co-star Mickey Mouse. As Donald's star began to rise in 1936, the short was reworked as a duck cartoon.{{cite book |last1=Kaufman |first1=J.B. |last2=Gerstein |first2=David |title=Walt Disney's Donald Duck: The Ultimate History |date=2024 |publisher=Taschen |isbn=978-3-8365-5280-6| page=106}}

Voice cast

=Uncredited=

Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
Billy Bletcher as Robot Butler
Adriana Caselotti as Robot Baby Carriage
Don Brodie as Robot Barber Chair

Releases

Source:

May 29, 1937 - original release (theatrical)
c. 1992 - Mickey's Mouse Tracks, episode 7 (TV)
c. 1992 - Donald's Quack Attack, episode 30 (TV)
December 24, 1997 - Ink & Paint Club, episode 26: "Classic Donald" (TV)[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1233927/movieconnections Movie connections for "Ink & Paint Club"] at the Internet Movie Database

Home media

The short was released on May 18, 2004, on Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Volume One: 1934-1941.{{cite web |title=The Chronological Donald Volume 1 DVD Review |url=https://www.dvdizzy.com/donald.html |website=DVD Dizzy |access-date=13 February 2021}}

It was also released on VHS in 1985 on Cartoon Classics: The Continuing Adventures of Chip 'n' Dale Featuring Donald Duck.

Legacy

The cartoon would later serve as inspiration for suicide booths, fictional contraptions appearing in the American adult animated sitcom Futurama.{{cite video|people=Groening, Matt |date=2003|title=Futurama season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Space Pilot 3000"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}

In an episode of the series House of Mouse, Minnie Mouse asks Goofy for the name of the cartoon. Goofy knows which Donald Duck cartoon she is talking about, but he does not know the name. Donald mistakenly tells them that the cartoon is called Donald's Haircut and made in 1945, only for Mickey Mouse to correct him.