The Spirit of '43 (1943)
Donald Duck gets his paycheck and is pulled between two versions of his conscience — a thrifty saver urging him to pay his income tax and a zoot-suited spendthrift tempting him to blow it all — before siding with the tax man to fund the war effort.
A sequel to The New Spirit, The Spirit of ‘43 was made at the U.S. Treasury’s request to encourage income-tax compliance as a wartime duty, and its thrifty-saver character is generally recognized as an early prototype of Scrooge McDuck, who wouldn’t debut in his own right for another four years.
Background
The Spirit of ‘43 is a 1943 Disney short and a sequel to The New Spirit (1942). It was made at the request of the U.S. Treasury Department to encourage prompt payment of income tax as a wartime duty. Jack King directed, and Clarence Nash, who had voiced Donald Duck since 1934, performs the title character’s voice. Donald is shown receiving his paycheck and being pulled between two versions of his conscience. Its thrifty-saver character is generally recognized as an early prototype of Scrooge McDuck, who appeared in his own right in Disney’s 1947 Christmas Carol. The short runs about six minutes and is a clear example of the studio’s wartime propaganda work.
What to watch for
Pay attention to the two inner voices that argue with Donald: a cautious saver who urges him to pay his taxes, and a zoot-suited spendthrift who tempts him to spend everything. The short sets out its message in a simple back-and-forth and resolves it in favor of the tax, which it presents as a contribution to the war effort. The zoot-suited figure is drawn as a caricature of a style linked with particular wartime youth culture, and that portrayal reflects period attitudes. Notice the brisk pacing, which packs the argument and its resolution into a few minutes, as was typical of wartime shorts meant for broad audiences.
