Modern Inventions is a Donald Duck short released 29 May 1937 and directed by Jack King.
Summary[]
Donald Duck visits "The Museum of Modern Marvels", which showcases various futuristic electronic appliances and inventions. In the museum, Donald encounters and struggles with many strange and whimsical machines, all of which seem to be against him. A running gag throughout the picture has the Robot Butler appearing to take away Donald's hat, with the words "Your Hat, Sir." After encountering a robotic hitch-hiker, a wrapping machine and a fully-automated baby carriage, the short ends when Donald attempts to scam a robotic barber chair and winds up getting a haircut on his behind and a shoe-shined bill and the robot takes Donald's hat away and he throws a temper tantrum.
The Machines[]
Donald struggles with various inventions and robots throughout the cartoon, including
The Hats[]
Throughout the cartoon, Donald magically pulls hats out of thin air to replace those taken by the Robot Butler (often followed by "So!"). These include:
- Top hat
- Napoleonic officer hat
- Civil War kepi (however, the Robot Butler picks up on this one almost immediately after Donald puts it on and starts to give chase)
- Baby bonnet (he puts this one on whilst testing the Robot Nurse Maid)
- Bowler hat
Trivia[]
The scene where Donald's tail feather cut by the mechanical barber chair is mentioned in House of Mouse, with Goofy and Minnie talking about it and Mickey mentioning the actual episode.