What was the first cartoon to feature Donald Duck?

The first cartoon to feature Donald Duck was The Wise Little Hen.

This 1934 Walt Disney Silly Symphonies short introduced Donald as a supporting character alongside Peter Pig. In the story, both characters pretend to have stomach aches so they can avoid helping the Wise Little Hen plant and harvest corn. Donald’s distinctive voice was performed by Clarence Nash.

The short premiered in 1934, with an early public showing at Los Angeles’s Carthay Circle Theatre before its broader theatrical release. Donald’s next appearance, The Orphan’s Benefit, helped establish him as a more recognizable comic foil for Mickey Mouse.

Don Donald is sometimes mistaken for the debut because it was the first short in Donald’s own series, but it was released later, in 1937. Modern Inventions was also a later Donald cartoon.