On the very first episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, which aired on September 24, 1961, Walt introduced a guest by saying, “He’s a renowned scientist, lecturer, psychologist, and world traveler. My old friend,” (he then reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper to remember the name) “Professor Ludwig Von Drake!”
And with that, audiences were introduced to the first Disney animated character created specifically for television, who celebrates his 65th anniversary this month.
The anthropomorphic duck, Ludwig Von Drake, was a professor (and an absent-minded one at that, with a Disney lineage, as he was Donald Duck’s Uncle) who was a self-proclaimed authority on almost every subject. He was dressed in an ill-fitting jacket and shirt, with glasses precariously perched on his beak, and sporting a shock of hair on the back of his head. Seven of Walt’s famed Nine Old Men animated Ludwig in his debut. They were – Ollie Johnston, Eric Larson, Ward Kimball, Les Clark, Frank Thomas, John Lounsbery, and Milt Kahl
Walt had moved his weekly show from ABC to NBC, specifically for color television. NBC was the first television network to broadcast its programs in color (the network’s parent company, RCA, was, of course, looking to sell color television sets).
“Walt was particularly eager to strike the deal to move his weekly series to the NBC network and color,” said Disney historian Jim Fanning, author of the book, Drawing 100 Years of Disney Wonder. “Creating a new and exclusive character that would generate publicity and excitement was a sure way to sweeten the deal.” Jim also added, “Ludwig combined the roles of narrator and a central funny figure, especially as he was designed to be an expert – no matter how eccentric and absent-minded—on every subject. Therefore, he could give background on any topic without necessarily having another character to interact with. Although he was given Herman, a bottle-beetle-type character to bounce off, and Walt Disney himself sometimes acted as a straight man.”
On the debut episode of Wonderful World of Color, after he was introduced, the good professor gives a humorous “lecture” on how color and color television work.
His quirky persona is displayed as soon as he is introduced, as he thinks that the stage’s spotlight is a motorcycle coming at him. “This whole program is being seen in color,” the Professor goes on to say, “and that’s a lie! You know that’s a lie, because only the people with color TV sets is seeing it in color.”
Ludwig performs two songs: “The Green with Envy Blues,” and “The Spectrum Song,” all about the colors of the spectrum. The Sherman Brothers wrote both songs specifically for the show. At the end of the performance, Ludwig even interacts with an animated version of the network’s logo, the NBC Peacock.
Ludwig also “takes phone calls from viewers at home,” from a table full of phones that ring off the hook, followed by a demonstration of how color television works. This then segues into the theme song of Wonderful World of Color, (“The world is a carousel of color”), also by The Sherman Brothers, and a montage of live-action scenes that highlight different colors.
Afterward, Walt returns to introduce the episode’s second half, the 1959 theatrical featurette Donald in Mathmagic Land.
The Austrian-accented voice of Ludwig Von Drake was provided by the ubiquitous, legendary voice actor Paul Frees, who did extensive work for Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, DePatie-Freleng, and Rankin/Bass. He is best remembered for voicing Boris Badenov on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and for his other work with Disney, including voicing The Ghost Host in The Haunted Mansion attraction.
“When the new color version of the show was created, Walt said he had been trying to come up with a character that would use Paul Frees’ many talents for some time, and the time was now right,” said Jim. “This fed into the whole idea of creating a new character for the show. A brilliant ad-libber, Frees was given free rein to riff on the prepared dialogue during recording.”
Ludwig Von Drake appeared in seventeen episodes of Wonderful World of Color and on numerous pieces of merchandise at the time, including comic books, records, and dolls, to name a few. He also appeared in the 1962 theatrical featurette, A Symposium in Song.
The character would also later guest star in some of Disney’s animated TV shows, such as the original Duck Tales, House of Mouse, Quack Pack and the 2017 re-boot of Duck Tales – as well as in the new Paul Rudish Mickey Mouse Cartoon shorts (2013-2019).
As both Ludwig Von Drake and Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color celebrate their 65th anniversary this month, the character continues to serve as a symbol of Walt’s early decades expanding into television, and Ludwig’s unconventional style has endeared him to audiences for over six decades. After all, who else would dare tell viewers at home of the NBC peacock: “Confidentially, he dyes his feathers.”
