The New Spirit
1942 | 7m | English
Popularity: 0.5 (history)
| Director: | Wilfred Jackson, Ben Sharpsteen |
|---|---|
| Writer: | Joe Grant, Dick Huemer |
| Staring: |
| Animated documentary promoting timely filing and payment of Federal income taxes, demonstrated by Donald Duck's difficulties with his tax return. | |
| Release Date: | Jan 22, 1942 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Wilfred Jackson, Ben Sharpsteen |
| Writer: | Joe Grant, Dick Huemer |
| Genres: | Animation |
| Keywords | propaganda, taxes, wartime, educational, short film, psa |
| Production Companies | Walt Disney Productions, U.S. Department of Treasury |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $0
Budget: $0 |
| Updates |
Updated: Jan 30, 2026 Entered: Apr 28, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Clarence Nash | Donald Duck (voice) (uncredited) |
| Fred Shields | Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited) |
| Cliff Edwards | (voice) (uncredited) |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Edwin Aardal | Animation |
| Andy Engman | Animation |
| Kendall O'Connor | Layout |
| Oliver Wallace | Original Music Composer |
| Dan MacManus | Animation |
| Joshua Meador | Animation |
| Louis Debney | Assistant Director |
| Wilfred Jackson | Director |
| Ben Sharpsteen | Director |
| Joe Grant | Story |
| Dick Huemer | Story |
| Don Patterson | Animation |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Walt Disney | Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 2024 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| 2024 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| 2024 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| 2024 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 2024 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2024 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2024 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| 2024 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Trending Position
I know that money isn’t what it was, but even in 1942 I’d have thought poor old “Donald” would be on more than $2,501 in an whole year! What does that matter? Well the slightly offbeat message for this wartime cartoon is “taxes against the axis”. Yep, it’s a rallying call for citizens of the USA to ... pay their income tax! With some rousing Yankee Doodle style cheerleading to start and some more traditional animations of the militarisation those dollars pay for at the end, this is a less frantic outing for the duck (who still sounds like Katharine Hepburn) and he does his bit to keep the payrolls of industry moving. The radio is quite a menacing looking gadget, like something from “Metropolis” (1927), but otherwise it’s all fairly standard stuff.