THECELEBRITYCARTOON

From 1937 to 1942 Carl Barks was an employee at The Walt Disney Studios, which was establishing itself as the world's leading company in the fast growing area of theatrical cartoon shorts as well as long, animated films. Here he was engaged with several jobs such as gag writer, inbetweener, producer assistant, sketch artist, scripter, story director, and storyman (see more HERE). But Barks was never given screen credit and so was not known outside the studios for his contributions to the animated shorts. Disney had a policy of not listing the staff names apart from the overall director, a questionnable policy that was first remedied in 1944, by which time Barks had long left to begin his glorious comic book career.
Because of said policy it is often hard to pinpoint and verify exactly what contributions Barks made to the individual cartoons, but the above link gives you an educated guess of the areas he was involved with. One of the cartoons was The Autograph Hound from 1939 that starred Donald Duck as well as numerous contemporary celebrity characters in cameo roles. This is the story.

TECHNICAL

See the cartoon HERE

Publisher: Walt Disney Productions.
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Director: Jack King.
Writer: Harry Reeves.
Animators: Paul Allen, Johnny Cannon, Larry Clemmons, Seamus Culhane, Rex Cox, Nick De Tolly, John Elliotte, Ward Kimball, Ed Love.
Voice actors: Clarence 'Ducky' Nash (Donald), Sara Berner (females), Billy Bletcher (guard).
Colour: Technicolor.
Sound: RCA.
Premiere: September 01, 1939.
Running time: 8:11 minutes.

STORY

Synopsis:
Donald Duck manages to sneak into the fictional Hollywood Studios to get autographs. But a watchful security guard discovers him and the hunt is on for the rest of the cartoon. In the end, though, the guard willingly gives in when it dawns on him that he has been chasing the famous Donald Duck, whose autograph he now requests...

Comments:
The film's plot is fairly weak as nothing much happens apart from the chase scenes between studio buildings. It was written by one of Barks' treasured colleagues Harry Reeves, and directed by another favourite of his - namely Jack Hannah.
It is anybody's guess what Barks contributed to the cartoon, but he was often the main sketching artist of the storyboards, because he had the valuable ability of grabbing a loose idea during the numerous brainstorming sessions and project it to paper in no time. Barks used a notepad and two pens, a red and a blue, and he would tear off a sketch from the pad and fasten it to the storyboard at the relevant place.
Therefore it is plausible that he was the driving force behind the many caricatured Hollywood characters and their facial appearances. If so, Barks must have had a field day inventing and 'translating' familiar expressions and special characteristics that the theater audiences would easily recognize.

CHARACTERS

The bulk of the cartoon’s celebrity cameos are found in a fast paced montage near the end of the film. During half a minute there are more than 20 star caricatures that flash across the screen. All of them were celebrities during the 1930s and they are listed below in alphabetical order and using their well known stage names:

Henry Armetta (1988-1945)
Edward Arnold (1890-1956)
Mischa Auer (1905-1967)
Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954)
Charles Boyer (1899-1978)
Joe E. Brown (1891-1973)
Eddie Cantor (1892-1964)
Charlie Chan (fictional)
Irvin S. Cobb (1876-1944)
Joan Crawford (1905-1977)
Bette Davis (1908-1989)
Stepin Fetchit (1902-1985)
Clark Gable (1901-1960)
Greta Garbo (1905-1990)
Sonja Henie (1912-1969)
Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)
Hugh Herbert (1884-1952)
Lone Ranger and Silver (fictionals)
Charlie McCarthy (fictional)
Groucho Marx (1890-1977)
Harpo Marx (1988-1964)
Martha Raye (1916-1994)
Pluto (fictional)
Ritz Brothers:
Al (1901-1965)
Jimmy (1904-1985)
Harry (1907-1986)
Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)
Slim Summerville (1892-1946)
Shirley Temple (1928-2014)
Roland Young (1987-1953)

GALLERY EXAMPLES

Lionel Barrymore	Joan Crawford	Bette Davis
Greta Garbo	Sonja Henie	Martha Raye
Al, Jimmy, Harry Ritz	Mickey Rooney	Shirley Temple

You may wish to consult other media in order to compare the caricatures to the real life celebrities

TITBITS

The admiring characters in the fan formation (...) are
Henie, Hepburn, Brown, Garbo, Temple

● In the cartoon Donald Duck was wearing a blue cap for the first time. However, the corresponding film poster showed him still wearing the white cap that was part of his trademark in the previous films. Also, the definite article The in the title is missing.
● Donald imitates Sonja Henie in an earlier Barks-related cartoon The Hockey Champ (1939).
● Bette Davis is featured in her role in Jezebel (1938).
● Lionel Barrymore appears as Dr. Gillespie from the Dr. Kildare film series (1938-1947).
● Charles Boyer is dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte in reference to the film Conquest (1937).
● Greta Garbo and Clark Gable appear in a romantic scene from Susan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) (1931).
● Mickey Rooney is featured in his role in Boys Town (1938).
● Near the end of the cartoon Donald collides with a painted backdrop showing a direction sign reading The Road to Mandalay. This was in fact the working title of the first film in the popular series Road to ..., which starred Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. It finally premiered titled Road to Singapore (1940).

EXTRA

Especially in the years before the Second World War there was a fad after which some of the American cartoon companies excelled in cartoons featuring caricatured celebrities. Here are 3 cartoon examples from Disney with a few of the many participating celebrities of the era mentioned in alphabetical order:

Mickey's Polo Team (1936):
Eddie Cantor, Charles Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Laurel & Hardy, Charles Laughton, Harold Lloyd, Harpo Marx, Shirley Temple.

Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938):
Fred Astaire, Joe E. Brown, Eddie Cantor, W.C. Fields, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Laurel & Hardy, Marx Brothers, Spencer Tracy, Mae West.

Hollywood Steps Out (1941):
Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, J. Edgar Hoover, Buster Keaton, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre, Edward G. Robinson, Johnny Weissmuller.