1938 DONALD'S SHOOTING GALLERY

Synopsis: Donald runs a rigged shooting gallery and the nephews are lured to spend their money in an attempt to win a box of candy. But they soon realize that their uncle is cheating, so the nephews punish him fiercely and end up shooting him out of a cannon.

Comments: Barks did little work on this cartoon, and it was rather quickly shelved for lack of ideas and gags. But he met his future colleague Jack Hannah for the first time. Interestingly, in 1947 Hannah was the driving force behind the short Straight Shooters, in which most of the shelved gags were used. Obviously, Barks reconsidered as well as he made WDCS279 Once Upon a Carnival in 1963.

1938 THE BEAVER HUNT

Synopsis: Donald and Pluto are beaver hunters. Pluto tracks down a beaver, whereupon Donald captures it with a gun rigged with an attached plunger, reels it in, and places it in a wooden box. After that it only takes the beaver a short time to gnaw itself out of the box.

Comments: Barks did very polished story and art sketches, but he did not contribute to the gags except that it was him who dreamed up the main idea with the plunger. Walt Disney was shown a few of the sketches, but deemed the plotline too weak, and the project was shelved. An alternative title for the cartoon was The Beaver Hunters.

1939 DONALD'S BALLOON

Synopsis: Donald, as a hot air balloon skipper, is trying to repair his balloon before taking off, but this proves to be somewhat more difficult than expected.

Comments: The project had a tumultuous life, as it was started several times with diverse characters and different work titles. One version starred Mickey in Balloon Race, but the plotline ended up with Donald as the main character. Apart from the altered character galleries, the project also suffered from lack of good gags, so Walt Disney decided to scrap it.
Barks did little work on this cartoon, and only a few sketches have survived. An alternative title for the cartoon was Donald's Stratosphere Flight.

1940 TRAVELING SALESMAN DONALD

Synopsis: Donald, as a slick jewelry salesman, comes to a new town, where he manages to sell a worthless pearl (in reality just a painted egg) to the bartender Black Pete, who takes his revenge by starting a lengthy fight with Donald.

Comments: Barks worked with Jack Hannah, and especially the fierce fighting panels were their joint work. Some of the very elaborate fighting scenes may have proved too much for Walt Disney, because the project as a whole was finally shelved.