The History of Chip and Dale — The Disney Classics

Disney’s Fab Five have garnered significant attention and the hearts of generations of fans, with Mickey Mouse taking the lead, supported by Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto. Since each of their introductions, other core Disney characters have joined the cast, including Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie, and a pair of curious chipmunks. Chip and Dale officially rose to fame through the 1940s, eventually receiving their own television cartoon in the 1990s. How did the pair come to be?

Chip and Dale. Image from: https://www.looper.com/665277/the-untold-truth-of-chip-n-dale/

The original concept for chip and dale (1943)

When Chip and Dale were first introduced into the Disney cinematic universe, they were nameless, did not have the unique characteristics that we know them as today, and they were not intentionally introduced to become the phenomenon that they are today. One thing they did have right from the start though was their mischievous nature and high pitched voices. The chipmunks first appeared in Private Pluto, a 1943 cartoon short during the wartime about them storing their nuts in a canon, which on-duty Pluto was not happy about. They were the troublemakers in the story, using Pluto’s military helmet as a way to crack nuts, controlling a canon by themselves as a storage unit, mistaking Pluto’s nose for a nut, and blasting Pluto up in the air. Like many of Disney’s early shorts, the story relied a lot on the animation and physical comedy, so the chipmunk’s dialogue is just high-pitched gibberish.

Private Pluto (1943). Image from: https://mubi.com/films/private-pluto

The chipmunks didn’t reappear until 3 years later in 1946’s Squatter’s Rights. Still nameless and wordless, the chipmunks are shown sleeping inside of one of the vents in Mickey’s stove, making a bed out of a match box. When Mickey and Pluto arrive home to fire up some logs for the stove, Pluto finds out the troublemaking chipmunks are inside. When Mickey goes to light the logs inside the stove, the chipmunks continuously blow his match out. Then, they sneak out from the bottom and light Mickey’s shoe on fire and laugh together underneath the stove. They frame Pluto, which causes Pluto to go chasing after them around the house. Pluto’s nose gets stuck in a rifle, and Pluto ends up landing on his back with the rifle across his chest, and the chipmunks squirt ketchup all over him. When Mickey arrives home, he’s in tears by this sight, and Pluto is panicked. The short ends with the chipmunks laughing and shaking hands since their mission of troubling Pluto was a success.

Squatter’s Rights (1946). Image from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_8MHuozrhs

Director of Squatter’s Rights, Jack Hannah wanted to establish the chipmunks as reoccurring characters, and give them more personality to make them both succinct. It was suggested that one of the chipmunks take on more of a logical personality, while the other was slightly dimwitted. With their qualities more fleshed out, they also received names, which was a play-on words for famous furniture maker Thomas Chippendale, suggested by animator Bill “Tex” Henson.

Chip an’ dale (1947-1956)

With character designs, names, and intentions ready, it was time for Chip and Dale to star in their very own short named after them. Though the dynamic with Pluto offered a “Tom and Jerry” type of storyline, the writers decided to dedicate Chip and Dale to become enemies of Donald Duck instead. With Donald’s short-tempered personality, it would be easy to draw upon the contrasting personalities to create a hilarious story. In 1947 Chip an’ Dale was released as a part of the Donald Duck cartoon series, again directed by Jack Hannah. Dick Kinney and Bob North were responsible for the story, and notable Disney Legend Yale Gracey (who later went to work on the Haunted Mansion) did layout.

In this short, Donald is shown freezing in the cold of the winter in his cabin when he wakes up, so he decides to go chop some wood down for a fire. As he approaches one of the trees, the picture shifts to Chip and Dale relaxing and enjoying nuts inside of one of the tree trunks. The two both still have black noses, but you can see Dale has his signature buck teeth now. Donald brings the wood from the tree back inside and lights a fire to warm up, but Chip and Dale follow to make sure the fire goes out by using water and snowballs. Donald outsmarts them throughout the short, but in the end, the chipmunks prevail and get their tree back. The film was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards in 1948.

Chip an’ Dale. Image from: https://www.rikrek.com/cs/film/chip-an-dale/27571/

After Chip an’ Dale, the pair starred in almost 20 other shorts from 1948 to 1956. At the end of 1948 is when Dale finally received his signature red nose. They continued their confrontational relationship with Donald Duck, and even revert back to troubling Pluto in Food for Feudin’ in 1950. With the successes that were coming within the Donald Duck franchise at the time, and the continuous appearances by the characters, they were eventually granted their own cartoon short series with their own title card in January 1951 beginning with Chicken in the Rough. Jack Hannah was still the director of these shorts, seeing through the characters he originally envisioned. There would only be a total of 3 original Chip ‘n’ Dale cartoons, with Two Chips and a Miss (1952) which introduced Clarice, and The Lone Chipmunks (1954)

Two Chips and a Miss (1952). Image from: https://reelgood.com/movie/two-chips-and-a-miss-1952

walt disney’s chip ‘n’ dale comic series (1955-1984)

Another medium that Chip and Dale were featured in were comic strips. Just 2 years after introducing Mickey Mouse to the world through the technology of cartoon films in 1928, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks wanted to dive back into the cartoon publishing world, and bring Mickey to a whole new audience of newspaper-readers. Walt handled the writing of the stories, and Ub would handle the art to bring the whole story together. The Mickey Mouse comic strips began being published in newspapers in 1930. At the top of the 1940s, Donald Duck also joined the comic book industry with Carl Bark’s famous work on them. Chip and Dale followed afterward from 1955 to 1962, with Walt Disney’s Chip ‘n’ Dale. 30 total issues were published through Dell, and another 64 issues were published through Gold Key until 1984.

Chip ‘n’ Dale comic. Image from: https://tiahblog.blogspot.com/2019/06/separated-at-festive-mirth-what-if-your.html

disney afternoon avenue & chip ‘n dale rescue rangers (1989-1991)

In 1985, Disney announced that they would begin to move toward syndicated television, and would become a hub for cartoon classics. The very first syndicated Disney show was DuckTales in 1987. Along with DuckTales, they also produced and aired The Wuzzles, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bonkers, and Gargoyles. Chip and Dale made it into this mix as well with their very own cartoon series, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, airing in March 1989. The show followed Chip and Dale as detectives, helping to solve crimes for their animal friends and defeating enemies along the way. The show ran for 3 seasons, with a total of 65 episodes, ending in November 1990.

This cartoon was so beloved that it was also featured in Disney’s Afternoon Avenue, a temporary land built into Disneyland to celebrate these afternoon shows. Guests could meet Chip and Dale, and ride Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Ranger Raceway, which was Fantasyland Autopia redecorated. This land only last 8 months in 1991.

Disney’s Afternoon Avenue. Image from: https://www.thedisneyclassics.com/blog/disneys-afternoon-avenue

Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers made it back to everyone’s screen in 2022, when a live-action animated film was produced based on the original series. It starred respected actors such as John Mulaney and Andy Samberg as the title characters. The film acted as a bit of a nostalgia for anyone who enjoyed the original series, and also brought Chip and Dale back into the spotlight, which they have remained in for the last 80 years.