Dinky Duck is a Terrytoons cartoon character who first appeared in the 1939 animated short The Orphan Duck.[1] Unlike fellow Terrytoons characters Mighty Mouse, silly Gandy Goose and the magpie duo Heckle and Jeckle, Dinky never became popular, appearing in a total of only 15 cartoons between 1939 and 1957.[2]
For most of his appearances, Dinky was a young black duck who lived on a farm with other ducks, chickens and other typical farm animals. Sometimes he was an orphan who simply wanted a place to call home; on other occasions, he would perform some heroic deed and help restore calm to the barnyard when adult animals quarreled.
The early Dinky Duck cartoons presents Dinky making a sharp quacking noise, while the later ones gave a young voice to Dinky, performed by actor Allen Swift. Several of the cartoons had a singing chorus that gave an introduction to the upcoming story.
Dinky's final appearance was in It's a Living, a CinemaScope cartoon, in which he sheds his cute farmyard duck persona and instead takes on the role of a disgruntled animation actor who quits his cartoon character job to try his hand in television commercial acting.
Dinky was going to have a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but rights to the character could not be obtained in time.
Dinky was a supporting character in the 1999 pilot Curbside. He was voiced by Dee Bradley Baker in that version.[3]