Clarabelle Cow

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Eyes: Black
Hair: Black and white fur
Race: Cow


Marital Status: Single
Known relatives: Sarabelle Cow (sister)
Base of operations: Duckburg


Story: Clarabelle Cow is one of the fine women of Duckburg.


Continuity: Disney
Publisher(s): Disney
First app.: Cartoons: Alice on the Farm (1926)
Creator(s): Walt Disney
Country of origin: USA


Background notes: Like many of the older Disney characters, Clarabelle Cow started as an unnamed character in the background. In her first appearance, Alice on the Farm from 1926, Clarabelle was just a prop for one of Ub Iwerks' jokes having the character Julius the Cat trying to get milk from her. Her next appearance was a little closer to becoming Clarabelle. In Plane Crazy from 1928 she was given the name Carolyn, but the name was only used this one time. The name Clarabelle Cow did not occur until the sixth cartoon, The Shindig from 1930. Clarabelle appeared in a handful of cartoons until Symphony Hour from 1942 after which she was not seen in cartoons until Prince and the Pauper from 1990 (apart from a cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988). This was a single occurrence in cartoons and it wasn't until Mickey Mouse Works in 1999 and the following House of Mouse she started having a recurring appearance, and not a very prominent one. There are no information available yet on who did the voice in the original cartoons. In Prince and the Pauper it was Elvia Allman and from 1999 until the present day it has been April Winchell.

When the Disney characters were transferred to comics, Clarabelle Cow was one of the first to be transferred. Her first appearance was in the Mickey Mouse dailies April 1, 1930. Along with Horace Horsecollar, Clara Cluck, Goofy, Minnie and Mickey she appeared in comics on a regular basis in the fifties, sixties and seventies in the US comics. It was in this period they tried to convert Clarabella to a love interest for Goofy, despite her being engaged to Horace Horsecollar since the early thirties was well established. The attempt fell flat and everything returned to normal. From the eighties forward only a few stories with Clarabelle Cow were made in USA. In Europe on the other hand, especially in Italy, the production of stories continued and is still going strong today.

Clarabelle never became one of the really popular Disney characters, but she did gain sufficient fame to be transferred to various types of merchandise like pins, figurines, T-shirts and a few other things.


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