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Ludwigandhisclone

Ludwig and his clone in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.

Ludwig von Drake is one of Walt Disney's cartoon and comic book characters. He was first introduced on September 24, 1961, as the presenter (and singer of "The Spectrum Song") in "An Adventure in Color", part of the first episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC. Ludwig is said to be a V.I.P. member of the Mickey Mouse Club, and an uncle of Donald Duck. He was supposedly named after either Ludwig von Mises or Ludwig van Beethoven. He is described as a scientist, lecturer, psychologist, and road traveler. The character displayed his "expert" knowledge on a variety of subjects in eighteen episodes of the classic anthology series as well as on a number of Disneyland Records, and has also appeared in many of the Disney-produced animated TV series as well.

Paul Frees, who voiced many characters for Rankin/Bass and narrated several Disney films, was the original voice of Ludwig von Drake. Frees retired from the role before his death in 1986, and Walker Edmiston took over. As of 2015, Corey Burton currently voices the character.

Appearances in Christmas specials

The first Christmas production to feature an appearance by Von Drake was the Mickey Mouse Works segment "The Nutcracker". Appearing in the role of Godpapa Drosselmeyer, Von Drake presents the titular Nutcracker (which resembles Mickey Mouse) he has spent all year building as a present to Maria (played by Minnie Mouse) and becomes befuddled when the Nutcracker is shown being able to dance. Over the course of the scene, Ludwig continually argues with the John Cleese-voiced narrator and eventually gets kicked out of the story when he unscrews the Nutcracker's head off in trying to find out why it was dancing. He then returns at the end of the story to reclaim his scepter that was stolen by the Mouse King (Donald Duck), revealing that he is actually the King of the Sugar Plum Fairies, much to the confusion of the narrator.

Ludwig makes a brief cameo in the framing device for the compilation film Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. Here, he hosts a segment about "The Science of Santa", in which he explains how Santa Claus is able to travel all around the world in one night. According to Von Drake, Santa drives a "Turbo-Charged Santa Sleigh", which travels so fast that Santa is capable of appearing in two places at once. Proving his point, a second Ludwig shows up driving the same sleigh, bringing with him his mother's cookie jar. This scene was recycled in the episode "Pete's Christmas Caper".

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