José Carioca

Common card · No. 235061

José "Zé" Carioca ( zhoh-ZAY KARR-ee-OH-kə; Portuguese: [ʒuˈzɛ kaˈɾjɔkɐ]) is a cartoon anthropomorphic parrot created by American cartoonist and animator Walt Disney during a trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1941 as a resource to support the relations between Latin America and the US during World War II (as part of the Good Neighbor Policy). It is alleged by some journalists that Disney presented the character to Brazilian comic artist and cartoonist José Carlos de Brito (J. Carlos) and might have tried to hire J. Carlos as well, but the Brazilian had no direct involvement in the creation of José. The Walt Disney Company then incorporated the idea, being introduced in the 1942 film Saludos Amigos as a friend of Donald Duck, described by Time as "a dapper Brazilian parrot, who is as superior to Donald Duck as the Duck was to Mickey Mouse." He speaks Portuguese. He returned in the 1944 film The Three Caballeros along with Donald and a Mexican rooster named Panchito Pistoles. José is from Rio de...

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