Chip and Dale

## Chip & Dale

**Chip and Dale** are a pair of anthropomorphic chipmunks who made their debut in 1943's *Private Pluto*. The brothers are known for their high-pitched speech, gluttonous appetites, and penchant for mischief—typically at the expense of others. Chip can be identified by his black "chocolate chip" nose and his joined front teeth, whereas Dale has a larger red nose, two adjacent front teeth, and a tuft of hair on top of his head. Chip is the more logical and cunning of the two, with Dale being more dim-witted and carefree.

Though the duo got their start as adversaries to Mickey Mouse's pet dog, Pluto, they would become even more infamous as arch-rivals of Donald Duck, beginning with the 1947 theatrical short, *Chip an' Dale*. In the years that followed, Chip and Dale became some of Disney's most beloved characters. They were popular enough to receive their own—albeit, short-lived—series of shorts, and received greater exposure in the 1990s with the premiere of *Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers*, which saw the chipmunks as a comedic pair of crime-solvers.

## Background

Unlike most of the *Mickey Mouse* characters, Chip and Dale act very much like average chipmunks; they live in normal trees (typically in a backyard or forest) and spend most of their time gathering and storing food (particularly acorns). Their affinity for food often drives them to steal it from others, which is a regular point of contention between the chipmunks and their arch-nemesis, Donald Duck.

**Chip** (or **Chipper**, as referred to by Dale) is the brains of the duo and thus is shown to be clever, fearless, and somewhat bossy. Unlike his best friend, he is a quick thinker. When dealing with Donald, Chip shows to be much more of a threat than Dale, both mentally and physically. He is also no-nonsense and becomes easily frustrated with Dale's incompetence. In *Rescue Rangers*, Chip wears a fedora and sheepskin bomber jacket. Chip constantly thinks about being on duty to the point where he is thought to not know how to be fun; because of such, Dale's blundering causes him nothing but headaches.

**Dale** is more lazy, laid back, and accident-prone. His bumbling is often the cause of misfortune for Chip, which usually leads to Dale being punished. Dale is more likely to become endangered, forcing Chip to come to his rescue. In *Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers*, Dale wears a Hawaiian shirt, possibly to show how relaxed his personality is; he gets along easier with Monterey Jack and Zipper than Chip.

In *Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Friend Like Me*, Jiminy Cricket says that Chip and Dale are not twins. However, he does not say which of the two is older and which one is younger.

### Voices

The classic voices of Chip and Dale were mostly provided by Helen Seibert and Dessie Flynn. The earliest voices of the chipmunks were provided by female office staff, without credit.

In *Private Pluto*, the chipmunks' speech was created by speeding up sound clips of normal speech. In a number of the shorts that followed, many of these same sound clips were reused again and again, though later shorts used new dialogue specifically recorded for them.

At one point in *Winter Storage*, Chip and Dale get into an argument while caught in a trap. When the scene switches to an outside view of the box (with Donald Duck sitting on the box), the dialogue being heard is actually a sped-up segment of the voice-over narration from the Goofy short *A Knight for a Day*.

Between 1947 and 1960, Jimmy MacDonald would take on voice duties for Chip.

In the record release, Chip and Dale are voiced by Dick Beals and Robie Lester.

In *DTV Valentine*, they are voiced by Judith Seale.

Jack Wagner also provided the voices of both Chip and Dale at the Disney Parks between 1985 and 1989.

Since 1988, Chip has been voiced by Tress MacNeille and Dale has been voiced by Corey Burton where he is shown to have a deeper voice than his previous years in the classic shorts. However, in *Mickey Mouse Works*, *House of Mouse*, the first season of *Mickey Mouse Clubhouse* and the *Have a Laugh!* re-dubs of the classic shorts, Tress MacNeille voiced both chipmunks.

Jeff Bennett provided squeaks for both in the *DuckTales* episode "Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!", while Corey Burton and April Winchell would take over this role for the series finale, "The Last Adventure!".

For the Disney+ series *Chip 'n' Dale: Park Life*, Chip and Dale are respectively voiced by Matthew Géczy and Kaycie Chase.

For the live-action *Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers* film on Disney+, John Mulaney voices Chip and Andy Samberg voices Dale who both speak with their natural voices. However, whenever they get angry, or are portraying their television counterparts, MacNeille and Burton reprise their roles as the duo. This is despite the fact that the movie is set in the universe of *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*, which featured cameos from various other cartoon characters known for having sped-up voices (such as Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Woody Woodpecker) still having such voices when speaking "off-camera".

Beginning with Season 2 of *Mickey Mouse Funhouse*, Jan Johns provides the voice of Chip, replacing Tress MacNeille, although Corey Burton still provides the voice of Dale.

## References

1. ↑ Chip and Dale's creator, Bill Justice, confirmed in his autobiography *Justice for Disney* (1992) that Chip and Dale are "simply little brothers".
2. ↑ All the Disney Investor Day Announcements in One Big Post (December 11, 2020).