It’s National Donut Day! While we hope you celebrate with a few tasty glazed treats, maybe refrain from celebrating with donut hole target practice. That’s right, the National Dunking Association celebrated the donut and its all-important hole at their October 1941 New York conference. 

Little information is available about the National Dunking Association. Textual records from the Universal Newsreel collection state that the organization formed to “spread good cheer and good fellowship through dunking.” At the time of this newsreel release, the club claimed to have over one million members and 300 chapters throughout the United States. Aside from the somewhat hazardous use of donuts as target practice, the organization spent its 1941 convention discussing hot topics such as who exactly invented the donut hole, the distinction between a cruller and a donut, and proper dunking technique. 

Even Congressman Jennings Randolph of West Virginia was on hand at the conference to give his views on dunking etiquette. How do you prefer to dunk, the “sneak-dunk” or the “aggressive approach”? Make sure to watch the Universal Newsreel to see which form of dunking the National Dunking Association recommends.

To view the complete newsreel, visit our online catalog: Universal Newsreel Volume 14, Release 38. Please note, this newsreel is silent. The original voiceover script can be found in the newsreel’s textual records, which are accessible below.