Barks on Dutch television

[Harry Fluks]

It's getting a bit cold for the beach now, so here comes...

This is a transcription of the item about Carl Barks' visit to Holland
in "NOVA", aired on July 14th, 1994, 10:30 PM.

English spoken texts were subtitled in Dutch. The English and
Dutch texts are given here as literally as possible. Dutch
texts are accompanied by an English translation by HF.

[Anchorman Paul Witteman introduces the item.]
Witteman:
     Zijn hele leven zat-ie binnen - te tekenen als hij
     tenminste niet hoefde houthakken op de boerderij van zijn
     ouders. Hij gaf z'n eend het weinig soepele en soms
     uitgesproken chagrijnige karakter waarmee het beest
     wereldberoemd werd. Hoogbejaard is Carl Barks. De
     tekenaar van Donald Duck. Voor het eerst op reis, en - in
     Amsterdam.
TRANSLATION:
     His whole life he was indoors - drawing as long as he
     didn't have to chop wood on the farm of his parents. He
     gave his duck the little flexible and sometimes
     distinctly chagrined character with which the animal
     became world famous. Very aged is Carl Barks. The artist
     of Donald Duck. For the first time on a trip, and - in
     Amsterdam.

[CB looking at a Dutch Donald Duck album containing WDC 270,
"The Jinxed Jalopy Race". Caption: Carl Barks - Duckman]
CB:
     Let's see. Something about it looks a little familiar.
     Yeah I try to remember this, something about a
     litterbuggy. That is an example of stories that just come
     up from various new laws we get in the States about
     throwing litter out on highways and how Donald gets in a
     jam from somebody else's litter.

[various close-ups of panels from the above story. Voice of CB only:]
CB (laughing):
     We have very little information on his earlier stages of life.

[CB in a studio with a big copy of the first Dutch DD Weekly
on the background]
Interviewer:
     When did you try drawing? Did you have paper and pencil
     in those days?
CB:
     I'm trying to draw... the time I can remember I was
     trying to draw.  First I would draw with a charcoal I
     picked up off the hearth and write on the walls of the
     little shack we lived in. As soon as I was able to
     understand wat paper was for and pencils I began using
     those things. And I loved to draw the time I can
     remember, and I had quite a talent for it I guess.

[Some more close-ups of panels by Barks and Jippes]

[CB and company in a canal boat in Amsterdam. CB sits next to a Dutch woman]
Woman:
     We have here a lot of students in this area, not now,
     because it's July, so it's more holiday.

[caption: Bill Grandey - manager Carl Barks. There's a woman sitting next
to him]
Grandey:
     This year he painted a 24-page Scrooge story, he's done
     two huge paintings and he's done two bronze sculptures.
     And taking a 7-week trip of Europe. That's so far this
     year. And he's done a new book with a half-an-hour
     recording with Donald Duck.
Interviewer:
     You must be dead-tired.
Woman:
     WE are.
Grandey:
     WE are. I don't know if he... ha ha ha.

[Apparently, a Dutch man, possibly Thom Roep, is sitting opposite to CB.
We only see his back. The Dutch woman is still next to CB.]
CB:
     When were bricks invented...
Man:
     When they built the Pyramids in Egypt, they formed the
     stones already. And baked them.
CB:
     Well, I know how they make them. I just wondered how many
     hundred years ago did they learn how to make them.
Woman:
     I think already a long time ago.

[caption: Thom Roep - hoofdredacteur Donald Duck]
Roep:
     Het is toch een naam die eigenlijk 21 jaar lang op de
     redaktie iedere dag valt. Het is het voorbeeld voor alle
     nieuwe generaties tekenaars en schrijvers dus ik denk
     niet dat er een dag geweest is dat de naam Barks niet
     werd uitgesproken.
TRANSLATION:
     It is a name that is mentioned every day on the editor's
     desk for 21 years now. He is the example for every new
     generation of artists and writers, so I don't think there
     has been a day that the name Barks was not mentioned.

[CB in close-up, still in the canal boat]
CB:
     Oh I do a little painting. Just about ducks, pretty
     girls, things like that. Anyway, I'd like to see what
     somebody else has done in the way of painting.
Interviewer:
     Do you like Rembrandt?
CB:
     I do, yeah. I accidentally hit on a color scheme that's
     very much like Rembrandt's. Most of my successful
     paintings have been painted with the colors that look as
     if Rembrandt has painted them. So I want to see what it
     was that he did.

[Voice of CB only:]
CB:
     When I did it and looked at it I made oath, dead silent - not
     ever open my mouth again.

[Next we see CB and some other people walking in the Rijksmuseum, looking
for Rembrant's "Night Watch".]
CB:
     So it's the big one in there?
Man walking next to CB:
     Yes, the big one.
CB:
     That IS big.

[CB in front of the Night Watch:]
CB:
     Looks like he made his blacks with a mixture of dark
     green and dark red... and a little dark blue. You come up
     with a very vibrant black.
Interviewer:
     What about the composition?
CB:
     Well, in a mob scene like that he did excellently. (laughs)
Interviewer:
     He took a little longer to paint this I think than...
CB:
     Well, he took four years, the longest one I worked on was
     five months. That was one with the Scrooge McDuck money
     bin, with millions of gold coins that I had to paint.
     Tedious little details...

[CB in the studio again. Caption: Carl Barks - Duckman]
Interviewer:
     What do you think of people who pay enormous amounts of
     money for your paintings nowadays. Are they a little bit
     crazy?
CB:
     I think of them as being angels with golden wings. They
     are the greatest people on earth. I wish there were more
     of them.

CB:
     The early jobs I had as a rancher, farmboy, and later
     labor on the railroad gang and such things... I had a
     wonderful easy job cartooning, that was just heaven.
     Working indoors, out of the hot sun and the cold, doing
     the things I liked. That was half of my wages, I didn't
     need a hell of a lot of money to make me happy.

[closing comment by anchorman:]
Witteman:
     Maar die andere helft kwam ook in orde. Morgen zijn we er weer (enz.)
TRANSLATION:
     But the other half was fixed as well. Tomorrow we'll be back.. (etc.)

--end--

--Harry.