Tramp, Tramp, Tramp

Anders Engwall Anders.Engwall at eua.ericsson.se
Wed Aug 31 13:32:05 CEST 1994


David Gerstein wrote:

>         ROC announced that "the hillbilly character - a.k.a.
> 'Urtigao'/'Skogs-Ola' and 'Jesper Skauen' - in Denmark is (or should I say
> 'was'?) called 'Habakuk', which could be his, although misspelt, original
> name.  A Strobl story in AA&Co. #27/1969 also mentions his friend Amos -
> not a very common name in Danish."
> 
>         So it was a STROBL story?  An S-coded story, then?  This means that
> it was originally made in English!  So this tramp DOES have an English
> name.  If someone can give me the code for the SHORTEST GOOD S-story with
> this tramp, I can see if Gladstone wants to order it and find out the name
> -- and then presumably use it.

I'd like to help here, but story codes weren't printed in Sweden until mid-
1972, and unfortunately the most and the best of the Hillbilly Character
stories were printed here in 1969 (and one in 1971). There are -- as far as
I know -- only two HBC stories published *with* codes; S 1055 (KA&Co #7/1974),
where HBC helps the Junior Woodchucks take a picture of a rare bird, and
S 74146 (KA&Co #7/1976), where Daisy is a police officer looking for a chicken
thief who has escaped from prison and who she suspects is hiding at HBC's place.
None of these is anything I'd recommend for reprinting, though the latter is
certainly the better of the two.

There aren't that many HBC stories overall. Apart from the two above, I have
found only six. These are OTOH really good, and I'd recommend them without hesi-
tation if only I had the codes and if some of them weren't a bit long (up to
12 pages). Anyway, here they are, listed by their Swedish appearances:

KA&Co #27/1969 ('Skogs-Ola i skolan') - 10 pages
This is the one ROC mentioned, where US is about to cut a business deal with
HBC, but discovers HBC can neither read nor sign the contract as he is
illiterate.

KA&Co #33/1969 ('En macklande maklare') - 12 pages
US wants to buy HBC's estate to build a summer house on, and which estate
agent does he turn to if not Feathry? Due to a little white lie from Feathry,
HBC comes under the impression that US wants to buy his dog...

KA&Co #39/1969 ('Pang i skogen') - 7 pages
US opens up a restaurant with HBC -- who is rumoured to be a good cook --
in the countryside. Feathry handles the advertising - too well, as it turns
out.

KA&Co #42/1969 ('Det nappar') - 11 pages
US and DD on a fishing-and-hunting vacation trip. The hotel where they're
staying turns out to be managed by Feathry, much to their dismay. Feathry
guides them on a day trip, but unfortunately they all miss the sign that says
that they are entering land owned by HBC where "fishin', huntin' and basically
everything is strictly forbidden". HBC discovers them and goes after them with
his trusty old shotgun...
The other HBC stories are drawn by Strobl, but this is by someone I
haven't been able to identify. It also features a possible clue to HBC's name
in English! The prohibition sign mentioned is signed by 'Skogs-Ola', as it
would in Sweden, but *also* by some 'Moe'. Could it be that the Swedish editor
forgot to erase the original English signature, and that HBC's original
name is 'Moe'?...

KA&Co #46/1969 ('Antikhandlarna') - 9 pages
US, DD and Feathry tours the countryside searching for antiques. They first
try buying from HBC.

KA&Co #3/1971 ('Den dyra vagen till framgang') - 6 pages
Feathry is in the music business this time, and brings HBC to town to launch
him as a folk singer. In a restaurant, HBC sings a hog-calling song that un-
fortunately really works... Oink!!! If the code can be obtained, this is the
one to go for.

As the song goes -- is that all there is?

Anders Engwall				Email: Anders.Engwall at eua.ericsson.se
ELLEMTEL Utvecklings AB			Voice: +46 8 727 3893
[lvsj|, Sweden				Fax: +46 8 727 42 20
endremin saxassa flumen flobollala / feilobasch falljada follidi / flumbasch



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