Duckburg in Denmark

[Rob Klein]

Regarding Rodney Bowcock's comment on the location of Duckburg:

Yes, Barks specified its location in "Calisota".  But that was only for the
convenience of one SINGLE story ("The Gilded Man"), to form a complete
address.  He never referred to it again.  Most of his early stories seemed
to indicate that it was in Southern California, within close proximity to
Disneyland (as did most of the other Western Pub. writers.  The climate
(showing palm trees), deserts, seashore and mountains all being short auto
trips away, and geographical references to nearby City of Burbank and
street intersection of Wilshire and Western, indicated strongly the greater
Los Angeles area.  The need to have snow in the winter, cyclones,
hurricanes and such made it plain that Duckburg was NOT in Southern
California.  So, it must be in a magical place (still in USA for American
readers).

This was partly true for European readers in the late 1940s and 1950s.   It
is clear that the "Wild west scenarios could not be located in Scandinavia,
Germany, Holland and France.  However, in most of the European countries,
the Publisher also realised that it would be much more personal for the
younger readers to understand the stories and characters if the settings
were more familiar and the characters acted in the manner of the people
they are familiar with.

It seems to me that Duckstad is in The Netherlands; Entenhausen is in
Germany and Andeby is in Denmark, and Norway.  The Swedish Duckburg must
certainly be in Sweden, and I am guessing that the Finnish, Italian and
French must also be implied to be located in their respective nations.  But
this must only be "loosely" believed - as often the original USA roots show
through; and, mor importantly, it is clear that it must be thought of in
the back of the reader's mind as a "magical" and thus, fictional place.

When Saint Nicholas (Zinterklaas) sails into Amsterdam harbour the Ducks
are usually not even shown to take a car trip to come meet him, let alone
take a LONG car trip or train or airplane trip to go to Holland.  It is
implied that they could have taken a very short auto trip, or a short train
or bus or possibly even a TRAM!  I'm sure there are examples of this sort
of implication in all the European magazines.

It must be remebered that MOST readers are not Barksists or Donaldists. 
They have no problem assuming that Duckburg is a fictional place that has
charicteristics all its own, partly taken from Disney
USA tradition, but yet mostly reflective of its own country's customs.

Rob Klein