square egg story ... from 1924

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

NILS LID HJORT, 18-04-2001:

> [Saki's "The Square Egg", 1924] Did you know? I guess Barks didn't.

While making the "Lost in the Andes"-story, Barks was unaware of Saki's
"The Square Egg". He did not read the story until a fan sent him a copy
in the early 1970s. Only the universality of the egg joke accounts that
both writers used it. 

"Square eggs have been a joke for more years than I've been on earth",
Barks has commented in an August 4, 1975 interview by Donald Ault and 
Thomas Andrae. "I remember hearing people talking about breeding chickens
that would lay square eggs from the time I was a little child." 

Source: The Carl Barks Library, page 1C-657. 


The interview was videotaped and released as "The Duck Man - An interview
with Carl Barks" in the 1990s. I didn't buy this video when it was still
available. I deeply, deeply regret that. According to the many quotes I've
seen, this must have been one of the best Barks interviews ever filmed.


Best wishes,

--- Daniel

"I guess most folks are still pretty relaxed at 6:30 A.M.!"
(Which story?)