Donald's "real" father

Daniel van Eijmeren dve at kabelfoon.nl
Mon Apr 30 05:15:59 CEST 2001


THIERRY FERNAND to OLIVIER, 19-04-2001:

> At this point I think this is a matter of wordings and what people mean 
> by "the real father of Donald Duck". Donald's fathers are of course the
> authors of the first Donald cartoons (I don't mind about the earlier 
> ducks that appear here and there in children books and such).
>
> Carl Barks began to "build" his Donald Duck in 1943  ("Donald Duck 
> Finds Pirate Gold" doesn't count IMhO, this is a cartoon recycled 
> product).

In a 1978 article, Barks said about "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold": 

"'Pirate Gold' proved to the publishers that Donald didn't have to be in
constant turmoil in order to be interesting. His bungling mistakes and 
his blissful innocence of danger and of being outrageously victimized 
proved just as amusing as his tantrums. He came off great in a 
sympathetic role, and his brattish little nephews came off equally 
great as the 'brains' of the family. 

The comedy situation of Donald the reckless bungler getting into hopeless 
troubles from which he is extricated by his sharp-witted, suspicious-
natured nephews was competently developed in this story, and it has 
carried on into many tales of high and not-so-high adventures ever 
since." 

Quote is taken from Carl Barks article(?) "Foreword", published by 
Walt Disney (page 13-14). These are all the credits I know at the 
moment. 

> If you except those versions, Barks' is THE version of Donald Duck 
> that artists followed. In my opinion, it does not mind that Barks 
> started to draw stories even 10 or 20 years after the character was 
> created, because he imposed his version like no other artist / author
> ever did.

Donald was created in 1934. Shortly after Barks started working at the
Disney Studio, his barber gag for the 1937 "Modern Inventions" cartoon
already had a big influence on Donald's popularity. This is explained
in The Carl Barks Library, set 7.

So, if even though Barks isn't Donald's father, he at least has been
one of the persons standing beside the cradle.


Best wishes,

--- Daniel, who still hasn't the slightest idea about the quote quiz below.

"Don't worry! *We* ' ll get you out!"
(Barks story; hint: not a 10-pager. Quiz submitted by Olivier.)



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