A D.U.C.K.hunt analogy

Dan Shane danshane at bellsouth.net
Sat Mar 31 12:57:38 CEST 2001


PERIKLIS SAYS:

        The caricature  artist  Al  Hirtchfeld  for  three decades  " hides
" the name of his daughter Nina in his sketches . USA's airforce uses the  "
search for Nina "  as an exercise during the training of  bomber pilots , to
help them locate targets faster , and recently NASA as an observation
exercise on astronaut training  . In addition , a Pentagon advisor worked on
Hirtchfeld's sketches searching for  " Nina "  as  part  of  his  doctoral
thesis  on camouflage , which he did with a scolarship of $60.000 ]
    Now , I must admit that I don't  know this artist , even though most of
you probably do, but  I  suppose he is the first one to have this idea  that
is nowadays  so popular among the fans of  Don Rosa (seeking the D.U.C.K.
dedication) and/or Marco Rota ( who also  frequently hides his name on his
drawings) or maybe others  .

AND I REPLY:

Hirschfield is possibly the best know caricturist in America.  His
likenesses of celebrities have graced the covers of THE NEW YORKER, TV
GUIDE, and many other magazines.  He is most closely associated with his
carticatures of Broadway stars and other denizens of New York City.  That is
probably why his style was chosen as the basis for the RHAPSODY IN BLUE
segment in FANTASIA 2000 (my favorite part of the film).

There have been classic painters who have also hid their name or the names
of others in their works, but Hirschfield is likely the greatest progenitor
of the practice.  My first familiarity with the "game" of hunting for a
hidden name was in the daily editorial cartoons in our Louisville newspaper,
THE COURIER-JOURNAL.  The local cartoonist, Hugh Haynie, was one of the very
best, even winning a Pulitzer Prize for his work.  He was my inspiration for
learning to draw, even more than the Disney Comics.  That's probably why I
was better at one shot gags than at detailed stories.  I leave that to Don
and so many other capable spellbinders.




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