Miss Abigail Duck

[Luca Boschi]

Hello!

Incidentally, I stumbled into a certain MM story, while I was looking for
another matter... It's "MM in Riding the Rails", 1st part, from WDC1S # 173,
1954. Well, in that Paul Murry drawn story, written by Carl Fallberg,
Grandma Duck is in the cast and she calls herself "Miss Abigail". Her mine
is "Miss Abigail Mine". It's the same than in a famous "Xmas Parade" story
drawn by Frank McSavage: "Grandma Duck in Hollywood". More than tens years
ago, speaking about it in a Disney book, I assumed that "Abigail" was her
name "on stage", when she was a sort of vaudeville actress. We can guess
that in "MM in Riding the Rails" the same explanation can be used: Grandma
Elvira decided to "baptize" her brand new mine with her old nickname. This
can also be the reason explaining why, in the story, Mickey and Goofy don't
recognize her (Abigail's) name as  the mine's owner' name. But Grandma
explains a truth a little bit different: "I lived in Cinder City for a
while, when I was a girl! A poor young prospector was a-courting me, but I
couldn't see spending my life in he mountains. I guess he never forgot me...
Ahem... Because when he struck it rich, he named the mine the MISS
ABIAGAIL... after me! And then... Land sakes! Out of a clear blue sky, I got
the news the MINE was left to me in his WILL! And after alla these YEARS!""

Indeed, surely in the early 50es two were the names created for Grandma. We
could only await a story including an explanation of this matter, and
enlighting the old "duckwoman"'s past.

Luca