Who actually created HDL?

Gerd Syllwasschy gsy at megatel.de
Tue Aug 12 10:29:06 CEST 2003


Rich:

> I know that Huey, Dewey & Louie were in simultaneous production in both animation
> and comic strip.  Sure the strip was published before the cartoon was ever shown
> in the theaters, but who actually came up with the concept of Huey, Dewey &
> Louie?  Was the comic strip concept by Ted Osborne/Al Taliaferro created first or
> was the cartoon story by Jack King created first?  Which was based on which, not
> which was actually publically presented first?  This would, of course, include the
> creation of their mother.

According to what I have gathered from various sources, it was indeed Al
Taliaferro who first came up with the idea of giving Donald three
nephews (possibly inspired by the Three Little Wolves story which
Taliaferro drew for the Silly Symphony strip). I do not know if
Taliaferro and/or Osborne had already worked out this idea to a more
complex story concept. However, it seems that the character design was
done entirely at the animation department; also, the names Huey, Dewey
and Louie were not Taliaferro's idea.

So there's indeed some mix-up here, but I tend to give the cartoon first
credit. I'd be interested in any new information on this matter, too.

Gerd


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