The various and sundry "Scouting Organizations" that tend to pop-up in comics may be good for young boys, but they can be murder on a guy's lawn!
Just ask Oswald the (one-time "lucky") Rabbit and Donald Duck, as they find themselves... "Separated at Mirth!"
DELL FOUR COLOR # 541 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: April 1954).
WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 260 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: May 1962) - By Carl Barks.
There's an ADDITIONAL INSTANCE for Donald...
HUEY DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS # 9 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: April 1971) - By Kay Wright.
Things to note:
Carl Barks CREATED the concept of the super-scouting JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS organization in the 1950s, but HIS 1962 cover gag depicts the boys as more generic scouts!
Kay Wright, by the positioning of EVERY ELEMENT of his cover for HUEY DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS # 9, clearly based his cover on that of Barks for WDC&S # 260.
Ironically, it was Kay Wright, and not Carl Barks, who properly depicts the boys as Junior Woodchucks... Though, considering the TITLE of the series, how could he not?
Kay Wright really wasn't THAT terrible an artist... when he was copying Carl Barks' layouts as above, that is! ...Of course, I will never forgive him for stuff like THIS...
Though Huey, Dewey, and Louie have been most associated with scouting over the decades, it was Oswald's adopted sons (NOT NEPHEWS!), Floyd and Lloyd, who did the gag first!
The adoption occurs...
From WALTER LANTZ NEW FUNNIES # 135 (Cover Date: May, 1948). Art by Lloyd White. (Gotta wonder if one of the bunny-boys was named after Mr. White, as he first drew them!)
But, as noted, Donald Duck and his nephews have long been associated with scouting, as evidenced by this cover from WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 11 (Cover Date: August 1941) and the animated shorts.
And, with that hearty raspberry from Oswald (...back in his "Lucky Rabbit" days) you have DELL FOUR COLOR # 541 (1964), WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 260 (1962), and HUEY DEWEY AND LOUIE JUNIOR WOODCHUCKS # 9 (1971) - Separated at Mirth!
Oh, no... wait! Here comes Charlie Chicken... yes, THAT "Charlie Chicken"...
...To remind us that HE, TOO, did the "Garden Hose, Knot Tying" cover gag in ANDY PANDA # 35 (Cover Date: August/October, 1956)!
And, having done so in 1956, he did it before any of those "Ducky-Come-Lately" scouts... Junior Woodchucks, or otherwise!
Also, Charlie was SO SLY that he was the only one NOT TO GET CAUGHT IN THE ACT!
...SEE?
There he goes, innocently tying a piece of string... proving to a suspicious Andy that (...wait for it) he "Knows Knotting!"
4 comments:
I think it's appropriate that Barks depicted the boys as generic scouts rather than as Junior Woodchucks, though he could have done the latter. Junior Woodchucks are exemplary scouts and would not practice their knots on the garden hose. Though they might *accidentally* target their uncle with their nifty rocket, as at the end of Rosa's WHADA.... Perhaps we can date that Barks cover in in-universe chronology to the period of time before HDL joined the Junior Woodchucks. Perhaps they are playing at being scouts in response to their uncle telling them slightly overblown stories of his days as a Little Boonehead!
Wow! That’s a great point, Elaine! …And shame on me for not thinking of it!
Yes, the Junior Woodchuck oath must *also* contain the phrase “Do No Harm” within its many gallant passages, like its ages-old noble predecessor of the medical profession.
And a pre-Woodchuck, Little Boonehead-inspired outing probably *would* include “Garden Hose Knot-Tying”… The “LB’s” may even have a merit badge for it!
This brings being "knotty" to a whole new level!
I'm sure Santa Claus had his work cut out for him trying to figure out if these kids were being "knotty" or being nice! Knotting up a garden hose is, after all, a rather "knotty" thing to do! But attempting to be good scouts is definitely "nice"!
For me, the best takeaway from this post is finding out when and where Floyd and Lloyd entered Oswald's life! I have often wondered. There is an old Lantz cartoon in which Oswald gets married at the very end, and so for a while I postulated that the kids were his offspring from this marriage. But then later I read in one of the comics data-bases that Oswald adopted the kids and this event happened in the comic books. So now I know, and thank you, Joe for (get ready) "un-knotting" this "knotty" problem!
I DO have the issue that introduces Woody Woodpecker's "nephews" Nuthead and Splinter and at least one subsequent appearance of same--a while before the transformation of Nuthead to Knothead and Splinter to Woody's niece instead of nephew (another "knotty" problem, may I point out, at risk of seeming "knotty"). Interesting how these milestone events happened within the pages of "New Funnies" instead of the regular character titles.
And speaking of HDL (weren't we just?) I respectfully offer my own reminder that HDL were only made aware of Donald's participation in the "Little Booneheads" AFTER the kids already were Junior Woodchucks working on their merit badges. I don't think the story had a name, but it was one in the classic Barks style of drawing and lettering (late 40's to early 50's I'm guessing). In that story it was pretty evident that up until that point HDL had never heard of the "Little Booneheads" because one of them got it wrong and said "Little Boneheads?" in response. So if they heard about Donald's scouting experiences in their pre-Woodchuck days, they had forgotten by the time of the Barks merit badge story.
Thanks for the post, and I look forward to tying and unraveling more "knots" in the future.
Scarecrow:
You write: “In that story it was pretty evident that up until that point HDL had never heard of the "Little Booneheads" because one of them got it wrong and said "Little Boneheads?" in response. So if they heard about Donald's scouting experiences in their pre-Woodchuck days, they had forgotten by the time of the Barks merit badge story.”
Two possibilities here... Living in a world of constant turmoil, battles of wits, and grand adventures as HD&L do, it would be easy to forget something as insignificant as Donald’s scouting experiences – especially as he appears to have made little or nothing of them.
The other possibility is that when HD&L said "Little Boneheads?", they were just needling their uncle’s overblown scouting achievements.
In my decades of study of Dell and Gold Key Comics, I found that there was the most to learn about the Walter Lantz comics, largely because most of their “milestones” were never reprinted in the ‘60s and ‘70s, are were those of Disney, Warner Bros., etc. For instance…
Woody as a malcontented anarchist by John Stanley.
“Nuthead and Splinter”, both boys, just wandering into Woody’s life.
A family of Tigers regularly out to trap and eat Woody, Nuthead/Knothead and Splinter.
The actual captioned-explanation of the name-change of Nuthead to Knothead.
Splinter becoming a girl.
Tackhammer serving as Woody’s recurring “Neighbor Jones”.
Winnie’s comics debut as a bobby-soxer (as in her first cartoon appearance).
Andy Panda in a world of realistically drawn people.
Charlie Chicken actually hatching as a mischievous baby chick, taking over Andy Panda’s life, and growing to adulthood before our eyes over a series of stories.
Oswald adopting Floyd and Lloyd.
Chilly Willy being introduced as a guest character in the Homer Pigeon feature.
There were about three issues of NEW FUNNIES that had actual CREDITS in them!
…And probably more I can’t think of at the moment. I had no inkling of any of this (except Tackhammer, who had one reprint in a giant Woody comic in the ‘60s) until the ‘90s and into the ‘00s!
Some of this has been noted in my Blog posts, some not… but I find it fascinating that there was SO MUCH evolution of the Lantz comics that you’d never know about if you “came-in” during the mid-1950s or anytime beyond!
Post a Comment