I'm no expert on the DONALD DUCK NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIP, famously written by Bob Karp and drawn by Al Taliaferro, but perhaps I've pinpointed something in a 1955 daily strip that was reprinted in WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES # 200 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: May, 1957).
(Click to enlarge!)
By the very nature of the gag itself, would this be the first appearance of Uncle Scrooge in the Donald Duck syndicated newspaper strip?
At the very least, it's not as if Scrooge's now-frequent visits to Donald's house were a regular occurrence at that point in the comic strip!
Scrooge McDuck, as created by Carl Barks for the Dell series of comic books, first appeared in 1947...
...And became so popular that he received HIS OWN comic book title in 1952!
Scrooge quickly became such a starring character in the Barks comic books that other Dell/Western Publishing writers and artists began using the character in different Dell comic books as well!
So it adds that, by 1955, Uncle Scrooge McDuck might very well have made his first crossover into the DONALD DUCK newspaper comic strip!
At the very least, it's not as if Scrooge's now-frequent visits to Donald's house were a regular occurrence at that point in the comic strip!
...And became so popular that he received HIS OWN comic book title in 1952!
Scrooge quickly became such a starring character in the Barks comic books that other Dell/Western Publishing writers and artists began using the character in different Dell comic books as well!
So it adds that, by 1955, Uncle Scrooge McDuck might very well have made his first crossover into the DONALD DUCK newspaper comic strip!
If so, Karp and Taliaferro have given him the perfect introductory line...
...Wouldn't you say?
15 comments:
According to Marcia Blitz in "Donald Duck" from Harmony Books (1979), Uncle Scrooge made his comic strip debut in 1964. However, this little factoid is contradicted six pages later when she presents the Sunday comic strip from January 24, 1960. (I would have been twenty-four days old then, just sayin'. Yes, I was a New Year's baby!) This Sunday strip is listed as the first appearance of Uncle Scrooge in the Sunday comics. So given this hard data, I'm not sure where the 1964 date came from.
I believe you are entirely correct about the 1955 strip as the first appearance of Uncle Scrooge. Certainly looks like a debut. It wasn't the last time that the Taliaferro team would introduce a character via a portrait. The 1961 first comic strip appearance of Ludwig Von Drake made similar use of a hanging wall portrait to showcase the character's arrival. This strip is referenced directly below the debut Sunday strip showcasing Uncle Scrooge.
So here's my guess, based on my limited knowledge of the day to day life of the Donald Duck comic strip: I would figure that the 1955 appearance was probably the first time Scrooge appeared in the comics. While five years seems a long time between debuting in the dailies and in the Sundays, it's not impossible that this could have been the case. Which implies that Scrooge in the comic strips was not in those days as recurring a character as he had become in the comic books and later would be in both the comic strip and comic books. So maybe Marcia's source informed her of the 1964 date because it was possibly around that time when Scrooge started appearing as a regular strip character and not just an occasional visitor. Purely an educated guess, but at least it's a theory that incorporates all of the facts.
I have read complaints about the way Donald was drawn in the strip during the 60's, but that was the comic strip Donald that I grew up with, and I never had a problem with it. Barks was giving us a slightly different Donald in the comic books, actually with some variations depending on the era, and his version was fine with me, too. So if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and can throw a temper tantrum at a moment's notice, it must be...
Careful, Scroogie, your nephew is frisking you!
I suppose there's probably a way to do a search on INDUCKS for the character "Uncle Scrooge" in the dailies and see if there's any earlier appearance...but I myself don't know how to do it. As you say, if this is his first appearance in the dailies, that's an appropriate exchange between him and Donald!
The line itself is great, but it clashes with Scrooge getting to Donald's house via taxi…
WOW! Take a day off, and the comments coming rolling in!
THANK YOU! You know how much I appreciate your contributions!
Let’s take ‘em in order…
Scarecrow:
First… Happy New Year – and Birthday to Come! Hey, it beats receiving a “Happy Belated Birthday” card!
If, by “Marcia Blitz in ‘Donald Duck’ from Harmony Books (1979)”, you refer to the book that was known in fandom (at least the corners of fandom I inhabited in the early 1980s) as “Donald Duck Blue” (and I’m certain it is), I’ve had that book since about 1981 – but, apparently never read it closely enough to notice that discrepancy! …And shame on me for that!
Though I’m not quite ready to cast “equal or greater shame” on Marcia Blitz (whose knowledge on “All Things Ducky” most likely falls somewhere between Dr. Erika Fuchs and Erin Brady – one would assume, or at least hope, closer to Dr. Fuchs) because this book was prepared during a period of limited general knowledge.
So many of the accumulated facts (and reasonably educated guesses) that we so take for granted today were not common knowledge back then. (…As I even point out in this Blog post on Popeye!)
It was through books such as Marcia Blitz’s and Les Daniels’ that we learned this kinda stuff! That, and if you were fortunate enough to establish connections within what was a MUCH smaller and tighter fandom collective!
Even today, with the methods of mass communication available to us, we are STILL learning new things all the time – especially in the realm of Western Publishing… and, if I may be permitted a moment of pride, even at this humble Blog – let alone the vast accumulation of knowledge found at INDUCKS and Grand Comics Database!
So, my ducky sailor’s cap, or tycoon’s top hat, remains off to Marcia Blitz for the type of effort that would have been remarkable at the time she delivered it – and still holds great value today!
Also note that, even this revelation about Uncle Scrooge and the Karp and Taliaferro strip is not one I recall seeing anywhere (though INDUCKS may have it buried somewhere, if anyone wishes to go hunting for it) – and came about completely by accident, as I was perusing my copy of WDC&S # 200 (and other issues in that range) in order to prepare the Text Piece for the third Fantagraphics Disney Masters Paul Murry volume… Coming in 2020.
Obviously, even if noted elsewhere – or if there IS an earlier Scrooge appearance in the strip, of which I’m unaware, I felt it worthy to share with all of you right here!
Shifting gears, my feelings on Taliaferro’s rendition of Donald Duck in the later 1950s and 1960s was that the poses and expressions were limited… But I eventually disabused myself of THAT notion, once Bob Gregory began drawing his (otherwise good) Duck stories – and I saw how VERY LIMITED a Duck comics artist could be! (…As opposed to Kay Wright, who was more “bad” than “limited”!)
JoeC:
You write: “Careful, Scroogie, your nephew is frisking you!”
Well, perhaps like Batman, in his earlier days Scrooge also carried a gun!
Elaine:
It certainly READS like it would be his first appearance in the strip.
The timeline also works… 1947 (creation), 1952 (receives his own comic book title), 1955 (becomes a regular part of the comic strip – which comes from a completely different production area, and would take time for such a crossover/break-out character to take hold).
But, I invite anyone reading this to confirm or deny!
Shifting-still-more-gears, while many of us may be dreaming of a white Christmas (I don’t ‘cause it means shoveling!), I’m also dreaming of a review Blog post on a certain Christmas-type comic (perhaps even TWO of them, he winks – “Can you WINK with words?”) and am presently working to make that dream a reality.
Ho-Ho-Ho! And for TC (who I hope is also reading this), I’ve gone as far as to significantly update the GCD index for QUICK DRAW McGRAW # 14, which should form the basis for a new year review of that issue! Ho-Ho-Ho!
Gosh, I’m feeling JOLLY right now! …Perhaps someone left out some cookies! Let's go see, after one more response!
Achille:
You write: “The line itself is great, but it clashes with Scrooge getting to Donald's house via taxi…!”
As the strip in question was published in 1955, it also clashes with MY line in “Captured in Bananaland” (Fantagraphics Disney Masters Volume 8 Romano Scarpa – Page 26, Panel 2) “He hasn’t paid for a taxi ride since 1953!”, referencing this gag by Carl Barks!
Now, lemme at those cookies!
Joe:
According to Inducks it would seem that this strip in 1951 (https://inducks.org/story.php?c=YD+51-02-12) is U$’s first appearance in the DD daily. However your senses about the ‘55 strips being U$’s debut weren’t too far off, his actual debut had a similar portrait gag! U$ appears in the next few strips and funnily enough, based on the convo in the comment section, they happen to be about his preferred modes of transportation:
https://inducks.org/story.php?c=YD+51-02-13
https://inducks.org/story.php?c=YD+51-02-14
I’m just curious but does anyone know how far in advance Karp/Taliaferro worked on the strips before they were published? It would be interesting to know exactly when they decided to add Scrooge to the strip.
"A taxi-ride in 1955 which no longer happens later than a 1953 one in the 2019 translation of a report about Scrooge's life dating to 1976? Now that sounds like… that sounds like the work of…
(dramatic puff of spoke; a bescaled, beteethed silhouette with glowing yellow eyes materializes in front of Joe Torcivia's desk)
correct! The Collective of the Retconning Crocodiles!
What that mysterious Taxi driver knew, and why we wanted that knowledge suppressed, we—don't actually rightly remember. Because we erased the secret from Time too. I think it had something to do with… a hotel? Some sugar? Forget it. The point is, we long ago completely removed him from the spatio-temporal continuum. If you ask McDuck today, he got to his nephew's house on foot on that day in 1955.
And before you accuse us gators of being immortal scoundrels, I'm sure Scrooge and his wallet would thank us for that, if they could! Do you have any idea how much the Mysterious Taxi Driver charged in those days, even for something as short as the trip between Killmotor Hill and Donald Duck's house?"
@Joe: Very interesting! I hadn't caught that continuity reference! I've now added it to the "Continuity" section of the Wiki page.
Achille:
Are you sure you NEED to do that, now that the Crocks have taken care of it?
I guess so, as it's still continuity between Barks and Scarpa (and me).
Crocks:
You write (presumably, with a very close-by keyboard to accommodate your short arms): “The point is, we long ago completely removed [the mysterious Taxi driver] from the spatio-temporal continuum. If you ask McDuck today, he got to his nephew's house on foot on that day in 1955.”
WHEW! I feel much better about that! Now, my script for "Captured in Bananaland” will forever stand as canon! Thank you!
Clapton:
First, a hearty welcome back!
Very interesting stuff! Scrooge first appeared in the strip in 1951? That’s a year before he was regarded as popular enough to achieve his own comic book title!
Though, by then, he was definitely a force in the Carl Barks comic book stories! We may never know how far in advance Karp and Taliaferro worked – or when the decision was made to add Scrooge to the strip (unless INDUCKS has THAT somewhere in their Jr. Woodchucks Guidebook as well) – but it’s nice to know that the American comic books once held such sway with other areas of the Disney organization! So different from today, where they’ve become a dumping ground for inferior presentations of (usually, but not always – “My First (Cough!) Millions”) good existing European stories.
Here, for your ease of reading, are Clapton’s two links.
Taliaferro Scrooge 1
Taliaferro Scrooge 2
Interesting that neither of these have (as of yet) been reprinted either in a US comic book, or collected edition. …Perhaps no one recognized their importance?
So, maybe I’ve identified the FIRST APPEARANCE OF SCROOGE IN THE DAILY STRIP… that appeared IN an American comic book, or collected edition. …That’s gotta be worth a nickel or two, maybe?
…Or how ‘bout some more cookies?
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