Della/Dumbella/Thelma

DGE@ECN.egmont.com DGE at ECN.egmont.com
Sun Nov 4 20:40:45 CET 2001


	Hey, guys...

>> So, did [Don] invent the name Della /did you find it 
>> somewhere in American comic books /did you just take
>
>Exactly. The name "Dumbella" sounds very stupid, so he
>decided to rename her to "Della".

	Actually, Don didn't come up with the name Della.
	HDL appeared in comics before they appeared in cartoons. In their
first comic strip appearance (1937), it's Donald's sister "Della" who is
mentioned as being the boys' mother.
	When a cartoon came out in 1938 with the same idea, now the mother
was named Dumbella, presumably because someone thought this was funny
("dumbbell" = an idiot).
	I don't think the names exclude each other. Her name is Della, and
as a boy, Donald- never known for his subtlety- could jokingly have called
her Dumbella.

	David



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