DD's life in an eggshell

[Knut Hunstad]

Hello again!

>> [Donald's name]
>> was invented by Grandma after $crooge saying the baby reminded him of his 
>> old friend from Alaska: Ronald (anyone heard of him before?).

>In Holland, the old friend is a "Cowboy from California". The story was
>originally published when Ronald Reagan was USA president.

Together, those two explanations seem to be connected. But I must say I 
didn't quite get that point by reading the norwegian version!

About HDL: Guess I should have checked the archives first...

>> The rest of the story consists mainly of stand-up-comedian-like frames where 
>> he tells about his many travels, employments etc. I didn't find many 
>> references to classic storys here!
>
>The story is FULL of references to DD cartoons (WWII and others), Barks 
>stories and some stories my Rota himself. I haven't read the story for a 
>while, but I remember scenes with DD and a frog, DD bull fighting and DD
>in the mountains (referring to the forest fire story in Vacation Parade #1).

OK, I'll try to be more precise. You are right in correcting me, there are 
several scenes obiously related to some DD-movies, especially from the 
WWII-period. I even got a feeling I've seen two of the frames more or less 
the same way in some movie. What I meant was that there were very many 
scenes where I didn't see any resemblence to stories I can remember. True 
enough, Donald has had several of the jobs you see in this story. But I 
can't remember any of the scenes in the way they are told here. Anyone 
remember Donald ever sunk a Titanic-like ship at the dock while working at 
the shipyard? Donald meeting Dolly for the first time while he is running 
after HDL?

About DD and the frog: when you mention it, I _do_ remember some cartoon 
where he thinks a frog under his shirt is his heart. And I'm sure I have 
seen HDL save DD after almost drowning, too. Actally most of the scenes seem 
to me quite "likely", but not enough to recognize any (or more than a few) 
actual stories. I'd be interested in seeing if anyone could dig up some 
references to the stories they recognize here. Where did you see DD 
bullfighting like that, BTW?

>> All in all this sums up to beeing a pitiful attempt to invent a "true" story 
>> about DD, totally disregarding most of what has been common knowledge for a 
>> long time.

>Here I don't agree. There is no "common knowledge" disregarded, at least not
>European knowledge. I only heard on this mailing list that Grandma is _not_
>Scrooge's sister, and I'm sure everyone else in Holland (including the
>Dutch editor) thinks she _is_.

I remember when I was little some grown-up told me he thought the same. 
Since then I have been quite curious about this and I _do_ think I would 
have noticed if any such reference had been made in something I've read 
since then (probably about mid-70's). I can't remember seeing anything 
against it either, though. So I don't think that this is a common feeling in 
Norway. But I'll check this up in a norwegian comics newslist.

>Rota just didn't do his research as thoroughly as Rosa does.
>And you must admit: the story is beautifully drawn.

Yes and no. The parts where the frames are parts of a story are OK, but I 
don't like the long series of one-frame gags. I miss the details that make 
you see something new each time you read the story.

My point is that even if I might not quite be able to explain why, this 
story didn't give me that feeling of a good story when I first read it and 
not when I read it again after 10 years either. Here I must say that much 
might get lost in translation. Norwegian comic translators don't exactly 
have a high star in my books!

And my main objection still remains: why do civilized ducks suddenly build a 
nest in the wood and leave an egg there totally unattended? I think it's 
that start of the story that made me sceptic and negative to the whole story 
from the very beginning.

>--Harry.
>
>Harry         PTT Research       ()_()     Dutch Disney comics freak
>Fluks         Leidschendam        (_)      H.W.Fluks at research.ptt.nl
>
>              "Yeah... I've _heard_ of coral barques!"

Just curious: what's coral barques?

Knut Hunstad, Norwegian DD enthusiast
khun at veg.sintef.no