Barks writer of McSavage's Parrot gag

[Daniel van Eijmeren]

ROB KLEIN, 02-12-2000:

> Regarding Daniel van Eijmeren's comment that Barks submitted a 1-page
> gag which was (originally) slated for DD OS 356 in 1951, and it may
> be the Parrot gag penciled and inked by Frank mcSavage:
> Even though a gag or story is slated for a given comic book issue
> before, or at the time of submission, it may be diverted to use in
> an earlier or later issue of that title or even another title; or it
> may even end up unused.  This happened several (or even many) times
> at Western during the 1950s and 1960s.

This reminds me that I still have to investigate when and how many
times a certain work was printed out of order. There are certain
periods in which there isn't much relation between submission dates
and publishing dates at all. From memory, 1958 was such a period.
I'm curious what the reason for that could have been.

As far as I know, the case of the parrot gag is a unique one, because
Barks himself identified it as "possibly the one".

According to Barks' administration, OS 348 also would have contained
a Barks gag, but in that case no Barks note is mentioned on which
gag it could be.

So, maybe the OS 356 parrot gag rang a bell when Barks was identifying
his stories for Barrier's book? While the gags in OS 348 didn't?

In a private mail, someone told me that Barks may might be wrong on
this gag because of having made a parrot gag for US 61.

I don't know what to think of this. I guess that, because of helping
Barrier with a list of his work, Barks must have seen both gags
within a short time, which could make such a mistake less likely.
Also, the US 61 parrot gag art is known to have survived. I don't know
if it was in Barks' possesion when he was making his list for Barrier
at the end of the 1960s. But if that was the case, then I think it
could possibly rule out having mistaken the gag for the OS 356 one.
(Of course, this still doesn't mean that the OS 356 parrot really
was by Barks.)

> We really have no way to know if any of the 3 gags that were drawn
> by McSavage in DD 356 were written by Barks given the information
> we have now.  Perhaps someone can ask Chase Craig, who (I believe)
> was Barks editor at that time.  But, he is 85 years old, and
> probably wouldn't be able to remember a single gag submitted
> 50 years ago, out of many thousands that were printed during his
> editorship.

Is Chase Craig still alive? Then why are there, as far as I know, no
interviews with him about Carl Barks? Maybe he still remembers what
was cut from, for example, Mythtic Mystery"? 

Maybe he can at least give some general information on Western
and being Barks' editor in general?

Also, has he ever been asked about having some original/unpublished
Barks art in his possession? 

> Regarding Daniel's statement that the Donald would ask the Parrot
> to repeat the same line:  I definately agree, but that does not
> mean that all of Donald's balloon's had to be identical (as I've
> demonstrated in my own redrawn version - which I hope will soon
> be available for DCML members to see on a website).

If I understood you right in private mail, you told me to wait for
a colour version. (My emails bounced when replying to you. I'll
try it again after finishing this email.)

> I believe Donald would add comments of disgust and pleading
> along with his repitition of the desired Parrot's line.  

I think this already being shown by Donald's poses and the bold
lettering. So, I think adding some pleading into the dialogue
would take the reader's attention away on what's happening in the gag.

What do you think of the US 61 parrot gag? From memory, the same
line is repeated 6 times within 4 panels. It's an art only gag, but
apparently Barks did not object to it when drawing the gag. He is
known to have rewritten art only work when he didn't like the
script. As this rewriting mostly hasn't been identified, it remains
guessing if he always did that, but still the repetition in the
US 61 parrot gag does not look odd to me. (A matter of opinion,
of course.)

> I agree that it is interesting to postulate on this subject,
> but we will never know for sure, until we get more concrete
> information.

Agreed. Still, knowing that some unidentified gags may be by
Barks, makes me feel like Scrooge going on treasure hunt. :-)


Best wishes,

--- Daniel

"Those tracks show that the spies lurked outside your window
sixty-three minutes ago!"