DCML digest, Vol 1 #353 - 5 msgs

[RMorris306@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/15/00 7:05:58 AM, dcml-request at stp.ling.uu.se writes:

<< 
I guess I could be pegged as the Disney Comics fan who will go to his
grave trying to get recognition for some of the lesser known or not 
recognized minor recurring characters.  My favorites seem to be Goofy's
son, Minnie's twin nieces and her dog.  Goofy's son, now known best as 
Max, has come into his own and garnered his own fan-following as a result
of his revival in the animated series GOOF TROOP and the two theatrical 
films A GOOFY MOVIE and AN EXTREMELY GOOFY MOVIE, as well as his role in
the Christmas short on the direct to video MICKEY'SONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS.

Likewise, Fifi, Minnie's Pekingese pup has seen quite a lot of print in 
books, calendars and other merchandise of late, so she, too, has received
some noted recognition.  The folks at the Disney Stores even seem to know
who she is these days (this wasn't always true).

Finally, Minnie's niece are being given real, even "official" recognition
by the Disney Company!  A couple years ago the question of whether or not
Minnie had nieces came up in Disney's "Ask Dave" column in their official
"DISNEY MAGAZINE" (Fall 1999).  Dave Smith, Disney's official Archivist, 
answered in the affirmative naming Millie & Melody and their singular 
appearance in "The Late, Late Show" comic which appeared in the MICKEY 
MOUSE ALBUM #1.  The question recently came up AGAIN in the Winter 2000/1
same magazine column because a reader questioned the accuracy of Dave's
naming since Disney's Trivia Master, Kevin Neary, who has written several
"official trivia books" for the Disney Company listed their names as 
"Melinda & Melody". Dave's reply stated that the forth edition of that 
Ultimate Trivia Book misidentified "Melinda" and the true name is "Millie."
 >>

    Do Millie and Melody have a last name, a la Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse? 
Huey, Dewey and Louie are all Ducks, but the unstated implication (once 
acknowledged by Don Rosa and perhaps Carl Barks) that Della was never married 
to their father wouldn't really work in Mickey's...and especially Minnie's... 
more genteel circles.

    I'd wondered for some time who the little girl mouse in MICKEY'S 
CHRISTMAS CAROL was, since in that film all the Dickens characters were 
played by Disney regulars...Mickey as Bob Cratchit, Minnie as his wife, and 
either Morty or Ferdie as Tiny Tim...but even Disney experts couldn't 
identify the Cratchit daughter at the time. The casting was impeccable, even 
though it occurred to me that Black Pete might have been miscast as the Ghost 
of Christmas Yet to Come...Pete was mostly Mickey's villain, and despite the 
name, Mickey played a relatively minor character. In a film with Scrooge 
McDuck as the real star, I'd thought one of his villains, perhaps a Beagle 
Boy or Flintheart Glomgold, would be more appropriate...but of course none of 
those villains had been animated at that pre-DUCK TALES time, and would 
probably have completely baffled animation buffs. ("Flintheart WHO?")


Rich