Thierry: Taliaferro strips

[Fluks, H.W.]

Thierry (Sunday, March 12, 2000 5:00 AM):

> One that (apparently?) *is* a problem is the Donald daily 
> strip of March 3 1938.
> I think that in the few recent reprints available, the text 
> was changed. I have never seen the original strip myself, 
> so I can only make guesses.
> Apparently Donald is throwing a stone (?) to a person who 
> is not shown. I'm not sure if that person is supposed to be 
> of African origin in the original strip.

Actually, this strip has been discussed here before, in 1994! (Is it *that*
long ago? Gee...)

I asked about the strip, describing the Dutch translation.
This is what David Gerstein wrote:

<<
	Harry explained that "Donald is at a fair, where one can throw
3 balls for a dime to a clown ('hit the clown'). Donald throws a rock 
instead of a ball, and gets dozens of balls thrown at him. The clown 
is not shown in the panels; just Donald."

	OOOW!  I know right off the bat what must be wrong with this
one!  You'd think it's the concept of throwing a rock at someone, but
Disney did permit a strip (the first one in DD 281) where Donald threw
objects at a guy down in a manhole, some of which clearly hit him in
the head (although the impact wasn't shown).

	In the 1920s and 1930s, one of the most unfortunate things
about American carnivals was that they would have a booth where a man
in blackface stood with his head through a wall, the sign reading
(PLEASE:  DO NOT TAKE THIS PERSONALLY) "hit the nigger."  Really.
Racism was really this blatant!  I wouldn't be surprised if in the
original English, this was the text that was on the sign.  This is
probably why the strip was not allowed.  (Could Gladstone retouch the
sign?  I'd guess Disney wouldn't allow it, as they didn't allow the
letter from sister Della to be partly rewritten to make the 1st app of
HDL permissable either.)

	This strip is most probably in WDC&S #2. [or #1 or #3.]
>>

This is what Don Rosa answered:

<<
DAVID:
	I checked [WDC] #1, and there was the DD strip in question!
	You're pretty darn slick, you little rascal! You were RIGHT!
Well, of course, no Disney comic strip even in 1939 or wotever would use
the word "nigger"; [..] But you were
close enough -- the sign on the circus sideshow booth said "AFRICAN
DODGER - 3 balls, 5 cents" The meaning is clear, eh? They didn't mean a
Boer.
>>

Your DCML archivist, 8-)
--Harry.