The young Donald

Luca Boschi cnotw at zen.it
Mon Feb 12 14:06:07 CET 2001


Hello, Don, and all! 

Well, first of all, I must say that the idea of writing and drawing stories
with this "kid version" of Donald took place in Italy, some two years ago.
Only recently Egmont decided to go on with the project, while italian
stories of the young Donald, called "Paperino paperotto" (sort of "Don Li'l
Duck") are still published in "Topolino". The very first were written by
Paola Mulazzi (with a twist from Calvin & Hobbes vision of the reality), and
they were (very, very well) drawn by Barbucci.
I'm happy that you like 'em, Don!

>  I
> think I'd like 'em -- the art seems to be depicting a timeless small-town
> period which, to *my* eyes, looks very early-1930's-ish

Right!

>  It looks like they
> are doing it as I do with my stories where I set them in the 1950's,
> showing nothing beyond 1950's technology, but still just letting the
> readers decide for themselves when they want the story to take place.

So it is, for the Italian original stories, and I assume for the Egmont's,
too.

> Those of you who can read them -- what reason do they give for DD living
> with his Grandma?

No special explanation.

> My attitude to the several old (Strobl, I think) stories
> that show this is the simple explanation that DD spends the summers or
> other holidays on the grandparents' farm, which is how it was with many
> American kids in the early-mid 20th Century.

Yes, Strobl is the guy, but he put (with Vic Lockman as story man) an old
Grandpa close to Elviry. Your Humperdink? This time, Li'l Don spends all the
seasons at Grandma's Farm, and in school yime we can see the young (female)
teacher, young (interesting) classmates and so on.

Ciao!

Luca





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