Barks/Gottfredson

[Rob Klein]

Regarding the Gottfredson "long stories" in WDC & S Nr. 2 & 3:
Each of those issues had a single portion of a long Gottfredson Mickey 
serialised adventure from the King Features daily newspaper strips.  I am not 
sure, but I believe this was a continuation of the story which began in "Mickey 
Mouse Magazine", before it change to "Walt Disney's Comics and Stories" with 
the October 1940 issue.  I believe there were no other "stories" in those two 
issues.  I think all the other comics were single-strip daily or whole page 
Sunday strips.

For Ola: Admiral David Farragut was a famous officer in the U.S. Navy during 
the U.S. Civil War during the 1860s.  He held the post of Admiral since 1866.  
He was famous for death defying manuevering of his ships under heavy canon 
fire. His famous quote: "Damn the torpedoes! - Full speed ahead!" He was known 
for his toughness and tenacity as an enemy.  I DO NOT, however, believe that 
Carl directly used the Admiral's name as a parody for the character of the 
feisty bird.  That is  too simple for his style.  I believe that one of his ex-
colleagues in the Disney story department must have had a nasty pet named 
Farragut (who WAS named after the Admiral because of the pet's feistiness). I 
have no evidence of such, but the stories that Carl told me, and the books I've 
read about the zany studio artists seem to fit that scenario ((A good book with 
such information and remembrances is: "Walt Disney and Assorted Other 
Characters", by Jack Kinney(Disney animator and storyboard artist)).  Remember 
that many pet and secondary character names came from pets or friends or 
relatives of the Disney staff (e.g. Taliaferro's dog and mother-in-law).

Brutopia was clearly meant to be a parody of the Soviet Union.  The "Leader" of 
Brutopia in the 1957 U.S. story was undoubtedly meant to be a slightly-more-
mean-looking Nikita Kruschev (the current Premier of that nation). As Calisota 
was meant not to be either California or Minnesota, Brutopia was not meant to 
coincide with the land area of the Soviet Union.  If Calisota is "between" 
California and Minnesota, then Brutopia should only be in the "general area" of 
the Soviet Union.

Monsieur Mattressface may have come from the idea that the wormy character's  
long, scaggily beard looked as if it could be used for mattress stuffing.  In 
the l800s (and likely very early 1900s) poor farmers who lived on the praries 
and in remote rural areas could not afford to buy mattresses for their beds.  
Store bought mattresses were made of feathers, which were expensive.  They made 
their own, simple wood beds, and used what materials were available to them. 
Pooerer people even sometimes used hay (or perhaps even animal hair???). The 
Barks family in Merrill, oregan were, indeed that poor.  Could Barks have 
looked back on his youth with a sense of humour, in thinking that the scraggily 
beard of his character reminded him of hay or animal hair?

Regarding "The Screaming Cowboy":  I am convinced that we have finally found 
the missing component to Barks' source(s) of inspiration for that song title 
and lyrics.  "The Dying Cowboy", with its similar opening lyrics was 
UNDOUBTEDLY at least part of the inspiration.  "The Screaming Cowboy is a 
parody of that melancholy tone that many of the "Lonesome Cowboys" sang in the 
late 1800s, and the early 1900s.  The other element may have been also a parody 
of the newly commercialised cowboy singing style of the late 1920s - 
1940s "Singing Cowboys" on Cinema films.  They often "wailed", "moaned", almost 
crying.  This often transitioned into or from their yodeling.  As a youth, Carl 
could certainly have heard the cowboys on the ranches in his valley sing the 
traditional "Dying Cowboy"; or he could have heard versions of it on the radio 
or records.  He may, or may not have heard the 1935 parody novelty song "The 
Crying Cowboy" (backed by "The Laughing Cowboy" on OKEH records). My American 
Uncle had that record (he lived in Chicago).  Barks could have heard it while 
he lived in Minneapolis, or when he moved to Los Angeles to work for Disney.  I 
remember thinking the song was very funny (so I KNOW it was a comedy record). 
It might well have been a parody of "The Dying Cowboy". Unfortunately, I cannot 
remember the words (I only heard it once,- in 1953).  As it was one of his 
favourite items in life, HE WAS BURIED WITH IT!! We have not yet been able to 
find a recording of it (I can't remember the artist's name).  But, I believe 
that it is more likely that "The Dying Cowboy was the original main source of 
his inspiration;- and that the loud and wailing style of some the film cowboys 
formed the other element of the parody.  It seems to me that Barks usually did 
not make simple parodies, - but usually cleverly combined at least two, often 
unrelated sources.

For Gilles Maurice: The names of the old French Provinces have, for the most 
part, not been translated to "Anglicised" forms for English readers.  
Generally, they  have the same spelling (or at least sound), and sometimes, 
only have minor spelling changes. 

For example: Anjou, Poitou, Artois, Isle de France, Champagne, Alsace, 
Bourbonnais, Navarre, Provence, Franche Comte', Lorraine and many others employ 
the French spellings.  Bretagne is changed to "Brittany", Gascogne to Gascony, 
Normandie to Normandy, Picardie to Picardy, Savoie to Savoy, Dauphine' to 
Dauphiny, Flandre to Flanders, Langue d'Oc to Languedoc and a few others with 
minor changes. 

Rob Klein   


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