Speculations on Ludwig von Drake and Matilda between 1930 and 1961...

[Goofy313g at aol.com]

Here is a little compilation of suggestions about the life of the two 
European members of the Duck Family, Ludwig von Drake and Matilda McDuck, between 
1930 and the early 1960's :


After the quarrel between Scrooge and his sisters in 1930, Hortense, 
Quackmore, together with Donald, Della and Matilda, leave Duckburg for a city not very 
far (as shown in Lo$). Soon after, Donald is left to Grandma's farm, where 
he'll be raised by Grandma and Grandpa Duck, (as shown in Strobl's "The Good Old 
Daze", the tv-show "This is your life, Donald Duck", and its comicbook 
adaptation), as he was as unbearable as Huey, Dewey and Louie in their youth, and 
the farm is a place where he'll work hard and calm down his temper. (There's 
also the book "he Life of Donald Duck", in which we learn that Donald didn't know 
he had a sister until Dumbella sent him the nephews... I don't consider it as 
a serious source, but I'm keeping the idea of Donald and Della having a 
separate childhood, and also liked the idea of Hortense, Quackmore and Della, the 
three characters who have an uncertain future, staying together)...

Matilda, realising her sister, even though she doesn't have a perfect life, 
succeeded and had a husband and two kids, while she's still an old maid, 
(except maybe a brief date with Goostave Gander, a residual information from Barks' 
1950's Duck Family Tree), decides to react and leaves for Vienna, where she'll 
follow botanic studies...

There she meets Professor Ludwig von Drake, whom she marries short after (as 
suggested by Don Rosa's unpublished sketches for his family tree, as well as 
"The Little Big Book of Disney").
Only after she realizes that Ludwig has roots in Duckburg (In "Duckburg, 
USA", it's told that Grandma's aunt married a Hofrat von Drake, from Vienna, which 
I consider as Ludwig's grandpa... This is a contestable source, as it's only 
in the German version, but in the original version of "The Family Tree Spree", 
we're explicitly told that Ludwig and Donald have common ancestors. Also, the 
presence of his cousin Frederico von Pato, which I translated Friedrich von 
Drake, in two Brazilian stories about the History of Duckburg, proves that he 
indeed has roots here), which makes an additionnal bond between them... 

Matilda nevertheless comes to Duckburg from time to time, as in "A Letter 
from Home", she seems to know Donald well, and not only by mail, and doesn't 
hesitate in showing authority and spanking him when necessary! Maybe she even 
stayed a bit longer after Grandpa Duck's death, around 1936, and helped Grandma 
get through this, which would be another reason why she seems to have played a 
part in Donald's education. (I've been asked : why the hell would she spend 
some time at Grandma's while they're not directly related?! I'd say that once 
you've tasted her cranberry pies, you definitely belong to the family forever! 
Even Mickey Mouse calls her Grandma!). Ludwig was to busy to come to Duckburg 
with her, and never met the family until 1961...

1939 : WW2! Ludwig and Matilda stay in Vienna, and Matilda will never get 
back to Duckburg as she knows from the papers that Scrooge went back in business 
and public life between 1947 and 1951, when he renovated the money bin... 
Before 1947, he was recluse in his manor, but after this date, she's more likely 
to meet him...

In 1948, as suggested in "The Old Castle's secret", Scottie McTerrier dies, 
leaving McDuck Castle without a keeper... Donald secretly warns Matilda through 
a letter... Matilda then decides to move back into the Castle, together with 
Ludwig, who is often out for work. (Matilda couldn't find anybody else as 
satisfied as Scottie to watch over the castle, and above all the Templars 
treasure!). That might also be an occasion for them both to flee horrible memories of 
the War. Scrooge knows nothing about her presence there...

In 1955, as shown in "A Letter From Home", 25 years after the quarrel, 
Scrooge and Matilda are reunited again, Matilda forgives Scrooge, and both reconcile 
with eachother. The Templars treasures is discovered... Ludwig wasn't met 
here, probably on a lecture tour..

A few years later, Matilda moves back to Duckburg, willing to catch up with 
wasted time.
 She's followed by Ludwig in 1961, as shown in "Duckburg, USA", He doesn't 
know Donald, Daisy, Grandma, Scrooge and the other Ducks yet. Matilda possibly 
died a few years later. The McDuck castle remains without new keepers  and is 
whether vandalized as shown in Barks' "the hound of the whiskervilles", from 
1960.

*

There's just one problem : "A little something special", in which the 50th 
anniversary of Scrooge's arrival in Duckburg (1902 according to the Lo$) is 
celebrated, must happen in 1952, and Ludwig can be briefly sen in it, together 
with the other Duck Family members! I always thought this 1952 date was much too 
early, while trying to class Barks/Rosa stories in chrono-logical order : 
- In it, all the Barks stories with Magica and Flinty, the Rosa stories with 
Goldie, seem to have already happened! 
- Moreover, there's the machine made by Gyro, digging in Killmotor's hill, 
which supposes the story happens after "Christmas for Schacktown+the few month 
Scrooge lived with Donald+Gyro's 1st invention" : the killmotor Hill wouldn't 
have resisted to this machine if it was still "empty", so the story happens 
after the cavern has been re-filled. 
- Duckburg seems to know Scrooge very well too, while I think he hasn't been 
back in real active business life and back living in the renovated money bin 
before 1951 (while the "annual corporate reconfiguration", "not my favorite 
time of the year", suggests that Scrooge was back in business for several years).
- Then, the presence of frames with pictures of Fergus and Matilda on 
Scrooge's walls would imply he already reconciliated with Matilda [?]
- There's also  the autographed photograph of Mickey Mouse, which might mean 
story might have happened a few years after 1955, the first year of the Mickey 
Mouse Club tv show, whith which Mickey's carreer might have took a much more 
popular, famous, and maybe philosophic turn (at least for Duckburg 
inhabitants)


So this is really a problematic date, while I really don't think Don Rosa 
could have found a better idea  for using the "50th anniversary" thing... I'd say 
it's rather the 50th anniversary of a date around 1912, at which McDuck's 
money would have been  used to finance a really big operation that was the real 
beginning of Duckburg's development, which will later make it a "glorious city 
economically fueled by McDuck investments"... Moreover this investment could 
only have been lead by Scrooge's sisters as he wasn't seen in Duckburg before 
1930 : that might be a reason why Scrooge in this story looks more irritated 
than proud, as he won't admit that's an initiative of his sisters that provoked 
his fame in Duckburg, and that this commeroration is the one of THEIR 
success...  This story would then happen in 1962...


Gilles R. Maurice
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