DCML Digest, Vol 54, Issue 10

[David Gerstein]

	Gilles,

> I remember reading an article once (actually a scanned one-page  
> article, in
> english) explaining that at some point, in a publication of the  
> comic book
> version of the Silly Symphony "The Wise Little Hen" (a recent one,  
> I think),
> they renamed Donald Duck into "Daniel Duck", probably because his  
> early
> appearance would puzzle the kids...

	This renaming actually came in the storybook retelling "Mrs.  
Cackle's Corn." This was published first in the children's book  
MICKEY MOUSE AND HIS FRIENDS (1937), and later reprinted in the  
omnibus WALT DISNEY'S STORY LAND (various editions, 1970s-90s). The  
Hen became Katie Cackle, with Peter Pig renamed Patsy.
	On Page 20 of Gemstone's MICKEY AND THE GANG: CLASSIC STORIES IN  
VERSE, I described the renaming like this:

	"[The Good Housekeeping adaptation of THE WISE LITTLE HEN] was  
expanded into a full-length prose story twice: first for Mickey Mouse  
and His Friends (1937), a storybook published by Thomas Nelson and  
Sons, and then for Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories 18 (1942).  
Interestingly, both stories’ authors avoided identifying the Duck  
star as Donald. Mickey Mouse author Jean Ayer renamed him “Daniel,”  
with Peter becoming “Patsy” for good measure. WDC&S called Donald  
simply “the Duck” and erased him from Tom Wood’s vignettes.  
Presumably, the goal was to avoid confusion with the mature version  
of Donald visible elsewhere in the publications."

	But hey, I'm not the only one to have written about this subject!  
Bruce Hamilton beat me to it in an old "Year That Was" article in a  
1990s Gladstone comic. I'm not sure which one; an Inducks search  
didn't immediately turn it up.

	Best, David

--
David Gerstein
ramapith at mail.dk • ramapith at verizon.net
http://www.cartoonresearch.com/gerstein