Post by Monkey_Feyerabend on Jan 25, 2017 16:15:53 GMT
Oh, interesting, I did not know this interview, tks!
Ah yes, actually I knew that Granma' Duck was first put on stage by Karp. Just a few weeks ago I was reading the introduction written by Beccattini for the third volume of the IDW library of Taliaferro's strips. And most of the essaie was about the birth of Granma' Duck. I do not know why I made this confusion. Anyhow, the first appearance of Granma Duck was in a portrait on the wall of Donald's house in a Sunday, if I remember correctly. So the idea itself of Granma' may come, if not from Osborne, at least from Taliaferro himself.
Ah yes, actually I knew that Granma' Duck was first put on stage by Karp. Just a few weeks ago I was reading the introduction written by Beccattini for the third volume of the IDW library of Taliaferro's strips. And most of the essaie was about the birth of Granma' Duck. I do not know why I made this confusion.
I don't have these books, what does Becattini's article says? I guess it confirms that she is based on Taliaferro's mother-in-law.
Anyhow, the first appearance of Granma Duck was in a portrait on the wall of Donald's house in a Sunday, if I remember correctly. So the idea itself of Granma' may come, if not from Osborne, at least from Taliaferro himself.
A bigger image of a panel with the photo reveals that "GRANDMA" is written under the photo. Inducks lists her as "unknown Grandma", but I think most readers view her as the classic Grandma Duck.
Both the Sunday page and the daily strip are credited to Bob Karp (plot) and Al Taliaferro (art).
To say it all, a "Grandma Duck" was mentioned as early as 23 September 1934, in the second Sunday page of the comic adaptation of The Wise Little Hen (the story has a total of 14 Sunday pages):
This story was written by Ted Osborne and drawn by Al Taliaferro. However, I think that it would be a stretch to say that this comic is the first mention of Grandma Duck: here she is not identified as Donald's grandmother or even a relative of Donald, so she could be anybody and I don't think Taliaferro and/or Karp had this story in mind while creating the Grandma Duck we know.
In support of this idea, there's the fact that Taliaferro never called her "Grandma Duck", he only called her "Grandma", and the name "Grandma Duck" was first used in the 1950 comic Donald's Grandma Duck. On the other hand, when showing a photo of Donald's grandfather in a 1948 strip, Taliaferro wrote "GRANDPA DUCK" rather than "GRANDPA" under the photo.
Last Edit: Mar 17, 2017 19:43:29 GMT by drakeborough
On the other hand, when showing a photo of Donald's grandfather in a 1948 strip, Taliaferro wrote "GRANDPA DUCK" rather than "GRANDPA" under the photo.
On the other hand, when showing a photo of Donald's grandfather in a 1948 strip, Taliaferro wrote "GRANDPA DUCK" rather than "GRANDPA" under the photo.
Inducks has two separate pages for "Grandpa Duck" and "Humperdink Duck", and yet the character in the photo is not listed as either of them (in fact, he is not listed at all).
Inducks has two separate pages for "Grandpa Duck" and "Humperdink Duck", and yet the character in the photo is not listed as either of them (in fact, he is not listed at all).
I didn't know this. I thought they collaborated on the plots. This is interesting to know.
Gottfredson was the only writer of Mickey's strips (plot & script) from 1930 to November 1932, that is for two and a half years. His last solo story is Mickey Mouse Sails for Treasure Island. From November 1932 to June 1943 he wrote all alone all the plots, letting others do the script, mainly Ted Osborne from 1933 to the beginning of 1938, and Merril De Maris from 1938 to 1943. Then from 1943 everything was signed by Bill Walsh (the plots too, not only the scripts).
You have put De Maris in your list of best writers, but not Osborne. This puzzles me: do you really consider Mickey's stories from 1938-1943 more interesting than those from 1933-1938? Personally, I would rather say the opposite. In any case, as I did in my list one should consider them in pair with Gottfredson. The fact that Floyd wrote the plot and did the final pencil makes me think that he often had the final word also on the script/staging of the gag. Not to minimaze the importance of Osborne and De Maris, of course: actually, you can see the breakthrough when in late '32 Disney assigned those scripters to Floyd...the staging of the gags improved considerably, in my opinion! By the way, Ted Osborne was also the one plotting and scripting all sindacated silly symphonies (he's the father of HDL and Granma Duck!), all Donald's sundays and all Mickey's sundays. So I consider him a key writer in the history of Disney comics. Maybe, in some perspective, the most important after Barks and Gottfredson.
I simply forgot to add Osborne. I like the stories from 1935-39 best. Then 1940-41. Then 1934, then 1942-44, then 1945-48, then 1949-51, then 1933, then 1952, then 1953-55, then 1932, then 1931, then, last and least, 1930. So, Floyd Gottfredson and Ted Osborne should have both made my Top 10 writers (Gottfredson in my Top 5.
Inducks has two separate pages for "Grandpa Duck" and "Humperdink Duck", and yet the character in the photo is not listed as either of them (in fact, he is not listed at all).
So, one of Donald's grandfathers fought in The US Civil War from 1861-65!
Barks' first use of "Grandma" was in the 1945 Goodyear Christmas Giveaway. But that character didn't look like Grandma Duck, who lives on the farm. And there's no evidence of her living on a farm in that story, and the full name, "Grandma Duck" was not used. So, THIS Grandma MAY be Donald's grandmother, Donald's OTHER grandmother (If the Grandma on the farm IS, indeed, Donald's grandmother), or, she could be one of Donald's nephews' grandmothers.
Barks' first use of "Grandma" was in the 1945 Goodyear Christmas Giveaway. But that character didn't look like Grandma Duck, who lives on the farm. And there's no evidence of her living on a farm in that story, and the full name, "Grandma Duck" was not used. So, THIS Grandma MAY be Donald's grandmother, Donald's OTHER grandmother (If the Grandma on the farm IS, indeed, Donald's grandmother), or, she could be one of Donald's nephews' grandmothers.
Please leave "Donald's OTHER grandmother" out of this...that would be Scrooge's mother back in Scotland.
I suspect that the one from the 1945 story, that didn't look like Grandma Duck, was just called "grandma" as an honorific.
Barks' first use of "Grandma" was in the 1945 Goodyear Christmas Giveaway. But that character didn't look like Grandma Duck, who lives on the farm. And there's no evidence of her living on a farm in that story, and the full name, "Grandma Duck" was not used. So, THIS Grandma MAY be Donald's grandmother, Donald's OTHER grandmother (If the Grandma on the farm IS, indeed, Donald's grandmother), or, she could be one of Donald's nephews' grandmothers.
Please leave "Donald's OTHER grandmother" out of this...that would be Scrooge's mother back in Scotland.
I suspect that the one from the 1945 story, that didn't look like Grandma Duck, was just called "grandma" as an honorific.
Well, if she wasn't Donald's or his nephews' grandmother, why were they going to her house for Christmas dinner??? If she was not grandmother to ANY of them, why were they her ONLY guests? If she was their great aunt or just a familyt friend, why were they having Christmas dinner with her, and no one else was there???
Barks' first use of "Grandma" was in the 1945 Goodyear Christmas Giveaway. But that character didn't look like Grandma Duck, who lives on the farm. And there's no evidence of her living on a farm in that story, and the full name, "Grandma Duck" was not used. So, THIS Grandma MAY be Donald's grandmother, Donald's OTHER grandmother (If the Grandma on the farm IS, indeed, Donald's grandmother), or, she could be one of Donald's nephews' grandmothers.
I agree that it seems very unlikely that Barks intended this character to be the same as Grandma Duck from Taliaferro's strips--it is even specified that this Grandma lives in a regular house, not a farm.
I simply forgot to add Osborne. I like the stories from 1935-39 best. Then 1940-41. Then 1934, then 1942-44, then 1945-48, then 1949-51, then 1933, then 1952, then 1953-55, then 1932, then 1931, then, last and least, 1930. So, Floyd Gottfredson and Ted Osborne should have both made my Top 10 writers (Gottfredson in my Top 5.
Beautiful rating, I agree with you on most of it. Personally I would say 1934-39 as my favorite period, and maybe put a little bit higher 1932 and 1933. But I share your view on the generale trend.
Barks' first use of "Grandma" was in the 1945 Goodyear Christmas Giveaway. But that character didn't look like Grandma Duck, who lives on the farm. And there's no evidence of her living on a farm in that story, and the full name, "Grandma Duck" was not used. So, THIS Grandma MAY be Donald's grandmother, Donald's OTHER grandmother (If the Grandma on the farm IS, indeed, Donald's grandmother), or, she could be one of Donald's nephews' grandmothers.
I agree that it seems very unlikely that Barks intended this character to be the same as Grandma Duck from Taliaferro's strips--it is even specified that this Grandma lives in a regular house, not a farm.
My answer is to both RobbK1 and Scroogerello:
I think there is a scholarly consensus on the fact that "Grandma" from the 1945 Goodyear Christmas Giveaway is meant to be the one and only Grandma Duck; however, it was her debut in a comic book, and Barks did not remember how she looked like in the comic strips, so that's why her character design is off.
We should also keep in mind that the first story showing Grandma living in a farm is 1950's Donald's Grandma Duck. Before that, the farm was only mentioned in a single Taliaferro strip, meaning that an author who had read many Taliaferro strips with Grandma but missed that specific one would ignore the fact that she lives in a farm. But notice how even after Donald's Grandma Duck, Barks created You Can't Guess!, in which Grandma lives in a regular house and not in a farm: that's because Barks wrote the latter but not the former. Anyway, Barks would later accept that Grandma lives in a farm even in stories he wrote himself.
Plus, Donald's Grandma Duck is the first story in which she is called "Grandma Duck": before that, she was called just "Grandma" in both the comic strips and the comic books.