Writer of "Delivery Dilemma"?

[djnyr]

Having abandoned the Fantagraphics series, I'm trying to fill the gaps in my Barks collection by means of the old CBL in Color albums.  Anyway, I had an opportunity to read the amusing later ten-pager "Delivery Dilemma" for the first time, and noted that the CBL album attributed the script to someone else, crediting Barks with art only.  I was surprised by this, since so much of the dialogue (particularly the funny running gag about the Beagle Boys' sleeves and Donald's great line about having to "stop smiling and love the time clock") sounds so Barksian.  I see that Inducks credits Barks with a rewrite on the script, which might explain the dialogue.  If Barks really did not do the writing, I'd be curious to know who did--the only candidate I can think of is Bob Gregory, whose "Christmas in Duckburg" is genuinely witty, in the same league as many of Barks' later Duck stories.  One turn of phrase in the story, "worry-go-round," made me think of Vic Lockman, but there's no noticeable Lockman-isms in the rest of the story, and the level of wit is beyond his usual work.  

[thadwell]

Wasn’t the deal with these later stories that have a second writer credited only mean someone else came up with the idea? That was my impression anyway.

[djnyr]

Thanks, Thadwell; that would make sense. I know that the CBL in Color credits Lockman with writing "Monkey Business," another ten-pager from Barks' late period, so I had wondered if this one was scripted by someone else as well--although, again, I find it hard to believe that anyone other than Barks wrote "Delivery Dilemma"--his stamp is all over the dialogue, more so than in "Monkey Business."

[rasterax]

Nov 24, 2020 0:10:50 GMT djnyr said:

Thanks, Thadwell; that would make sense. I know that the CBL in Color credits Lockman with writing "Monkey Business," another ten-pager from Barks' late period, so I had wondered if this one was scripted by someone else as well--although, again, I find it hard to believe that anyone other than Barks wrote "Delivery Dilemma"--his stamp is all over the dialogue, more so than in "Monkey Business."

Per the Barks index:

Additional credits: Though Barks' records indicate that he did not originate this story, a full "shooting script" in his holograph survives, showing that he reworked the original idea so much as to make it his own.

It's my understanding that Barks reworked basically every office script he received, though it varied how much so. (He was probably more likely to fine-tune WDC&S ten-pagers than Grandma Duck's Farm Friends). Another story he only rewrote that's hard to believe isn't his through and through is "The Crazy Quiz Show (WDC&S 99) - one of the best ten-pagers he ever did.