Ummm, just want to say it may not be an "old Scrooge". Scrooge's appearance doesn't change much over years. According to "Always Another Rainbow" Scrooge already had his glasses on in his Yukon time.
That's one of the issues I have with Scrooge's character design. He is clearly old, in his late seventies or early eighties in "present day" stories (depending on which timeline you follow), but visually, he's just Donald with sideburns and glasses. Even in-universe, there have been stories where all he had to do was shave his sideburns, and he could pass himself off as Donald ("Double Masquerade")! Compare this to Ludwig von Drake, or even Rosa's Matilda from A Letter from Home, where the characters can clearly be visually identified as elderly.
Post by Baar Baar Jinx on Jul 18, 2018 14:28:02 GMT
Does anyone know if this mural still stands at Tokyo Disneyland? I recently watched a very detailed online walkaround video of the park, and the mural wasn't mentioned. Do we know where exactly it is (or was) located, and where it came from? Who commissioned it, who produced it?
Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Jul 19, 2018 16:30:49 GMT
Alright, so I've been studying the "Donald Duck's Fore-feathers" family tree and I think I've more or less got it figured out, but there are a few inscriptions that remain illegible. To help you spot them without scrawling through walls of text, I'll, #1, illustrate each generation, and #2, mark questions as red. 'Kay?
Concerning the dates, they appear to be a frame of reference of when they're from (possibly, the year where they looked like the portraits given here), as opposed to a particular event (death, birth); presumably, a Don Rosa-compliant person would but "1952" for Donald's generation.
To anyone who hasn't figured it out, the "tree" reads like a timeline going from top to bottom, if you follow the light-brown, winding branch.
The oldest of the fore-feathers are Donaldus Anas, Centurion of Rome, and his wife Octavia the Younger.
Donaldus's descendant in 950 A.D. is Petronus Paperino, Byzantine tax collector. His wife is Theodora Eirenikes???, “the peaceful”. It is clear that it's Petronus who's descended from Donaldus, as opposed to Theodora. Also, his profession and the barest hint of whiskers do suggest that Scrooge is an influence here, for all that no McDucks but Hortense appear in the tree; looking at the names alone, one is strikingly reminded of Petronius Paperonius, an Egyptian-turned-Roman ancestor of the Clan McDuck according to the Storia e Gloria, even though it's clear the characters can't be the same.
Back to Italy, we find Lucretia Mcduckhi and Marco Paperino, who brought gelato to the from China, and is the descendant of the above Petronus Paperino. I don't actually know why a caricature of Lucrezia de Medici is paired with a caricature of Marco Polo, especially considering that Lucretia is thus one century too early, but who knows.
Donald[obscured; presumably Donaldo or Donaldi] Paperino, Sculptor, the presumed son or grandson of Marco above, who marries Margarita di Franco (presumably named for Marguerite de France, also known as Margaret de Valois, though it's worth noting that "Margarita" is an Italian equivalent of "Daisy").
Okay, this is a tough one. “Poking” Paolo Paperino, who sailed(?) with Admiral ? a Fleet(?) of Duckburg(?). Sorry, this is all I've got. He marries Isabella Jacholo(?).
Another near-illegible bit of work, here.
Luigi(?) Paperino, Columbus'(?) voyage to the ?? ?? ?? ?. Blah. His wife is Cosma Featherina.
Leonardo Da Paperino, Inventor and Artist, who marries Mona Ducka. This one is sort of lame, and feel free to make up your own explanation as to why the Paperino family briefly became the Da Paperinos for one generation then reverted to being commoners, but at least we've got no holes here.
Here we have Leonardo's descendant Galileo Paperino, astromer who tried prove that the Earth revolves around the Moon. This one is actually a good joke for once. His wife is Bianca Capodevin, for no clear reason I can think of.
We skip forward 170 years as we meet yet another sailor in the Paperino family, Pasquato Paperino, the Cid tycoon(?!?), who marries Giovanna Bacigalupe(?). …You know, I don't think I'm misreading, but what the hell does “Cid tycoon” mean?!
All the other ducks so far have been Donald counterparts, except possibly Petronius Paperino, but here… bam. Enjoy a Scrooge McDuck lookalike. What the hell? Anyway, his name is Garibaldi Paperino, , and his lovely wife is Carina Barone.
This finally leads us to…
Rosabella Paperino, descendant of the above Garibaldi; her caption reads Immigrant from Italy to America via Ellis Island. She marries Clarence Coot, bicycle mechanic. I think it's awfully sweet to have named Donald's great-grandfather after Clarence Nash, even if this throws a wrench in the continuity even if we overlook the extremely wonky timeline involved. I'm actually at a loss trying to imagine in what context the (presumably Italian) author of this tree knew about Humperdink, Hortense, and Quackmore, even drawing them to match their appearance in Don Rosa's family tree, but didn't know about Clinton. The best way I can figure out to "fix" this is to make Clarence the brother either of Clinton or of Elvira and Casey, though this somewhat reduces the interest and point of the tree in that it means the entire Paperino line are only in-laws to Donald.
Finally we reach known territory with Grandma Duck (Elvira Coot) and Humperdink Duck, farmer. This picture in particular is what makes me think the dates correspond to the year the people looked like what they're depicted as; as we'll see below, Quackmore and Hortense are depicted in "1924", so it wouldn't make sense for the "hayday" of Elvira and Humperdink to be 1916, but considering how old Grandma and Humperdink already look in these pictures, it's a perfectly reasonable time for them to have been taken.
We end on Hortense McDuck (Scrooge McDuck's sister) and her husband Quackmore Duck, Scrooge McDuck's Brother. (That last word begins by "brother", and by all rights it should be "brother-in-law", but… it doesn't actually look like it at all; for one thing, no visible hyphens.)
You'll note that Hortense's hair here is reddish-brow, rather than her usual blond—
or the occasional red—
and that while the picture is obviously based on the Don Rosa family tree depiction, she wears slightly different clothes and has a shorter, more 1920-ish haircut.
And that's all I got. Any help on those pesky red parts?
Good work deciphering so much of the tree! For Marco Paperino, could it say "brought gelato to the "world" from China"? It seems to be the right number of letters, and the word defjnitely ends with a 'd'. (by the way, I left a message on your message wall on the Wiki about new images for the new homepage template)
Thank Scrooge MacDuck the images you've posted are much more readable than anything I've seen. Theodora Eirenikes I read Theodora Lirenikes, a joke from the Lira (old money from Italy)? In the couple from 1390 I read Donatel first to be obscured so it's presumably Donatello Paperino, Sculptor. Margarita is Spanish in Italian it's Margherita, in the 14th century about half of Italy was under the control of Spain. Di Franco is a reference to the first duchess Di Franco, I think the author wanted to emphasize that Margarita was Spanish. Cosma Featherina I think is Cosima, there is a small pause between the s and m as if there was a faded i, moreover Cosma is a masculine name in Italian. Leonardo Da Paperino and Mona Ducka make me think of the story "How the Ducka-Lisa got her Smile" (D 99122) by Paul Halas and Vicar. Bianca Capodevin i read Capedevin, a joke on Cape Kennedy? Giovanna Bacigalupe I think is a reference on this www.roccoshoppe.com/blogs/news/bacigalupo-baciagaloop-the-evolution-in-theory-of-an-italian-american-expression
We skip forward 170 years as we meet yet another sailor in the Paperino family, Pasquato Paperino, the Cid tycoon(?!?), who marries Giovanna Bacigalupe(?). …You know, I don't think I'm misreading, but what the hell does “Cid tycoon” mean?!
I believe that's "Pasquale Paperino, Olive Oil Tycoon".
Also, Quackmore was Scrooge's "bookkeeper". I believe Rosa established that in Life and Times.
Okay, this is a tough one. “Poking” Paolo Paperino, who sailed(?) with Admiral ? a Fleet(?) of Duckburg(?). Sorry, this is all I've got. He marries Isabella Jacholo(?).
[...] Any help on those pesky red parts?
I'm ridiculously late with this, but how about "Peking" Paolo Paperino, cabin boy who sailed with Admiral [two words] a [Fleet?] of Discovery"
"Peking" is obviously supposed to reference the famous recipe for Peking duck, named after the old Western name for Beijing.
Okay, this is a tough one. “Poking” Paolo Paperino, who sailed(?) with Admiral ? a Fleet(?) of Duckburg(?). Sorry, this is all I've got. He marries Isabella Jacholo(?).
[...] Any help on those pesky red parts?
I'm ridiculously late with this, but how about "Peking" Paolo Paperino, cabin boy who sailed with Admiral [two words] a [Fleet?] of Discovery"
"Peking" is obviously supposed to reference the famous recipe for Peking duck, named after the old Western name for Beijing.
"Peking" Paolo Paperino, cabin boy who sailed with Admiral Zheng He's Fleet of Discovery"