Ludwig Von Drake

[Baar Baar Jinx]

I'm sure many on this forum are already aware of this, but Disney was inspired by a recurring character known as "The Professor" played in the 1950s by Sid Caeser in creating Ludwig Von Drake (and not too subtle an inspiration either):

 

[justpassingthrough]

Here’s a possible explanation I can think of: Ludwig is a close family friend. In the United States, at least, friends of the family are occasionally referred to as Aunts or Uncles. Perhaps he and Quackmore were particularly close, explaining them being called brothers. (Although that seems a bit forced.) If you like the Ludwig/Matilda pairing, (Which I personally do.) he could have married her at some point during Donald’s adulthood, becoming an actual family member.

[Fethryfan]

Oct 25, 2019 7:05:25 GMT justpassingthrough said:

Here’s a possible explanation I can think of: Ludwig is a close family friend. In the United States, at least, friends of the family are occasionally referred to as Aunts or Uncles. Perhaps he and Quackmore were particularly close, explaining them being called brothers. (Although that seems a bit forced.) If you like the Ludwig/Matilda pairing, (Which I personally do.) he could have married her at some point during Donald’s adulthood, becoming an actual family member.

There is a story where Ludwig shows Donald his family tree full of losers and Donald remembers Ludwig that it is also his family tree, implying Ludwig has a blood relation with the Duck Family

[Ramapith]

Oct 25, 2019 10:11:06 GMT Fethryfan said:

There is a story where Ludwig shows Donald his family tree full of losers and Donald remembers Ludwig that it is also his family tree, implying Ludwig has a blood relation with the Duck Family

Yes, that's this story, a personal favorite.

Notably, "The Family Tree Spree" avoids telling us just how Ludwig and Donald are related—it just has Donald describe Ludwig to a third party as "a relative of mine" and then later tell Ludwig that "...you're related to me! That makes this your family tree, too!"

Outside of comics, the Disney studio seemed to like the idea that Donald's father would have had the last name Drake. I already mentioned a 1950s TV show that presented the idea—but in fact, as early as 1936, this Disney radio program portrayed it even more explicitly, with Donald explaining that he was Donald Drake until his father divorced his mom to marry another, leaving an outraged Donald to take his mother's maiden name.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Oct 25, 2019 11:00:28 GMT Ramapith said:

Oct 25, 2019 10:11:06 GMT Fethryfan said:

There is a story where Ludwig shows Donald his family tree full of losers and Donald remembers Ludwig that it is also his family tree, implying Ludwig has a blood relation with the Duck Family

Yes, that's this story, a personal favorite.

Notably, "The Family Tree Spree" avoids telling us just how Ludwig and Donald are related—it just has Donald describe Ludwig to a third party as "a relative of mine" and then later tell Ludwig that "...you're related to me! That makes this your family tree, too!"

Outside of comics, the Disney studio seemed to like the idea that Donald's father would have had the last name Drake. I already mentioned a 1950s TV show that presented the idea—but in fact, as early as 1936, this Disney radio program portrayed it even more explicitly, with Donald explaining that he was Donald Drake until his father divorced his mom to marry another, leaving an outraged Donald to take his mother's maiden name.

Oh, me, oh, my… whatever shall we do on the Wiki with this… At any rate, it's becoming apparent that Disney audioplays are a vast undiscovered country as far as explorations of Duck continuity go.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Oct 25, 2019 11:00:28 GMT Ramapith said:

Outside of comics, the Disney studio seemed to like the idea that Donald's father would have had the last name Drake. I already mentioned a 1950s TV show that presented the idea—but in fact, as early as 1936, this Disney radio program portrayed it even more explicitly, with Donald explaining that he was Donald Drake until his father divorced his mom to marry another, leaving an outraged Donald to take his mother's maiden name.

I'm shocked that we're only now learning about this! Okay, so ... maybe Hortense and Quackmore broke up while they were still engaged, Hortense married Mr. Drake and they begat Donald and Della, and then Hortense divorced Mr. Drake and married Quackmore who adopted Donald and Della, who then took his last name. I mean, "Duck" can't be Hortense's maiden name in the comics-verse, but maybe this is the next best way to incorporate this information if we really must. 

Ramapith, your link to the 1950s show directs back to this thread ... can you please repost it? I've been wanting to see that special for quite a while.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Oct 25, 2019 10:11:06 GMT Fethryfan said:

There is a story where Ludwig shows Donald his family tree full of losers and Donald remembers Ludwig that it is also his family tree, implying Ludwig has a blood relation with the Duck Family

Ludwig being a blood relative rules out his being Donald's uncle by marrying Matilda, but is compatible with my preferred idea that Ludwig is the son of a maternal aunt of Grandma's (but then, maybe Donald isn't even a blood relative of Grandma's ... see the post above!). 

[TheMidgetMoose]

Oct 25, 2019 14:38:05 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Oct 25, 2019 11:00:28 GMT Ramapith said:

Outside of comics, the Disney studio seemed to like the idea that Donald's father would have had the last name Drake. I already mentioned a 1950s TV show that presented the idea—but in fact, as early as 1936, this Disney radio program portrayed it even more explicitly, with Donald explaining that he was Donald Drake until his father divorced his mom to marry another, leaving an outraged Donald to take his mother's maiden name.

I'm shocked that we're only now learning about this! Okay, so ... maybe Hortense and Quackmore broke up while they were still engaged, Hortense married Mr. Drake and they begat Donald and Della, and then Hortense divorced Mr. Drake and married Quackmore who adopted Donald and Della, who then took his last name. I mean, "Duck" can't be Hortense's maiden name in the comics-verse, but maybe this is the next best way to incorporate this information if we really must. 

Ramapith, your link to the 1950s show directs back to this thread ... can you please repost it? I've been wanting to see that special for quite a while.

Maybe Donald was adopted, and his birth name was Drake. I've never read the story and can't say for sure, but a secondary source indicates that the 1941 storybook The Life of Donald Duck states that Donald was adopted. The author of the Tumblr post I linked to said, "Walt’s “Life of Donald Duck” is theoretically the only really canon story written about Donald but I don’t want to thing that Hortense would have abandoned baby Donald just because he refused to hatch etc, so only elements from it are drawn, but a lot is left out.
" Perhaps I'm misreading it, but the implication seems to be that The Life of Donald Duck states that Donald was abandoned at an orphanage when he was just an egg because he wouldn't hatch on time. It's a stretch, but maybe the parents who abandoned him were surnamed Drake.

Another possibility could be that Mr Drake was Hortense's second husband after Quackmore. Perhaps Quackmore died shortly after The Empire-Builder From Calisota. Hortense remarried, starting a relationship with Mr. Drake (maybe Ludwig's brother?), who adopted Donald and Della, giving them the last name "Drake". Their marriage didn't last long, however, and Donald reverted to Duck after the divorce. This way, Donald can still be biologically related to all of his Duck relatives and Ludwig can be Donald's (step)father's brother. The maiden name thing still wouldn't make total sense, though.

[Ramapith]

Oct 25, 2019 14:38:05 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Ramapith, your link to the 1950s show directs back to this thread ... can you please repost it? I've been wanting to see that special for quite a while. 

I'm afraid I can't access a viewable version of it right now—but it's this one.

As a writer, editor, and scholar, I really wouldn't try to combine all the different versions of Donald's family history... it's just too messy! The TV and radio business of his being born a Drake is clever, but just doesn't match anything else.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Oct 25, 2019 15:10:51 GMT Ramapith said:

Oct 25, 2019 14:38:05 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Ramapith, your link to the 1950s show directs back to this thread ... can you please repost it? I've been wanting to see that special for quite a while. 

I'm afraid I can't access a viewable version of it right now—but it's this one.

As a writer, editor, and scholar, I really wouldn't try to combine all the different versions of Donald's family history... it's just too messy! The TV and radio business of his being born a Drake is clever, but just doesn't match anything else.

Oh, I agree ... I've always felt that Cartoon-Donald and Comics-Donald are separate characters. The "Donald Drake" story could possibly be made to fit with Cartoon-Donald, but not Comics-Donald.

Searching for "The Donald Duck Story" on YouTube provides no relevant hits ... if someone has a link to a video of that special, please post it!

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Oct 25, 2019 15:10:16 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

Another possibility could be that Mr Drake was Hortense's second husband after Quackmore. Perhaps Quackmore died shortly after The Empire-Builder From Calisota. Hortense remarried, starting a relationship with Mr. Drake (maybe Ludwig's brother?), who adopted Donald and Della, giving them the last name "Drake". Their marriage didn't last long, however, and Donald reverted to Duck after the divorce. This way, Donald can still be biologically related to all of his Duck relatives and Ludwig can be Donald's (step)father's brother. The maiden name thing still wouldn't make total sense, though.

Interesting, but then Donald wouldn't be Ludwig's blood relative, so that would contradict "Family Tree Spree". But other than that, this theory has merit. That radio special suggests that Mr. Drake cheated on his wife (although it doesn't clearly say they divorced); perhaps Hortense, stung by her husband's betrayal and out of abiding respect and love for the late Quackmore, changed her name back to "Duck" (and felt it was better than "McDuck" since at that point, the main person associated with the latter was Scrooge with whom she was estranged) and Donald followed suit, mistakenly assuming when he was younger that "Duck" was his mother's maiden name rather than that of his biological father. Dropping the part about Mr. Drake being Ludwig's brother, there's nothing in this theory that's contradicted by the comics. Hmm...

[Baar Baar Jinx]

My mind just went to a dark place about what terrible thing could have caused the estrangement between Mr. Drake and Hortense, why Donald would apparently hate him so much, and HD&L's parentage ...

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Oct 25, 2019 15:10:51 GMT Ramapith said:

As a writer, editor, and scholar, I really wouldn't try to combine all the different versions of Donald's family history... it's just too messy! The TV and radio business of his being born a Drake is clever, but just doesn't match anything else.

Oh, we know it's messy, that's why we love it! Out-of-universe scholarship, and sane editorial practices, are one thing — wild fan theories are another. We thrive in complexity. 

For what it's worth, at any rate — in the radio show, is the whole "maiden name, separated parents" thing presented as fact, or is this a story told by Donald himself? If the latter, one can always write it off as Donald being an unreliable narrator, though the story could then still retain some grain of truth. 

[Fethryfan]

Oct 25, 2019 14:44:14 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Oct 25, 2019 10:11:06 GMT Fethryfan said:

There is a story where Ludwig shows Donald his family tree full of losers and Donald remembers Ludwig that it is also his family tree, implying Ludwig has a blood relation with the Duck Family

Ludwig being a blood relative rules out his being Donald's uncle by marrying Matilda, but is compatible with my preferred idea that Ludwig is the son of a maternal aunt of Grandma's (but then, maybe Donald isn't even a blood relative of Grandma's ... see the post above!). 

We know Grandma's aunt married a von Drake, but this does not mean Ludwig is their son. I like to think of Ludwig as their grandson and Donald's second cousin once removed. That's why Daisy refers do him as a sort of uncle to Donald in the Taliaferro strips: he is his father's second cousin

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Oct 25, 2019 16:38:01 GMT Fethryfan said:

We know Grandma's aunt married a von Drake, but this does not mean Ludwig is their son. I like to think of Ludwig as their grandson and Donald's second cousin once removed. That's why Daisy refers do him as a sort of uncle to Donald in the Taliaferro strips: he is his father's second cousin

The German translation of "Duckburg, USA" apparently makes it clear that Ludwig is the son of Grandma's maternal aunt and a certain Hofrat Von Drake. I've never seen the penal in question, though; could someone please post it if they have access (as well as, for comparison, the corresponding English version which I'm told does not specify the relationship)?.