Speaking of women chasing Scrooge, I find it kind of amusing that in many of the old Donald Duck newspaper strips that I've read, Taliaferro, in his earliest uses of Scrooge, had him flaunt his wealth and boast about his net worth in an attempt to impress women, like a stereotypical old "man of means" (and a certain president). Clearly he hadn't quite grasped Scrooge's personality yet.
You ain't seen nothing yet. Taliaferro had some very unusual ideas about how Scrooge got his money.
Maybe this rich widow could be retconned into being Rumpus McFowl's mother? Maybe Fergus married rich while Scrooge was travelling the world?
Maybe this rich widow could be retconned into being Rumpus McFowl's mother? Maybe Fergus married rich while Scrooge was travelling the world?
I thought of that, but then Rumpus would inherit the wealth and be rich too (he clearly isn't) and Scrooge would be entitled to some of that fortune. It also doesn't square with what we see of Fergus in Rosa's work; he's not rich. (Plus, I like the affair idea too much.)
Maybe this rich widow could be retconned into being Rumpus McFowl's mother? Maybe Fergus married rich while Scrooge was travelling the world?
I thought of that, but then Rumpus would inherit the wealth and be rich too (he clearly isn't) and Scrooge would be entitled to some of that fortune. It also doesn't square with what we see of Fergus in Rosa's work; he's not rich. (Plus, I like the affair idea too much.)
Rumpus could have squandered all the fortune by the time we meet him.
No matter what I say or do, know that Jesus loves you.
Yeah, I mean if Rumpus' mother ran away from Fergus, she probably didn't leave too much money. And I've always assumed it was a super-brief marriage. I figured that's why we never see or hear of it in any Life and Times-chapters - it happened in between Scrooge's visits. And that's why we never saw Fergus as a rich man.
That kinda works, but I would also prefer the affair-idea.
In 'Hoodoo Woodoo', it's said that Donald looks like Scrooge with combed sideburns.
In 'A Christmas for Shacktown', Donald disguises himself to look like uncle Jake with only a beard. (although Scrooge might have seen through this disguise)
In 'Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies', Magica mistakes Fergus for Scrooge.
My point is that these four (or three) characters probably look pretty similar to each other, (both in the face and build) and should therefore be pretty similar in physical attractiveness. Probably.
However, looks isn't everything of course, which would explain why some of these characters are more successful than others.
Between this and Gladsotne, it looks like Magica thinks the epitomy of beauty is blond hair. Huh.
Of course she does. She's an Italian, and we all know the Italians have a knack for giving blond hair to characters that didn't originally have it.
Xander Ares points this out on his page about AMJ's mother--at least saying that the Italian colorists tend to give most female characters blond hair. The Unknown Character in the Booby Trap party scene has blond hair in the Italian coloring, but was a brunette in the original American coloring. Though he presumably wasn't thinking of Gyro, here, he might indeed have been thinking of Grandma Duck among many others!
More reading (past my bedtime! I must stop!): Paperuccia Anatroni never really loved Scrooge. Amely Witch/Magica is just after his dime. Granny DeSpell is only in love with him due to a misfired arrow.
It is true that many of the loves on that page are more interested in money. The only ones of some interest are Goldie, Brigitta, Belle, Molly who have appeared in several stories and representing the various stages of Scrooge's life:
Mississippi - Belle
Dawson - Goldie
Whitehorse - Brigitta
Duckburg - Molly
Of course there are others interesting, but if they are not developed into new stories there is not much to say.
If we talk about attractive ducks I think the palm tree goes to Mary Jane Ghigno's childhood friend of Donald and now model.
Wait, "Whitehorse -- Brigitta"? I didn't realize Brigitta had met Scrooge in the Yukon. If I read that, I've forgotten it--which is perfectly possible. But I thought she met Scrooge in Duckburg. In which story does Scarpa tell how she first met Scrooge and fell in love with him in the Yukon? The Scrooge McDuck Wikia page on Brigitta says she's been in love with Scrooge since "she first laid eyes on him in 1898 in the Klondike." Was that date established in a Scarpa story?
My sense is that Molly is supposed to have met Scrooge when he was a young man in Duckburg, is that right? Not sure whether this could possibly fit with the Rosa timeline for when Scrooge comes to Duckburg...of course it can't possibly fit with Rosa's understanding of Scrooge's romantic history.
As a loyalist to Rosa's L&T, I'm willing to let Belle into my headcanon but not Brigitta or Molly. I see no reason why Scrooge couldn't have dated someone in his Mississippi River days, before he met Goldie. Belle wasn't the Love of His Life, but that needn't keep him from having fond feelings towards his first real girlfriend when she resurfaces decades later.
Wait, "Whitehorse -- Brigitta"? I didn't realize Brigitta had met Scrooge in the Yukon. If I read that, I've forgotten it--which is perfectly possible. But I thought she met Scrooge in Duckburg. In which story does Scarpa tell how she first met Scrooge and fell in love with him in the Yukon? The Scrooge McDuck Wikia page on Brigitta says she's been in love with Scrooge since "she first laid eyes on him in 1898 in the Klondike." Was that date established in a Scarpa story?
It's way back from The Last Balaboo: Scrooge's promise of getting her a balaboo fur cap dates back to 1898.
Wait, "Whitehorse -- Brigitta"? I didn't realize Brigitta had met Scrooge in the Yukon. If I read that, I've forgotten it--which is perfectly possible. But I thought she met Scrooge in Duckburg. In which story does Scarpa tell how she first met Scrooge and fell in love with him in the Yukon? The Scrooge McDuck Wikia page on Brigitta says she's been in love with Scrooge since "she first laid eyes on him in 1898 in the Klondike." Was that date established in a Scarpa story?
My sense is that Molly is supposed to have met Scrooge when he was a young man in Duckburg, is that right? Not sure whether this could possibly fit with the Rosa timeline for when Scrooge comes to Duckburg...of course it can't possibly fit with Rosa's understanding of Scrooge's romantic history.
As a loyalist to Rosa's L&T, I'm willing to let Belle into my headcanon but not Brigitta or Molly. I see no reason why Scrooge couldn't have dated someone in his Mississippi River days, before he met Goldie. Belle wasn't the Love of His Life, but that needn't keep him from having fond feelings towards his first real girlfriend when she resurfaces decades later.
Brigitta since the first story is said that knows Scrooge from the time of Klondike with a lot of date, in addition to Scarpa two other stories tell the past of Brigitta and Scrooge:
- Zio Paperone e le origini di Brigitta (I PM 132-1) that unfortunately I never managed to recover to read it, I only know that it speaks of the past in Klondike;
- Zio Paperone e la guerra di cuori (I TL 1049-CP) that tells the first period in which they met when she was a student and he followed the lessons of finance, I find this point very important because it places the story in the period in which Scrooge left Dawson and opened a bank and several commercial enterprises in Whitehorse, not having been able to have a proper education when he was small must have learned to use accounting books when he was an adult.
Molly has a difficult timing, we know he met Scrooge when neither was rich, but also that the meeting took place in Duckburg both information make it impossible to include it in the timeline of Rosa.
In 'Hoodoo Woodoo', it's said that Donald looks like Scrooge with combed sideburns.
In 'A Christmas for Shacktown', Donald disguises himself to look like uncle Jake with only a beard. (although Scrooge might have seen through this disguise)
In 'Of Ducks and Dimes and Destinies', Magica mistakes Fergus for Scrooge.
My point is that these four (or three) characters probably look pretty similar to each other, (both in the face and build) and should therefore be pretty similar in physical attractiveness. Probably.
However, looks isn't everything of course, which would explain why some of these characters are more successful than others.
Not to go too off-topic, and I know that legendary storytellers like Barks and Rosa have indulged in it themselves, but I've always felt that having two characters that are not identical twins being mistaken for one another by those that know them both well is a tiresome trope and just bad writing. "Double Masquerade" is the worst example of this; Scrooge just shaves his sideburns and takes off his glasses, and looks like his nephew who is four decades younger than him (I believe that Chase Craig, not Barks, wrote this story, which may explain it), and it's particularly egregious here because it's the plot point on which the whole story pivots. In "Voodoo Hoodoo", it's said that Donald looks like a young Scrooge, and that may be reasonable since many years have passed since Scrooge was young, blunting memories somewhat, and Bombie may be going by superficial similarities. "In "Of Ducks, Dimes and Destinies", Magica mistakes a 40-something Fergus with the 80-something Scrooge she's familiar with (she doesn't think he's a younger Scrooge that exists in this timeline, she thinks it the Scrooge from her present who's time-traveling like her!), but that can be overlooked as it's a throwaway gag not relevant to the greater storyline.
Coming back to Duck character attractiveness, I guess Oona at least finds Donald handsome, given that she falls for him based seemingly on his looks alone.
Of course she does. She's an Italian, and we all know the Italians have a knack for giving blond hair to characters that didn't originally have it.
Xander Ares points this out on his page about AMJ's mother--at least saying that the Italian colorists tend to give most female characters blond hair. The Unknown Character in the Booby Trap party scene has blond hair in the Italian coloring, but was a brunette in the original American coloring. Though he presumably wasn't thinking of Gyro, here, he might indeed have been thinking of Grandma Duck among many others!
Yes, that's why it was on my mind when I made this joke.
No matter what I say or do, know that Jesus loves you.
Double Masquerade" is the worst example of this; Scrooge just shaves his sideburns and takes off his glasses, and looks like his nephew who is four decades younger than him.
Well the fact is that he does. Donald and Scrooge's faces have always been drawn such that you can get the one by changing the way the other shaves and adding/removing glasses and a hat.
Of course, for you who buy into the "filter" theory, the duck drawings are just caricatures, and human versions of Scrooge and Donald would presumably have more differences between them. But as far as I'm concerned, it's just a fact inherent in the anthropomorphic-duck species that unless you start going into outright decrepitude they have far fewer outwards signs of age/youth than homo sapienses do, and Scrooge, Donald, Daisy and Elvira really can pass for each other very easily.
oming back to Duck character attractiveness, I guess Oona at least finds Donald handsome, given that she falls for him based seemingly on his looks alone.
Wait, does she? I thought his (perceived) bravery was what impressed her. Been a while since I read the relevant story.
Either way, I'd imagine Oona's culture had completely different beauty standards to modern Duckburg ones. Not to mention that since she and her eldery father are apparently the only ducks in her tribe, she may well have never seen another man of her species before Donald that wasn't her decrepit father; that wouldn't give her many points of comparison.
Well the fact is that he does. Donald and Scrooge's faces have always been drawn such that you can get the one by changing the way the other shaves and adding/removing glasses and a hat.
I understand that (in fact, it's one of my criticisms of Barks' final design for Scrooge; at least with Ludwig, you can tell that he's old and he can easily be drawn to look different when he's young). I was just talking in-universe. And yes, unfortunately, my belief in the filter theory invalidates your suggestion about the minimal visible aging of anthropomorphic ducks (and in any case, certain Duck characters ... like Fergus, Goldie and Ludwig as discussed above, do visibly age or look old).
Not to mention that since she and her eldery father are apparently the only ducks in her tribe, she may well have never seen another man of her species before Donald that wasn't her decrepit father; that wouldn't give her many points of comparison.
This wouldn't work for those of us who believe in the filter theory, since there are no "species". And along those lines, why didn't she fall for Gyro, who's roughly the same age? I guess we can surmise that Donald is at least better-looking than Gyro (again, assuming inter-species relationships are possible).