Unauthorized Barkz

creator of Duckburg and Scrooge McDuck

Postby Daniel73 » Fri Dec 22, 2006 12:48 am

Undated, unauthorized "interview". Two pages, one numbered. The questions seem to suggest that the material is from 1994 or thereabouts, as it refers to Barks's visit to Italy.

Taken from compilation pamplet 'Carl Barks - Background Material and Current Events'. A pile of stapled pink-coloured pages, monochrome xerox-quality, lacking any clear internal coherence. Apparently, this compilation was made during the Carl Barks Studio years and sent to people requesting information on Carl Barks. My copy was supplied in a promotional package by the Carl Barks Studio, received by post on 20 December 1997. The compilation has also been identified as an "Orange Pamphlet".
The first page of the "interview" contains a picture of Mickey Mouse centered on top, and the non-proportional text appears to done with a manual typewriter. The second page is numbered "2" in center on top, and the proportional text appears to be done with an electronic type-writer (or a computer).
The "From"-field on the first page is empty on the xerox. In question 6 the writer is identified as being one of the "world biggest group of cartoonists" in Italy, writing "stories of characters you created from forty years". In question 9 the writer asks for a message "for the readers of Topolino".

In September and/or October 1998 notes, Barks has identified some of the contents in the compilation pamplet as being fake or at least dubious. According to a October 8, 1998 email by a Barks intermediary, who described Barks's margin notes, the page with a MM icon entitled "Questions for Carl Barks interview" is inscribed "I was never shown questions like these before interviews", and the answers beginning on page 2 "This seems to be something Grandey wrote". (Indicated should be that "these notes only represent Carl's best recollections.")

Have these unauthorized answers been used for publication, elsewhere than in the compilation pamplet?
Who is the questioner?

- - - - - - - - - -

[first page]

[text at the left]
Questions for
Carl Barks
interview.

[MM icon in center]

[text at the right]
From:
To: CARL BARKS

[line]

1 - What daily strips and Sunday pages did you read when you was
a boy or a young man ? What cartoonistsand characters influenced
you more ?

2 - Do you identify yourself with the personality of some character
of the "Duck Family" ? And, if the answer is positive, why ?

3 - Did you insert messages for the readers when you wrote your
stories ?

4 Why you decided only now to visit Italy and the other European
Countries where you placed some of your unforgettable stories ?

5 - All we Italian fans think that you have a special love for
Italy. We think also that one of your more charming character
is Italian, I am speaking of Magica De Spell: she lives in
Italy but, in your intention, is she Italian ?

6 - In Italy there is the world biggest group of cartoonists and
writers ( I am one of them and I write stories of the characters
you created from forty years ! ) which produce Disney's comic
stories. I think you have seen their works: what do you think
of their artworks ?

7 - After many years at last you wrote a new Donald story. I think
that you did it in layout form and it will be drawn by another
cartoonist. Who will be the lucky one that will draw your
story ? And why you choose him ? ( Your story will be published
also in the weekly magazine Topolino ).

8 - Do you think you'll write other stories of Duck Family in the
future ?

9 - Do you have a special message for the readers of Topolino and
the millions of fans that you have in Italy ?


- - - - - - - - - -


2

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Doc Yak, and Krazy Kat...Prince Valient and Tarzan were particularly well drawn. The single most influential strip I followed was Floyd Gottfredsons' Mickey Mouse. The drawing and the story lines were amusing. In 1935 I was hired by the Disney studio by submitting drawings similar in style to Gottfredsons. I was lucky to get promoted to the story department. I was fortunate to be able to work with Walt Disney. He had a knack at story telling. He adjusted my initial work to make it flow smoother on the storyboard. This was a great asset in my future comic book years.

2. I have been told that my personality encompasses all my characters. Today I am paying bills and feel like Uncle Scooge. Generally I feel like Donald. However, on inventive days I am no doubt like Gyro.

3. No

4. My managers Bill Grandey and Kathy Moby are good travelers. My wife didn't like to fly. However, in former years I simply didn't have the money for this type of travel.

5. Yes, I do have a special love for Italy. Magica is Italian. She lives at mysterious Mount Vesuvius.

6. I like the few stories I have seen. However, the only comics I get sent from Europe come from Holland.

7. The new story is a 24 page adventure. It has a climax at the end of each 8 pages so it could be run in a series. I got the idea when Bill Grandey and I were tossing around ideas for a new money bin painting. We were thinking of all the ideas that could include the many things Uncle Scrooge might put in his money bin. The story is titled "Horsing Around With History". It took me two weeks to type out the script.

Two artists that I am in contact with are Daan Jippes and Willlam Van Horn. Daan Jippes is tied up with animation at Steven Spielbergs'...So I asked Van Horn to illustrate the story. We met on it, when he had done the pencil drawings. He lives in Canada and had a 12 hour drive. The only things I had to edit were to cut the size of the villains' beards in half (they looked ethnic) and to reduce the size of the horse in the story. I chose Van Horn because his art has an animated flare. It is very Disney and animated. There was a recent history of Scrooge done that filled in gaps of Scrooges life in odd ways. For instance they had Scrooges father manipulate him in strange ways to teach poor Scrooge to work hard. They also overstaged the naming of the Beagle Boys, claiming they were able to nick-name themselves...they didn't. This is the type of thing I wanted to avoid.

8. Right now I am doing 17 projects. It's hard to forcast if another new story might fit the future. In the controversial history of Scrooge they claimed he was born in 1877. This is not true as he is in his 60s having an adventure in my new story. He certainly is not 117.

9. Thanks to the many children who have bought my comics for a dime...and now sell them for $3,000.


- - - - - - - - - -


transcription: v20061222.01
The font of the questions on first page is best viewed non-proportional, as in the source. The text "Questions for Carl Barks interview", the Mickey Mouse, the "From" and "To" are on one horizontal row, on top of the page.
In question 1, the word "cartoonists" is typed as "cartoonist" with an handwritten added "s".
The second page is proportional. The page number and capital header on top are centered.

Note that the answers on the second page have been identified by Barks as being written by someone else, as explained in the introduction to the transcription.
Daniel73
Member
 
Posts: 313
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:40 pm
Location: Netherlands

Postby Daniel73 » Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:27 am

Undated, unauthorized questions and answers. Three pages, two numbered. The answers suggest that the material is from 1994 or thereabouts, as it refers to story 'Horsing Around With History' and painting 'Surprise Party at Memory Pond'.

Taken from compilation pamplet 'Carl Barks - Background Material and Current Events'. A pile of stapled pink-coloured pages, monochrome xerox-quality, lacking any clear internal coherence. Apparently, this compilation was made during the Carl Barks Studio years and sent to people requesting information on Carl Barks. My copy was supplied in a promotional package by the Carl Barks Studio, received by post on 20 December 1997. The compilation has also been identified as an "Orange Pamphlet".

The first page has 'Carl Barks Studio' logo lettering, with Grandey and Morby mentioned as managers. The bottom of the page contains the adress, telephone number and fax-number. Otherwise there's no identification, just the text of questions and answers. Its proportional font appears to be done with an electronic type-writer (or a computer).

In September and/or October 1998 notes, Barks has identified some of the contents in the compilation pamplet as being fake or at least dubious. According to a October 8, 1998 email by a Barks intermediary, who described Barks's margin notes, his note about the Q&A Carl Barks Studio "New story? Horsing Around with History" says: "More of Grandey's writing which I never heard about." (Indicated should be that "these notes only represent Carl's best recollections.")

Have these unauthorized answers been used for publication, elsewhere than in the compilation pamplet?


- - - - - - - - - -


1. New story?
"Horsing Around With History" came about when my manager, Bill Grandey, and I were tossing around ideas for a new Disney Art Editions oil, painting of Uncle Scrooge in his money Bin. We were thinking of all the unusual treasures Scrooge and Donald had accumulated over the years. What could be under three cubic acres of money that had been forgotten until inventory time. The Oil painting was to be three times larger than anything I had done before to show the vastness of the money. It is named "Rich Finds at Inventory Time". Disney has now produced it as a limited edition silk-screen. It is at Euro-Disneyland. One of the ideas was better suited as a story. It needed a lot of explanation. I made the mistake of talking about it at a comic book seminar in Atlanta. The enthusiasm was too high not to do it. It took two weeks of long hours to come up with the script. The question we came up with was...How did Uncle Scrooge, Donald and the boys get the original Trojan Horse into Scrooges' money bin?

Exhibition?
2. I am very grateful to collectors Steve Geppi and Kerby Confer for lending part of their collection for the event. They have paid over $4.000,000 for the paintings on the secondary market. When you look at an event like this...The best they can hope for is to receive the paintings back in the condition in which they left. They will be packed and moved many times. I am very excited to have my paintings on exhibit. If it helps give work to my character in the future, I would be very pleased. After 25 years of doing these paintings, nothing would surprise me. I started out with Disneys permission doing them for a few fans. Now they have become a business of their own. Disney Art Editions is doing wonderful work reproducing them as up to 100 color silk-screens.

Spielberg/Lucas?
3. It is yet to be seen if the new story will inspire movies. My goal is to give a good value to the person that is paying the price of a comic book. I try to do a good job.


- - - - - - - - - -


Inventions?
4. I have a number of items, I developed, that could use a patent. Recently, I built a new house (I was only 92 then). There are a lot of Gyro type contrivances such as a double hallway...sound proofing in all walls...a gas generator for any power outage...an elevator to use for heavy items...Then there is my ceiling attached easel. It swings and adjusts up and down.

Curves?
5. The Disney Duck model sheets are done in rounds. Many current artists are good at this. There is only one artist that consistently goes off model drawing Scrooge. It is hard for me to look at what has been done to him. Fortunately, it has not being printed in Italy and France. My Disney style was developed in many art classes at the Disney Studio. I have Walt to thank for my art as well as storytelling.

Friendship?
6. People say I am my different characters at different times. Today, I am paying bills...and probably am acting like Uncle Scrooge. When I am being clever I am told Gyro is present. Most of the time I probably act like Donald. I hate to think of myself as ever acting like spoiled cousin Gladstone. Usually, I feel most close to Donald. However, lately I have become quite fond of Uncle Scrooge.

Cartoony movies?
7. I don't like some of the extremes of violence in these movies. For instance, The Beagle Boys were terrible...but they weren't really bad. They were funny. You never had the feeling that they would do away with Uncle Scrooge. However, they might end up with his money.

Comics?
8. Many American comic books all look the same. They have always followed trends. The super hero comics today no longer look like they did in the 50s or 60s. Most covers feature clenched fists and clenched teeth. The story content is often not important. They are to accommodate the comic book "investors" buying multiple copies putting them in mylar and not even reading the story. They are collected like stamps. I am waiting for a trend back to good thought out storytelling.

Favorites?
9. My favorite comics are of course Disney. The movie I have seen the most this year is the 1934 "Wise Little Hen". My new official Disney Donald Duck 60th Birthday oil painting tiltled "Surprise Party at Memory Pond" took a lot of study of the "Wise Little Hen". Characters that have not worked since 1934 were hired for my 1994 painting. My favorite painter was my wife Gare, who died a year an a half ago. She could really handle natures colors.


- - - - - - - - - -


Animated features?
10. Walt loaned me to the animation department to come up with new ideas for the plot. For instance, Mickey with his wand in Fantasia (water rising) was my contribution. A good animated feature is similar to a good Donald Duck cartoon and a good comic book in that they all require good story telling. Walt was a genius at that and liked to make geniuses of his people.

Animals?
11. In my youth the only way to get around was on a horse. My horses name was "Spunky". Looking back, if there was a way of riding a duck the 5 miles into our small village, it would have been wise to do it. I rode heard on ducks the rest of my life.




- - - - - - - - - -

transcription: v20061222.02
corrected: "contrivancessuch" to "contrivances such" (answer 4)
First page has 'Carl Barks Studio' logo lettering, with Grandey and Morby mentioned as managers. The bottom of the page contains the adress, telephone number and fax-number.
Page numbering, at the center top of page 2-3 ("2", "3"), is left out of the transcription.

Note that contents have been identified by Barks as being written by someone else, as explained in the introduction to the transcription.

(EDIT: vertical spacing adjusted. version number changed to v20061222.02)
Last edited by Daniel73 on Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
Daniel73
Member
 
Posts: 313
Joined: Fri Jun 02, 2006 4:40 pm
Location: Netherlands


Return to Carl Barks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

cron