Uncle Scrooge Turns 55

Categories: Did You Know|Published On: October 25, 2002|Views: 3|

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Did you know that almost exactly 10 years after Snow White and her seven
singing pals burst onto the scene in 1937, another charming Disney character
made his debut? And the timing was perfect.

Imagine, it was two years
after the most devastating war America had yet endured, and poverty was far from
uncommon. So who better to lift the weary, war-torn spirits of the country than
Carl Barks’ Scrooge McDuck, the richest duck the world had ever seen? Scrooge
McDuck, whom Barks admitted was somewhat influenced by Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer
Scrooge, made his first appearance in Donald Duck #178. And audiences
were instantly smitten with the be-spectacled old grouch.

Wrapped in his
green shawl with his walking stick close by, Scrooge sits and mopes and bahs and
humbugs the season away – till he gets an idea.

Meanwhile, as the story
goes, his poor nephew Donald and little Huey, Dewey and Louie are lamenting the
fact that they’re stone broke for the holidays. They don’t have two nickels to
rub together, while their Uncle Scrooge has a winter wonderland of a mountain
cabin just emptily sitting. That’s when an invitation arrives from none other
than Uncle Scrooge, inviting the down-and-out ducks to spend Christmas in that
very mountain house.

Thrilled, the ducks make their journey. And once
they arrive in the mountains, they are greeted by presents galore, delicious
food, and tons of heavenly luxuries. But of course, life with Uncle Scrooge
would never be so easy. He decides this is the perfect time to test Donald’s
manhood (or, shall we say, duckhood) by dressing like a giant brown bear and
subjecting the unwitting Donald to a series of scares – but not before some real
live bears get to him first.

Donald doesn’t handle his fear so well, but
by the time Uncle Scrooge arrives, he sees the nephews chasing a bear cub and
Donald asleep on the arm of the mama bear (little does he know he’s really
fainted from sheer terror). Believing Donald to be far braver than he actually
is, Scrooge uncharacteristically presents the crew with a glorious Christmas
feast, and gives Donald a special present – a genuine Siberian silvertip
bearskin.

The idea of an older character testing the manhood of a younger
character was quite common in the ’40s, and was a good way for young characters
to prove their heroism to the audience. Of course, when those characters
happened to be ducks, they were all the more endearing. As a matter of fact, it
was only a matter of time before Uncle Scrooge had his own comic book title in
March 1952. Which is enough to cheer up even the most miserable of miserly old
curmudgeons.


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