The World's Richest Duck

The Author and Scrooge. I'm Holding His Dime.

Scrooge McDuck is one of my heroes. Yes you read that right, one of my personal heroes is a fictional cartoon duck. Before I delve into why, how about a little history of Donald Duck's famous uncle.

Scrooge McDuck first appeared in a 1947 Donald Duck comic book written and drawn by Carl Barks. "Christmas on Bear Mountain" introduced the World's Richest Duck to the world but he wasn't really the Scrooge we all know yet. He was created as a one shot character and since he was a rich miser and it was a christmas story, naming him as an homage to Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge was a bit of a no-brainer.

A short time later, Barks realized that having a rich uncle would be a great springboard for adventure tales featuring Donald and his nephews. Within a few years Scrooge was so popular that he got his own comic series.

Barks retired in 1967 and during the previous 20 years, his exceptionally well crafted stories and art made Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge the best selling comic books in the world. How loved were his treasure hunting adventure tales? Remember the opening of Raiders Of The Lost Ark? Spielberg and Lucas admitted they borrowed the opening from their favorite comic series, right down to the giant rolling boulder!

Scrooge's first animated appearance was a brief cameo during the opening of every episode of 1955's The Mickey Mouse Club. Disney animators were well aware of the massive popularity of the World's Richest adventurer, however not really a humorous character, the Disney story men could never really come up with a gag for an animated short with the character. In 1967 that would change.

Disney was making a series of fun educational cartoons and when approached to make one about the history of finance and currency, who better to host than Uncle Scrooge? In "Scrooge McDuck and Money", Scrooge and the Money Bin (already well known to America's kids) made their debut onscreen. In the cartoon, Scrooge teaches Huey, Dewey and Louie about the history of finance. I actually remember seeing this on an old reel to reel projector in school in the early 1980's!

A Scrooge Clock Featuring Art From "Scrooge McDuck And Money"

In 1983 Scrooge came full circle by starring as Ebenezer Scrooge in "Mickey's Christmas Carol". 1987 showed the lovable skinflint turn up again in "Sport Goofy". As a side note, this was also the first animated appearance of Barks' other creations, Gyro Gearloose and The Beagle Boys. In many ways, this played a lot like an unofficial pilot for Ducktales.

Uncle Scrooge Gumball Machine.

In 1988 Ducktales debuted. Based largely on the body of Barks' work (over 500 Duck stories), Ducktales even adapted stories from the comic books, most notably his origins in the Yukon Gold Rush. Ducktales brought Scrooge, Duckburg, Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, The Junior Woodchucks, Magica DeSpell, The Beagle Boys, Flintheart Glomgold, Glittering Goldie and the Money Bin, all Barks' creations, into America's living rooms. Ducktales did make some changes though. For starters it softened Scrooge a bit. Second, Webby, Mrs. Beakley and Launchpad were all created for the show. Webby was there to soften Scrooge a bit and Launchpad to take the place of Donald Duck who had always worked for his Uncle Scrooge in the comics at the rate of 30 cents an hour. In the comics, Donald accompanied the elder Scrooge on most adventures.

Original Animation Cel From Ducktales. Scrooge Holding His Number One Dime.

Post Ducktales, Scrooge has appeared in multiple video games, Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas, Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas, the House Of Mouse series, and brief appearances in the newest animated cartoons.

Through all but his first two appearances, Alan Young has provided the voice for Scrooge. Alan Young got the role due to the fact that he actually co-wrote an adaptation of A Christmas Carol for Disney Studios in the late 1970's. It was for a record actually, and he performed Scrooge's voice in that production. They used him in the animated Mickey's Christmas Carol and Ducktales and he's voiced him ever since. In 2013, the then 93 year old actor again provided the voice in the Ducktales: Remastered video game.

Autographed from Alan Young. A gift from my wife, Dawn.

One thing that always upsets me is when people who only vaguely remember the character assume he's a mean spirited, crooked capitalist. Scrooge has in fact since his earliest days, lived by his personal and oft-repeated motto that he made his fortune "by being smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies and I made it square!".

Another misconception is that the giant Money Bin is filled with gold coins. It's filled with pennies, nickels, dimes, etc. Each is a symbol and memory of one of McDuck's victories and as such he can pick up any coin or bill and tell you exactly how and where he earned it!

My Money Bin birthday cake from a couple of years ago.

Scrooge McDuck was born poor in Scotland in 1867. He was one of three siblings, with his two sisters Matilda and Hortense. Hortense, his younger sister, is Donald Duck's mother. Scrooge's father made him a shoeshine kit when he was a boy and Scrooge earned his first dime cleaning the filthy boots of a ditch digger. Wait! An American dime? That's right. After all that hard work he was ripped off by being paid with a foreign coin! It made him vow to never be duped again, to always be fair in his dealings and also inspired him to come to America, the land of opportunity, to seek his fortune.

My Number One Dime display. I sewed the pillow and on it sits a real 1875 Seated Liberty Dime.

As with many though, Scrooge found his dreams didn't come easily. after many failed attempts and much back-breaking work, Scrooge through truly inspiring persistance, joined the Yukon Gold Rush and finally, dressed in rags and half starved and beaten, discovered the Goose Egg Nugget. Scrooge's first million was earned.

In Don Rosa's "The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck", the author gathered all the various nuggets of information Scrooge had revealed about himself in Bark's tales and told the definitive origin of Uncle Scrooge. In a truly inspiring series, Rosa weaves these facts into a story that will make you marvel at the young Scrooge's persistance, cheer his eventual victory, and dismay at his downfall. When Scrooge's obsession to become the richest man in the world is finally realized, it is done so by pushing his family away. He has everything he wanted but at the high cost of losing everything truly important. For years Scrooge becomes a recluse until his nephew Donald and Huey, Dewey and Louie come into his life and force him back into the world. This is where Bark's stories begin.

Here I am the second time I met Don Rosa.

I love "The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck". It's one of the best stories I have ever read, It truly has it all. Drama, adventure, comedy, and lessons we could all learn from. I'm also not alone in this opinion, as Don Rosa's masterpiece won the prestigious Eisner Award. I cannot recommend it enough. I actually own a spare loaner copy so I can spread the joy of this tale to anyone interested.

The two sketches I got from Don Rosa. He drew one each time we met.

Scrooge is a world traveler, the greatest fictional adventurer of all time, he's outfoxed the Dalton gang and helped inspire Teddy Roosevelt to get into politics. The important thing that makes Scrooge so great is his wealth. Not the cubic acres of cash, but the wealth of memories. The hard work and experiences. We could all take some lessons from that.

Did I mention my Scrooge Tattoo? In the style of Don Rosa. Tattoo by Nicki Gaulin.

These are the reasons Scrooge is one of my heroes. An inspiration honestly. It's also why I've amassed a pretty sizable Scrooge collection! I don't see that ending any time soon,

- Paul Poole
1 / 09/ 2016

The Author at home with a small sampling of my Scrooge collection.