Scrooge McDuck is a curmudgeon with a soft heart. While the duck rose to become one of the richest and most famous cartoon characters in the world, its creator, Carl Banks, remained anonymous for many years.
Scrooge McDuck in his element: he likes to bathe in the coins and bills in his money bin.
In his bathing suit, he happily jumps into his sparkling gold coins and throws the money around when he emerges. He lovingly caresses and hugs his mountains of coins and notes and kisses the money – this is how the Disney character Scrooge McDuck is known from the comics and the TV series “Ducktales”.
After his nephew Donald Duck and his fiancé Daisy Duck, Scrooge McDuck is probably the most famous duck in the world – and also the richest: With a fortune of $64.5 billion, Scrooge led the “Forbes” list of the 15 richest fictional characters for years – before Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne or Lara Croft. But Black Panther T’Challa is said to have even more: 90.7 trillion. Information on Duck’s exact wealth varies greatly: Dona Rosa’s biography shows that Duck has 5 fantastic billions, 9 trillion thalers and 16 kreuzers. How that is converted into billions is apparently not so clearly defined.
In any case, Scrooge McDuck owns a lot. That’s why his money store is constantly being targeted by the tank busters. According to the comic publication “Funny Paperback”, the money store in Duckburg, where the Ducks live, is equipped with a security system; these include minefields and traps. The landmark of Duckburg was seen for the first time in 1950. Another arch-enemy of the curmudgeon, the witch Gundel Gaukeley, is after Scrooge’s lucky ten. According to a Disney fansite, the coin represents that Duck made his money through hard work. Accordingly, he owns many factories, gold mines, oil wells and companies. In keeping with his wealth, he wears a black top hat, walking stick and spats.
Inspired by Charles Dickens
Scrooge McDuck turns 75 this month. In December 1947, the drawn duck made its first appearance in the comic “Die Dare”. His original name was Scrooge McDuck, based on the cliché of the miserly Scotsman and the protagonist of Charles Dickens’ Christmas story “A Christmas Carol” from 1843. In it, the miser Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by ghosts who remind him that he was cold hearted in his life. He then mends himself and gives gifts to his family.
In the same way, Scrooge McDuck sits alone in his villa in «The Test of Courage» and scolds others and the party. But just like Ebenezer Scrooge, Scrooge McDuck ultimately has a soft core: Even if he can sometimes almost go crazy with greed, he always decides on his adventures – such as treasure hunts, where his nephew and great-nephews accompany him – in the end always for his family .
In this context, the DPA news agency quoted the editor-in-chief of the “Funny Paperback”, Marko Andric: “Money alone does not make you happy, not even Scrooge McDuck. Even if good business, thaler baths and his money storage bring him great joy, he proves in many stories that family is the most important thing for him. Otherwise, would he entrust Donald with every job and invite him with the nephews on every adventure?”
Its inventor remained anonymous for a long time
Scrooge McDucks was created by the American comic artist Carl Banks, who also made the drake Donald Duck world famous. But while Scrooge McDuck was swimming in gold coins and gaining popularity, Banks was long unknown. The Washington Post wrote in 2000 that he had been working in the dark during his career when the comic artist died. Banks began drawing for Walt Disney’s Comics & Stories in the 1930s. Children addressed their letters to the “good duck artist” because his name had not been known for a long time.
The cartoon characters created by Banks traveled to South America and Europe, among other places, for their adventures – but the comic artist left the United States for the first time 29 years after his retirement, as the NZZ wrote in its obituary.
Its creature, the world’s most famous curmudgeon, is now even getting a bit of a modernization. A “Mickey Mouse” magazine was published for the anniversary, in which Scrooge McDuck is even familiar with cryptocurrencies.
