Quite a number of Carl Barks' duck stories involve a lot of different ways of moving. Not the temporary moves that take place in connection with vacations or business trips but the permanent ones that constitute a legal change of address. Some might say that Donald Duck must have moved innumerable times, simply because you will not be able to find even two stories in which his house is drawn in the same way, but this page will deal only with the more concrete moves that were part of the story plots.

 

 

 

 

VOLUNTARY MOVES 

MOC41 Race to the South Seas - 1949

Synopsis:
Donald and Gladstone are each given a yacht from Scrooge who apparently has been marooned on an island. They both try to be the first to rescue him...

Comments:
As it turns out Scrooge voluntarily moved from Duckburg in order to have some peace and quiet and no stress. This also happened in U$06 'Tralla La' in which Scrooge was fed up with his hard working life and consequently decided to move permanently to the Himalayas.

 

WORK-RELATED MOVES 

WDCS197 - 1957

Synopsis:
Donald takes on a new job as border patrolman but smugglers are outwitting him. Luckily, the nephews are more cunning!

Comments:
Donald has moved several times in order to get his dream job (or any job, for that matter). This time he settles in a small border town.
Other examples: In WDCS094 he became a coast guard, in WDCS146 he took over a chicken farm, and in WDCS206 he became manager of a hotel...

 

MOVE-INS 

WDCS178 - 1955

Synopsis:
Donald moves to a quiet neighbourhood in order to get a good night's sleep. But it is not that simple with an alpenhorn blower in the building...

Comments:
In this story Donald and the nephews move to a new neighbourhood. Although they have changed dwelling on more occasions this is Barks' only story based entirely on the subject of the ducks' moving.
Through time the ducks have had numerous different neighbours - the most vividly remembered being J. Jones - but Donald has also been burdened with relatives; in WDCS159 Scrooge moved in next door, and in WDCS205 it was Gladstone's turn.

 

  UNUSUAL DWELLINGS

U$48 The many Faces of Magica de Spell - 1964

Synopsis:
Magica discovers a brew which changes people's faces. Scrooge sees no other possibility than to flee Duckburg...

Comments:
He finally settles in an isolated system of caves on a faraway island where he hopes Magica will not be able to find him.
In U$32 That's No Fable! the dwelling is even stranger - the ducks are forced to live on a tiny island in the swamps. The waters surrounding the island comes from The Fountain of Youth, meaning that if they try to cross the water they will wind up as ducklings or even eggs...

 

FAR-OUT MOVES

U$29 Island in the Sky - 1960

Synopsis:
Scrooge decides to hide all his money on an asteroid far away from thieves. But the asteroid is inhabited...

Comments:
Sometimes the ducks really get around. In this story they actually decide to live in space on a small Eden-like planet where life is good and food is aplenty.
Also, in FC1025 Dream Planet Gyro Gearloose took Gus Goose to a planet beyond Pluto, where Gus decided to live.

 

MOVING THE MONEY  

FC0386 Only a Poor Old Man - 1952

Synopsis:
Scrooge tries to hide his money in a far-away lake so The Beagle Boys can't find it. But it is not that easy...

Comments:
Many of Barks' Scrooge stories circle around Scrooge's fear of losing his money in one way or another. This causes him to secretly move his money around in order to protect them from being stolen by, primarily, the Beagle Boys. This also happened in U$51 How Green was My Lettuce and in U$63 House of Haunts - just to name a few.
Scrooge's money moving was considerably more apparent in U$27 The Money Champ where he actually gathered all his money in full view on an old airfield!

 

MOVING THE MONEY BIN 

U$15 - 1956

Synopsis:
Scrooge has a problem with the location of his Money Bin. It keeps getting in the way of progress, but finally he finds the solution...

Comments:
It is quite impressive in itself that Barks was able to construct a moving story about one of Duckburg's seemingly most immovable objects. It is even more impressive that he did it in no less than two additional stories - FC0495 'The Money Bin Tank' and U$39 Tricky Experiment!

 

SELF-INFLICTED EXILES

FC0367 A Christmas for Shacktown - 1952

Synopsis:
Scrooge's money falls down an almost bottomless pit and all seems lost. The nephews think of a way to recover the money. But not for free...

Comments:
To be near his beloved money Scrooge decides to stay in the badger hole next to the pit until all his money has been recovered. It will take precisely 272 years, 11 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days...
Donald had another half-voluntary move in WDCS131 'The Unlucky Golfer' where he was extremely unlucky after a golf match with Gladstone, which caused Donald to want to stay in his closet for the rest of his life!

 

FORCED EXILES 

WDCS264 Master Wrecker - 1962

Synopsis:
Donald has a successful career wrecking old buildings until he mistakes the Top Brass Club for another building and tears it down - with the top brass still inside!

Comments:
Sometimes Donald's actions force him to emigrate. In this story he moves to Antarctica accompanied by his nephews. In WDCS194 'The Smoke Writer' he seeks refuge on the Italian island of Capri, and in both WDCS201 'The Super Dye' and WDCS263 The Candy Kid he winds up in Mali's Timbuktu!

 

THE MOVING STORIES 

WDCS222 - 1959

Synopsis:
Donald is very successful at his moving job until one day he is hired to move the animals from a zoo...

Comments:
Barks wrote two stories in which some of the primary characters have a genuine moving job. In this one Donald is his own master and he is doing pretty well in the start - as it is usual in Barks' so-called Master Stories.
Furthermore, in WDCS187 Donald and Gladstone get the chance to manage one of Scrooge's businesses. Donald receives a mattress factory, while Gladstone has a moving company thrust upon him. He is not happy about this...

 

 


http://www.cbarks.dk/THEMOVINGSTORIES.htm   Date 2005-11-23