SYNOPSIS

FC0300 Big-Top Bedlam - 1950

Donald Duck is asked to return Daisy's heirloom brooch that he stores for safe-keeping, but on the way to her house he loses the artifact. By a strange coincidence he sees it again at a circus lot, when an artist tosses it in the air. Donald runs after the man who proves to be quite elusive; at least, Donald is unable to locate him again, despite searching the grounds. It never dawns on Donald that he is getting the runaround, literally, from a circus artist calling himself Zippo The World's Fastest Quick-change Artist. Donald's last option is to come clean with Daisy, but in this his darkest hour the brooch miraculously emerges again...

LAYOUTS

For a period of time Barks experimented with pages in which the panels were all laid out in different sizes and shapes. This is especially noticeable in VP1 Vacation Time from 1950 where he might be suspected of doing it just for kicks. But a closer examination reveals that the layout of every page is in fact, different - in all the realistic pages the frames are more normal looking than in the action ones. In the circus story Barks used the effect much more sparingly and perhaps with more reflection as the effect is used solely in the helter-skelter actions of the circus arena.

A few times Barks experimented with perspective in order to let the panels have some sort of a 3D-effect. It was not used very often but it was certainly a new thing in those days. In this story Barks used the technique in the slingshot sequence on the bridge and during the erection of the cannon inside the circus.

DISGUISES

Zippo, the fantastic circus artist, lured Donald again and again with his rapidly changing costumes. Some of the disguises defied normal explanation and gave Zippo a place as a man with, apparently, regenerating pieces of garments, when he switched from one personality to another. The most impressive result came when he changed from a hairy ape to a fully-clothed fireman with heavy boots and a large helmet during the seconds he descended from the trapeze to the ground...

Here are all Zippo's disguises in chronological order:
Indian-looking man in rope and turban
Stately gentleman in dress-coat and top hat
Uniformed ringmaster with a bicorne (hat with upturned corners)
Monkey
Fireman
Demon
Skeleton
Uniformed soldier
Presenter
Red Indian chief
Spanish-looking man with a pom-pom hat
Two identical ladies - simultaneously!!!

HUMANS

Barks was a second-to-none funny animal artist, and for a brief period of time (1947-1950) he tried to sneak real humans into his duck stories. But Barks ventured out on thin ice when he began to show real humans instead of humanized ducks and similar animals in his stories. This happened for instance in FC0256 Luck of the North, FC0263 Land of the Totem Poles, FC0291 The Magic Hourglass, and in FC0300 Big Top Bedlam. Although slightly caricatured it is plain to see that Barks drew real humans throughout the circus story: Performers, staff members, audiences, banquet goers...

But in the following story, FC0308 Dangerous Disguise, Barks finally went too far as all the non-duck characters were real people. I was in deep trouble, Barks later shuddered. But due to an upcoming deadline the story was accepted...
Barks recalled: As soon as I took 'Dangerous Disguise' in, and Carl Buettner (Western Publishing editor at the time) took a look at it, he said, 'That doesn't go good, having real humans. It takes the ducks out of their own world'.

On FC0328 In Old California! Barks later said: I would have preferred to have drawn the characters as real humans, but I was warned for using humans when I submitted 'Dangerous Disguise' four months earlier. From then on real humans were only seen sporadically in the stories.

ANIMALS

Barks also occasionally tried his hand in drawing comic book animals that were accurately drawn as real live specimens. It was especially small birds that had his interest, but in the circus story several larger animals appeared.

COMPARISONS

Donald tries to locate the elusive man somewhere inside the circus - and he looks in a cannon! Eventually, he is shot out as a human cannonball - a fate that he had just avoided in WDCS279 Once Upon a Carnival.

During the chase sequences Zippo erroneously thinks that Donald is a bill collector. In fact Donald was a bill collector in WDCS074 'Bill Collecting' (and the spawned children's book LCB Donald Duck and the Boys) in which he made a business call in a circus during a long scene.

The artist is none other than Zippo, the world's fastest speed dresser, and he is aware that Donald is following him, but not why, so Zippo flees from him throughout the story using one masterful disguise after another in order to try to get Donald of his back. In a later story, U$60 The Phantom of Notre Duck, another person is desperately attempting to flee (this time from Scrooge and the Ducks) namely the strange phantom, who has taken Scrooge's flute for his own purposes.

A stereotypical object supposedly carried by many male youngsters in those days is a slingshot. Barks offered three stories in which the nephews were armed with such weapons; in FC0300 Big-Top Bedlam the three nephews take turns shooting at Donald with the same slingshot, in DD46 Secret of Hondorica Louie takes a marksman shot at Gladstone Gander, and in MOC20 Darkest Africa the nephews each have a slingshot which they use on the villain.

Donald visited several of Duckburg's amusement facilities in the stories. Examples are WDCS046 Camera Crazy, WDCS060 'Radar Tracking', WDCS213 'Spring Cleaning', WDCS263 The Candy Kid, WDCS265 Raven Mad, and WDCS279 Once Upon a Carnival.

In the story Barks drew one panel showing Donald being kicked by a female negro displayed with a number of stereotypical characteristics: Full lips (of the special stretched kind), curly hair, brass rings, grass skirt, and bare feet. In the earlier WDCS074 'Bill Collecting' Donald encountered a similar circus artist woman and added yet another stereotypical feature, namely a set of sharpened teeth!

The circus is called Bungling Bros., which is a twist on the name of the real Ringling Brothers circus. Barks later used the same joke in WDCS160 'The Christmas Camel'.

TITBITS

The ducks have been searching for countless very different objects throughout the stories, but in this one there are two added twists; the brooch keeps turning up all the time without Donald getting to it, and he is confounded that every time it does turn up it seems to be held by different people.

Shortly after the Ducks have discovered that a travelling circus is approaching Duckburg it stands in place!

When Zippo changes from portraying Satan to being a skeleton it is due to Donald's pulling his pointed tail causing the devil suit to split open in the back. This makes it impossible for Zippo to have advanced forwards through the front side of the suit.

The nephews are mentioned as Huey, Louie, and Dewey instead of the usually accepted version Huey, Dewey, and Louie (HDL). Barks had the same memory lapse in other stories.

In Donald's home hangs a daring wall calendar featuring an attractive pinup girl in a bikini!!! (Yes, have a look...)

All of the secondary characters except three are caricatured humans. Can you find the few button-nosed individuals?

The story's title may seem somewhat strange to a foreigner, but it is simply a compilation of the words Big-Top meaning Circus and Bedlam meaning Madhouse.