It is impossible to actually list all of Carl Barks' Disney duck stories in which Donald Duck - and most of the time, the nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie as well - have been paid employees of their uncle Scrooge McDuck, because we cannot definitely determine all actions and events as paid jobs. Some of the time the miserly Scrooge managed to either sweet talk, lure, or force the Ducks to help him for no salary at all. But he also often gets away with pure starvation wages or other 'benefits'.
This page features comments on 10 stories presented in chronological order and focusing on the more special or unusual jobs and tasks the Ducks have performed over time.

 

 

 

  FC0263 Trail of the Unicorn - 1950

Synopsis:
Scrooge wants a unicorn for his Zoo so Donald and the nephews are sent to the Himalayas after the fabled animal which they know does not exist. Or does it?

Comments:
Scrooge offers a reward of no less than 1,000,000 dollars to the person who can find him a real, live unicorn. Although Gladstone Gander is in on the hunt as well, it is the Ducks who collect the handsome reward...

 

  WDCS126 'Money Bin Crib' - 1951

Synopsis:
When a cyclone sucks up Scrooge's entire fortune from an open corn crib and distributes the money all over the country, the old miser is surprisingly calm...

Comments:
As it turns out, the only work that is still being done is the consumer jobs at Scrooge's farm. And the Ducks are the only farmhands - at a salary of 10 dollars per week...

 

  WDCS134 'The Boer War Cannon' - 1951

Synopsis:
Scrooge thinks a cannon he once bought will protect his money from the Beagle Boys. Will his plans backfire?

Comments:
As always, Scrooge is terrified of the Boys so he has hired Donald as a worrier(!), because he has no time himself to spend worrying! Scrooge makes sure that Donald is doing a decent job: I pay ten cents an hour to sitting-down worriers, twenty cents to nail-biting worriers, but for thirty cents I demand the works! 

 

  FC0367 A Christmas for Shacktown - 1952

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

Comments:
First, Donald arranges a cushy job as a rat catcher in the Money Bin. He brings in both the rat and the pursuing cat and collects 5 dollars for his 'trouble' catching the rat.
Next, when the building has collapsed, the nephews earn a bundle beginning recovering the lost money.

 

  FC0386 Only a Poor Old Man - 1952

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

Comments:
The Ducks are hired as money guards and handymen on these terms from Scrooge: You boys are getting paid for this, of course! I've put you on the payroll at thirty cents an hour!
After hiding his vast fortune under water Scrooge gets the urge to take a money bath, and he builds a small money island in the middle of the lake, and Donald and the nephews are invited to 'fish' for a potentially better salary using fishing rods and lines attached to purses...

 

  FC0456 Back to the Klondike - 1953

Synopsis:
Scrooge is having trouble with his bad memory but after a visit to the doctor he recalls a huge gold nugget he once left behind in Alaska.

Comments:
The Ducks are hired as helpers during the arduous journey to Klondike at the 'princely' salary of 23 cents an hour! Apparently, the amount is not all that fixed after all, because when Scrooge is licked clean from honey by a bear he exclaims to his nephews: First guy that laughs gets his wages cut to five cents a day! Barks probably miscalculated that wording...

 

  FC0495 'The Horse-radish Story' - 1953

Synopsis:
Chisel McSue presents Scrooge with a valid paper that enables him to obtain all of Scrooge's wealth. It can be avoided, though, if he finds a certain case of horseradish at the bottom of the sea...

Comments:
Donald is hired as first mate - and the nephews as mates - at a salary of 30 cents an hour, but when it comes to the actual settlement on the last day, Scrooge tries to wriggle out of the deal. But the nephews wisely had Scrooge sign an ironclad contract at the start of the journey forcing him to pay up in full...

 

  WDCS171 'Impervi-waxing' - 1954

Synopsis:
Donald tries to protect Scrooge's money by confining the Money Bin in a sealing wax which makes it totally impenetrable. Now, how will Scrooge get access to the money?

Comments:
Donald has a very busy schedule in this story: He shuffles money for a possible(!) Christmas bonus of 4 dollars, he performs as a rat catcher using his own cat at 10 dollars (see FC0367 above), and he is paid 14.40 dollars for sealing the entire Money Bin with a special wax.

 

  WDCS206 'Hotel Manager' - 1957

Synopsis:
Donald persuades Scrooge to give him a decent job. Scrooge makes him manager in one of his hotels. He then registers in disguise to see how his nephew is doing...

Comments:
In the beginning Donald is a lowly potato peeler in one of Scrooge's 9,999 hotels, and he advances to manager of the Sagmore Springs Hotel.
But due to a series of mishaps he is fired by Scrooge, and he returns to the only job even lowlier than that of being a potato peeler; he gets the job of tramping the potato peelings into trash cans...

 

  U$45 The Travel Tightwad - 1963

Synopsis:
Scrooge discovers that it is expensive to travel in a manner consistent with one's station so he replaces his limousine with a motor scooter.

Comments:
Donald is first hired as a personal limousine driver for Scrooge, but in order to save money, the miser - and his chauffeur - switches to transportation by scooter. But due to diverse costly mishaps Scrooge switches back to his limousine, from where he does the laundry from the backseat.
No salary is mentioned for Donald's services, but at least he gets to wear free - and clean - uniforms...

 

 

... THE LIST GOES ON ...

It seems plausible that Donald - and in several cases the nephews as well - in many other Scrooge adventures may indeed have been paid a tiny (not tidy!) sum, thus the listing could in reality have been even longer. Below are some additional, relevant stories followed by short job descriptions.
 

DD46 Secret of Hondorica
Detective

FC0238 Voodoo Hoodoo
Curse Averter

FC0318 No Such Varmint
Detective

U$23 The Strange Shipwrecks
Detective

U$44 Invisible Intruder
Money-tamping machine driver

U$66 The Heedless Horseman
Jockey

WDCS104 'Raising a Boat'
Boat Salvagers

WDCS124 'Under New Management'
Bill collector

WDCS144 'The Billion Dollar Spree'
Big spender

WDCS164 'The Wonder Flour'
Flour Demonstrator

WDCS187 'The Successors'
Featherbed factory manager

WDCS194 'Master Smoke Writer'
Smoke writer pilot

WDCS247 The Madcap Mariner
Schooner captain

WDCS252 Mr. Private Eye
Detective

WDCS255 Boat Buster
Fuel tester

WDCS268 Christmas Cheers
Truck driver

WDCS269 A Matter of Factory
Motel manager

WDCS297 Monkey Business
Sound Doctor

 

 


 http://www.cbarks.dk/THEFAMILYJOBSTORIES.htm

  Date 2015-06-30