It is not commonly recognized that Carl Barks' employer Western Publishing, besides his numerous Disney comic book stories actually produced several hardcover children's books containing his material as well (see more HERE). Most of the issues did not involve Barks, as Western simply published series of children's books under diverse subsidiary names featuring stories or parts of stories that he had made previously, and normally he was not even credited. The only exception came in TTT2465 The Lemonade King from 1960. This is the story.

 

 

THE WORK


Imprint page with credits*

   

Title: The Lemonade King

ID: Top Top Tales 2465

Publisher: Whitman Publishing

Publication Date: 1960

Binding: Hardcover

Pages: 28

Barks' material: 17 single-page and 5 double-page illustrations plus a slightly altered front cover.

* Barks had made an illustration showing Scrooge squishing lemons using an inventive, nutcrackerish looking apparatus, but Western turned it down and let an unknown artist make a bland version depicting Scrooge sipping glasses of lemonade in a beach chair...

Short synopsis:
Scrooge McDuck's lemonade stand at the beach has dwindling sales since a competitor, Lemonade Leo, entered the scene.
Donald Duck suggests that Scrooge begins to sell larger amounts of his lemonade. This happens by the bucket size which turns out to be a success amongst the thirsty customers, but soon after Leo sells by the barrel. Then Scrooge sells in bathtub sizes, and right after Leo starts selling by the truckloads. Finally, Leo gives up when Scrooge fills an entire lake with lemonade...

A few comments:
This was the only children's book for which Barks received an author credit. The imprint page includes the credit line: Pictures by Carl Barks and Norm McGary.

Barks received instructions on how to go about his artwork. Examples: The illustrations should be kept at least ¼" from the texts and at least ½" away from the center fold, they should be rendered in at least 1 and ⅓" of the printed size, and they should fit to the arrangement of texts.

Barks worked from texts written by author Annie North Bedford (née Jane Werner Watson), who also wrote a free adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novel 'A Christmas Carol' for another Barks book (see more later).

McGary worked under diverse aliases such as Norm or Norman as his Christian name, and McGary, Mc Gary, and Mac Gary as his family name. He worked for several comic book studios as an illustrator, and at Disney's he is especially known for his watercolour front cover versions of sketches by the duckman Tony Strobl and the mouseman Paul Murry.

Although McGary attempted to follow Barks' precise artwork to the letter, he strayed a few times. Examples are several of the portrayed children that Barks had drawn as animal characters. McGary changed them into human ones.

Barks recalled: I think I asked Tom McKimson (Western's children's books editor at the time - Editor's remark) once for a change to do some illustrating for such books. I had an idea it would add glamor to my name. The scripts sent to me were in the form of dummy books. The type was pasted into place on the pages, and the blank paper was left where the illustrations were to fit. My drawings were to be in cleaned-up pencil on thin paper that could be put on a lighted board. The finish-up artist then laid good watercolor paper over the pencil drawings and traced off the lines with the aid of the illumination from beneath. I had no say as to what colors he would use in painting the final art.

In a 1974 interview Barks said that he had anticipated that the artwork 'would be pleasant, and a nice break', but that it was instead too exacting, because the pencil drawings had to be precise guides for the colour artist.

 

THE FRONT COVER


1

2

3

4

As usual, Barks made a number of idea sketches before he made his choice. In one he had Scrooge bearing the book's title on a handheld sign (1), and in another he had him sitting on top of a giant lemon dressed as a king in the middle of a fruit bowl sipping lemonade from a big glass, while his nephews are filling their glasses. The submitted choice was rather similar except that Scrooge's giant lemon is now sitting on a mound of normal-sized lemons, while his nephews are presenting empty glasses (2). McGary then painted a 'zeroing-in' version of that drawing (3). But the book version omits Donald's nephews (who were not in the story anyway!), and transferred Donald to the other side for a better balancing of the motif (4).

 

THE STORY

Below you are presented to the 5 double-page illustrations from the story: To the left is Barks' finished sketch, in the middle the relevant text for that particular situation, and to the right McGary's finished art.

Now, Uncle Scrooge!, Donald Duck said soothingly, Calm down!
Uncle Scrooge stamped his foot. His glasses trembled. He scowled fiercely and smacked his fist on the counter of Scrooge's Scrumptious Lemonade Parlor.

Lemonade Leo is stealing all my customers!, he roared. I was making a bankful of money every day until he put up that stand over there!
Donald Duck looked down the beach. There was a crowd in front of the other stand. Over the roof loomed a huge sign which said:

The news spread fast. Soon a funny kind of parade came filing down the road from town. Everyone was carrying, pulling, or pushing a bathtub. There were white tubs and pink ones, blue ones and black-and-white marble ones.

Once again the crowd was moving. Everyone who owned a truck or could borrow one was on his way. Uncle Scrooge and Donald could only watch unhappily as Lemonade Leo used a hose to fill one truck after another.

Around the shores of the lake waited thousands of people with straws in their hands. Behind them, cement mixers ground up thousands of juice lemons, and overhead the airplanes dumped the ground-up lemons and tons of sugar down into the lake.

 

 

BONUS

Earlier, Barks had worked on two other children's books but without receiving any credit:

Title: Donald Duck and the Boys

ID: Whitman Book 845

Publisher: Whitman Publishing

Publication Date: 1948

Binding: Hardcover

Pages: 48

Barks' material: 48 new drawings

Synopsis:
Donald acts as a successful bill collector until he turns over the business to his nephews as he wishes to go home to relax. Soon after the kids discover that Donald himself is on their list...

Comments:
The book was based entirely on the bill collector story from WDCS074. Re-written by an unknown writer in softened language with emphasis on morale and clean living and accompanied by 48 brand-new drawings by Barks. Occasionally his illustrations did not quite follow the text. One example is Donald's visit to the Wild Woman of Borneo who owes a dental bill for having her teeth sharpened. In his original comic story Barks wrote the same thing, and showed the woman complete with a pointed set of teeth, but in the book they are omitted which seems a bit confusing when reading the text.

Title: Donald Duck and the Christmas Carol

ID: Little Golden Book D84

Publisher: Golden Press/Simon & Shuster

Publication Date: 1960

Binding: Hardcover

Pages: 24

Barks' material: 14 single-page and 5 double-page illustrations plus front cover and imprint page.

Synopsis:
Donald and the nephews are preparing for Christmas but Scrooge hasn't got any time for that nonsense. So they try to get him in the right mood...

Comments:
The book was a free adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel 'A Christmas Carol' from 1843. Barks, who worked from texts written by Annie North Bedford, merely made detailed pencil sketches for this story which were rendered into watercolours by Norman McGary. Barks furnished 14 single-page and 5 double-page illustrations including the title page and the imprint page. Originally, the book was supposed to carry the title Uncle Scrooge and the Christmas Carol, for which Barks worked on a cover. However, in the end the editors preferred to give Donald the starring role and ordered the cover from a different artist.

 

 


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

  Date 2017-07-25