Keskustelujen arkisto

All:

Don noted that I just typed up these lyrics for Compuserve, so here they are
for the Disney list, giving me my first good excuse to post in a while,
though I read and enjoy all the digests.

LYDIA, THE TATTOOED LADY

by Harburg and Arlen

Lydia, of Lydia, say have you met Lydia, oh Lydia the tattooed lady.
She has eyes that both adore so, and a torso even moreso,
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclopedia, ho Lydia the queen of tattoo!
On her back is the battle of Waterloo,
And beside it the wreck of the Hesperus too,
And proudly above waves the red, white and blue!
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

She can give you a view of the world in tattoo,
If you step up and tell her where,
For a dime you can see Waikiki or Paree, (Paris)
Or Washington crossing the Delaware!

Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia, oh Lydia the tattooed lady.
When her muscles start relaxin', up the hill come Andrew Jackson!
Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclopedia, oh Lydia the champ of them all,
For two bits she can do a mazurka in jazz,
With a view of Niagara that no artist has,
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz!
You can learn a lot from Lydia!

Here's Grover Whalon and bailin the Tylon,
Over on the west coast we have Treasure Island!
Here's Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon,
And Godiva, but with her pajamas on!

Lydia, oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia, oh Lydia the champ of them all.
She one swept an Admiral clear off his feet,
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat!
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet,
For he went and married Lydia!

I believe I understand all the references in the song, except for the line
about Grover Whalon (I'm told he was a politician in New York in the 1930's).
Or maybe it has something to do with Grover Cleveland instead. If there are
any questions, I'll try to answer them...

Todd

Barks Bear Book:
I've been asking the same questions as Daniel van Eijmeren
-- without finding clear answers! It looks sortova kindova
bootleggish edition to me: "Edition Enfin", imprime en Italie, U.S.$40,
a nice mixture of ingredients. But it _does_ list "copyrights"
for the comics in question. I bought mine in 1980 from Sweden.
<< Are the versions included in the Barks Bear Book all
from the original comics? >> As far as I can tell, yes.
By the way, the colouring in the original Our Gang comics
is generally of a very good standard, and of course the stories
_do_ lose impact when making black/white xerox versions.
[I still miss #11 and #29...]

There have been _two_ albums in Denmark and Norway some years
back, featuring various BB & BB stories by CB, and indeed
sold with Barks' name prominently featured. They printed
maybe six or seven stories in each, so many stories remain.
And most but not all [?? can you confirm this, fellow Scandinavians ??]
of the BB & BB stories were run in the Norwegian [and, I guess, in
Swedish and Danish at the same time] "Tom & Jerry" in 1983, 1984, 1985.
That was the only time I ever bought this comic!

A nicely made medium-priced book in colour with all these
non-Disney series by Barks would surely sell well now,
thanks to the general public's knowledge and awareness of Barks.
His is now a household name in Scandinavia, at least, unlike
in 1980 and before.

(Also) in this connection it would be interesting to have some
sales figures from the Scandinavian market. I guess these are
not desparately secret numbers. Would anybody out there know?
. The yearly "Barks books" with Disney reprints,
some "new"/amost new and some old, price = medium, about 200 pages.
How have these sold over the years?
. The two Barks Bear Albums. How much? Still "in print"?
. Tom & Jerry?
. Weekly Donald?

My "market guess" is that most of the people who buy the
"yearly Barks book" in Scandinavia would buy a similar "Don Rosa book"
next year (Life and Times of Scrooge) _and_ that 50% or so of them
would buy "The Barks Bear Book" _if_ properly marketed.

Whether such a book would sell well in American would depend very much
on the marketing. If Gladstone somehow could get their hands on the
material it would work -- and here I'm thinking more in terms of the
market and its continuity than about the actual production skills, I suppose.
Two thirds of the people eager and mad and perseverant enough to buy
the complete "CBLibrary in Color" would surely buy the Bear Book.

Nils Lid Hjort

Don Rosa wrote:<<"The Baggage Coach Ahead" was the tune mentioned (in the
context I used it)
in "The City of Golden Roofs". I never tried to ascertain whether it's some
actual, if obscure, 1904 tune. But that Barks story is the only place I'd
ever heard of it.>>
Actual song, and very popular in those pre-recodings day. It sold alot
of sheet music. Somewhere in the apartment, I have a history and words
of the song, and i think a version of the song. However, all I can find that
it was wriiten in 1896, by a Davis. There were at least 3 reccordings by
early hillbilly artists in the first years of hillbilly recordings
(1923-1925), along with other popular favorites: When You and I were Young,
Maggie; Old and In the Way; Down by the Old Mill Stream; The Girl I left in
Sunny Tenneesse; Silver Threads Among the Gold; Ligtning Express; and Nellie
Gray; et al. All were popular songs written between 1856 and 1896.
Sentimental songs, particularly dealing with lost loves, the old home place,
, widows, orphans, the impoverished, and the old days of yore were very
popular during the Victorian Era. These songs lost their popularity, with
the advent of Ragtime and the Fox Trot (1910s), and was considered cornball
except in rural areas by the 1920s. I'm sure that this is more than
enough on the subject.

Harry asks <<Any information about the magazine "Persistence of Vision"?
It is said to be "the best Disney enthusiasts magazine in the
U.S.". I had never heard of it. Does it publish about Disney
_comics_? Or only the usual film/TV/merchandise/theme park
subjects?>>

I heard of this (although I was thinking I heard about it here in the
Disney Digest), but I just wanted to warn you that there is a newstand
magazine called "Persistance of Vision" which is an upscale home
entertainment center - movie-laser disc magazine. These aren't the same
magazine.
Steven Rowe

On Tue, 21 May 1996 (Email removed) wrote:

> And most but not all [?? can you confirm this, fellow Scandinavians ??]
> of the BB & BB stories were run in the Norwegian [and, I guess, in
> Swedish and Danish at the same time] "Tom & Jerry" in 1983, 1984, 1985.
> That was the only time I ever bought this comic!

That's right. They're being reprinted i T&J now (startting 1989/1990 or so).
They've printed one or two stories this year.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Vidar

Touch one hair of that tyrkey's head!
Just DARE touch it!

Here it is folks - straight from the Internet,
http://www.usa.net/~zippy/lydia.html

I cannot guarantee that this version has not
been Bowlderized for family use - there is a lot of
versions of the song out there.

Lydia the tattooed lady:

Lydia, oh Lydia,
Say have you met Lydia,
Lydia the tattooed lady,
She has eyes that men adore so,
And a torso even more so.

Lydia, oh Lydia
That encyclopedia
Lydia the queen of tattoo
On her back is the battle of Waterloo
Beside it the wreck of the Titanic too
And proudly above waves the red white and blue
You can learn a lot from Lydia

La de da, la de da, la de da, la de da.

She can give you a view of the world in tattoo
If you step up and tell her where
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree
Or Washington Crossing the Delaware

La de da, la de da, la de da, la de da.

Lydia, oh Lydia,
Lydia the tattooed lady,
When her muscles start relaxin'
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson

Lydia, oh Lydia
Lydia the champ of them all
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat
And now he's in command of the fleet
For he went and married Lydia

Even (Not the author of the song..)

Even Flood, Senior Research Librarian
Norwegian DIANE Center, Technical University Library of Norway
N 7034 Trondheim, Norway. Phone: +47 73 59 51 62, Fax +47 73 59 51 03
(Email removed)

"Come, and take choice of all my library, and so beguile thy sorrow."
(Shakespeare)

Daniel van Eijmeren writes <<All Barks' non-Disney stories (as recently
listed by Harry) are indeed
reprinted in "Barks Bear Book", except for the two script-only Droopy-
stories: (...)Is there someone here who has those stories? >>
I have at least one of them (and I suspect both), why?
<<have some questions: I remember hearing that the Barks Bear Book is
not an official publication (and the xeroxed art makes it likely to
believe). Is the Bear Book really a "bootleg"? Is it still in print?
Are the versions included in the Barks Bear Book all from the original
comics? >>
It's really a bootleg. I doubt that it's still in print. It was
originaly sold for $40 USA, and then a lot of copies were sold to Bud Plant
who sold them for $20. Bud sold out about last year. Yes, they are all
copied from the originals (at least the ones that I've checked).

I hear it was done by a Sweedish fan (who used to advertise in the USA The
Comics Buyer's Guide).

Niles
wrote <<And most but not all [?? can you confirm this, fellow Scandinavians
??]
of the BB & BB stories were run in the Norwegian [and, I guess, in
Swedish and Danish at the same time] "Tom & Jerry" in 1983, 1984, 1985.
That was the only time I ever bought this comic! >>

. I wonder if the Norwegian comics were the source for the USA reprints
(from Harvey). As I mentioned they reprinted the Barks stories, but from a
foreign translation with new words.

Again, the Barks Bear Book is by different copyright holders, so it's
unlikely to be ever reprinted again.
Legaly that is.

An aside: my wife came in and asked me what I was wriiting, she thought I
said I was "talking" about the Barf Bare Book.

Steven Rowe

Happy to having reiceved your questions, I'll answer... (in cronological order)

HARALD HAVAS: (message of 18 May 1996)
My compliments for your Italian! (Not rusty at all!)
I'm glad you've read some literary Ducks'. The one you quoted (the parody of
Gone with the Wind, who's original title is: 'Paperino e il Vento del Sud')
was pubblished on Topolino in 1982, which is quite recently. The most famous
ones, however, date in the '50s and '60s, and there are several with Mickey
and Goofy too. So, they are not only Ducks'...
Guess a classic (book, play or film), and I'll tell you if there's a Disney
Comics version.

FRANK STAJANO:
First of all, thank you for letting us know about your Cavazzano page! Much
of what you wrote about his style evolution (which is absolutely true and
interesting) is reported in my thesis too. If I started later, I could have
picked up some news from you, instead of books!
I met Cavazzano and talk with him about his parody, Topolino e Minni in:
Casablanca, which is my favorite... When he kindly showed me the original
panels, I must confess, I was really exited!!!
You wonder how I could manage to do a thesis on Disney Comics when
graduating in PHILOSOPHY. Your question is legitimate! But, I'll explain:
the last 2 years, I could choose to specialize in 'Comunicazioni Sociali'
(studying cinema, TV, radio, press... and all mass media, including COMICS).
Then, the best Prof. we have (the one who followed my work) is very fond
on Disney Comics!!!
I couldn't miss this opportunity, could I?
Unfortunately, I can't let my thesis available in Internet until I discuss
it at the end of June 1996.
I realize I've been too long. Again, thanks for your interest,

Alessandra

TODD AND EVEN: (Odd & Even?)
This has a dubious pertinence to this Newsgroup, only as lyrics to a song
that was NOT included in a Disney comic (though I tried to get it in there).
But I see one mistake in Todd's transcription that Even corrected, and it's
one of the best lines... "she has the eyes that men adore so, and a torso,
even moreso". It's that sort of leering sexual inuendo of the lyrics that
I'm sure caused it to be rejected by Disney. And though Groucho would change
the lyrics when he sang it over the years, the version I heard had
"Kentucky" (and that would make MY ears perk up) where Todd has Waikiki and
Even has "Kankakee"(?) Also, it's the Hesperus, not the Titanic, though
Groucho may also have substituted Titanic when people expressed confusion
over the literary reference to the Wreck of the Hesperus (which was a
Longfellow poem or somesuch).And there are lots of dated references such as
to Treasure Island, the amusement area near LA in the 30s. But... on to more
relevant things...

WHO ASKED?:
No, you're missing nothing by not seeing the Compuserve Disney Comics
section. It's a near-dormant section in the otherwise busy Compuserve Comics
Forum. There is virtually no traffic there except in very rare spurts, since
most Compuserve users are Americans and therefore disinterested in Disney
comics. More often than not, the Disney Comics section there will have
someone searching for a "Little Mermaid" videotape.

NILS (AND PER):
Yes, the Oslo amusement park where I'll be making my appearances in
"Tusenfryd". Thanks! And I haven't heard from my friends at the University
of Oslo, but I'm always willing to pay them a visit when they're interested.
My "King Arthur" story is definitely in print in all Egmont countries,
Norway included of course. But very recent... within the past month.
And though, as I say, I hope I don't misuse Donald Duck in my stories, I
never would claim that I don't emphasize $crooge much, much more. HE is the
main character in the Duck comics to me, not Donald. But that's my American
upbringing. Here, it was the UNCLE $CROOGE comic that was the special one we
looked forward to, the one with the long Barks stories, the one that only
came out 4 times per year and that was the special event.