Since I've liked several of David Gerstein's stories (the G&S parodies in Ten-Penny Opera, the Magica vs. Magica duel in Two for One, the Shakespearian-actor ghost in A Bard's Tale), I recently ordered several more of them in French, including Two Men and a Baby, mentioned here on the Gladstone thread. I liked that one, too, and I agree that it shows a different facet of Gladstone's character (aside from sheer obnoxiousness based on inborn privilege--though that's still there, too), making him a more fully rounded character. I also greatly enjoyed the Donald-caused chaos at the end of Pioneer Daze (Cornelius Coot Day in Duckburg), brought to wonderful life on the page by Vicar. (Actually, I may have enjoyed that in French even more than I would have in English; I truly love the panel where Donald, dressed as Coot to preside over the festivities, says "l'heure de ma gloire a sonné!" That couldn't possibly be as funny in English.) And I'm glad to actually see how Cornelius Coot Day is celebrated, after hearing about it on the first page of Rosa's The Duck Who Never Was.
But I have a question about another of the stories, Rolling in Dough. What are the chocolate-filled breads supposed to turn into when heated, and why are Scrooge's competitors eager to find out the secret of this transformation? Neither the art nor the words (perhaps it's the fault of the French dialoguist, perhaps of my so-so French) made it clear to me. Do they turn into something calorie-free, so people will buy the pastries because they can enjoy an éclair without blowing their diet? And what *is* it they turn into? Post-transformation, they puff Bolivar up, but won't hurt him...but that still doesn't tell me exactly what they've become.
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Author
Topic: Gerstein's Rolling in Dough
(3 messages)
Matilda
Gerstein's Rolling in Dough
Message 1 -
2013-02-10 at 15:43:48
Ramapith
Gerstein's Rolling in Dough
Message 2 -
2013-02-11 at 07:18:47
I don't mean to speak ill of the deceased, but I've spent twenty years wondering if anyone would ever ask me about this! For the late, great Daniel Branca did a slightly... puzzling art job on "Rolling in Dough."
In my original plot/script, the idea was that Scrooge is manufacturing a new kind of bread invented by Gyro: basically, the bread equivalent of popcorn. It comes "compacted" at small dinner-roll size for easy storage. Then later, when it's time for eating, one takes one of the small rolls and heats it over a flame, whereupon it "pops" and transforms into a full-size, large loaf.
Scrooge's competitors are eager to find out the secret because the loaves' initial compact size saves tons of storage space.
Anyhow, Branca took the idea of the small rolls' popcorn-like "popping" and interpreted it as them transforming into something that looked not like a large loaf, but like a popcorn ball! This would have still been okay if the "popcorn balls" were visibly larger than the small-size rolls, but no; most were drawn at about the same size.
I didn't notice this at first. By the time Branca, my editor, and I caught the problem, the story was already planned for an issue and being colored. The art had to stay as it was.
So what to do? My editor sent out a note to translators with a new explanation of Scrooge's product, saying that these were now dinner rolls that, if left uneaten after dinner, could be effortlessly transformed into popcorn balls for dessert! It was still funny (and the Germans, at least, actually used this explanation), but it lacked the storage-space element, so it's hard to see why Scrooge's competitors would want to copy it so desperately.
As for "Pioneer Daze," my original script has Donald saying "Gloryosky! My crowning moment!"
Thanks very much for enjoying my stuff.
In my original plot/script, the idea was that Scrooge is manufacturing a new kind of bread invented by Gyro: basically, the bread equivalent of popcorn. It comes "compacted" at small dinner-roll size for easy storage. Then later, when it's time for eating, one takes one of the small rolls and heats it over a flame, whereupon it "pops" and transforms into a full-size, large loaf.
Scrooge's competitors are eager to find out the secret because the loaves' initial compact size saves tons of storage space.
Anyhow, Branca took the idea of the small rolls' popcorn-like "popping" and interpreted it as them transforming into something that looked not like a large loaf, but like a popcorn ball! This would have still been okay if the "popcorn balls" were visibly larger than the small-size rolls, but no; most were drawn at about the same size.
I didn't notice this at first. By the time Branca, my editor, and I caught the problem, the story was already planned for an issue and being colored. The art had to stay as it was.
So what to do? My editor sent out a note to translators with a new explanation of Scrooge's product, saying that these were now dinner rolls that, if left uneaten after dinner, could be effortlessly transformed into popcorn balls for dessert! It was still funny (and the Germans, at least, actually used this explanation), but it lacked the storage-space element, so it's hard to see why Scrooge's competitors would want to copy it so desperately.
As for "Pioneer Daze," my original script has Donald saying "Gloryosky! My crowning moment!"
Thanks very much for enjoying my stuff.
Matilda
Gerstein's Rolling in Dough
Message 3 -
2013-02-11 at 19:51:24
Thank you, David! It's so satisfying to find out what the story really was supposed to be, and what the story behind the story is. Very reassuring in the "no, I'm not an idiot after all" sense. The French dialoguist either was not told or chose not to use the make-do explanation to go with the art, and there was no explanation of the transformation that made sense, which meant that one was left with the art alone to go on, and *that* wasn't clear at all. Now I understand not only the intended transformation, but also the interest of the industrial spies. And it's fascinating just to hear what can go on between comic script and final product. It never occurred to me that editors/writers might sometimes have to come up with alternate scenarios to make sense of wayward art!
And "Gloryosky" is cute, but it's still not nearly as funny as "l'heure de ma gloire a sonné!" I think French just does self-consciously poetic grandiosity better than English does.
And "Gloryosky" is cute, but it's still not nearly as funny as "l'heure de ma gloire a sonné!" I think French just does self-consciously poetic grandiosity better than English does.
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