Grandma Duck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Grandma Duck (Elvira Coot) | |
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| First appearance | Donald Duck Sunday newspaper strip, 1943 (first appearance in person) |
| Created by | Bob Karp and Al Taliaferro |
Elvira "Grandma Duck" Coot is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney's various comic books. She is the grandmother of Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander, as well as the Duck family matriarch. In most stories, she is simply referred to as Grandma Duck. Grandma Duck was introduced to the Disney comic universe by Al Taliaferro in the newspaper comic strips - as a picture in 1940, in person in 1943. Taliaferro found inspiration for her in his own mother-in-law, Donnie M. Wheaton.
According to Keno Don Rosa, Grandma was born around 1855. Later, she married Humperdink Duck, and they had three children named Quackmore Duck (Donald Duck's father), Daphne Duck (Gladstone Gander's mother) and Eider Duck. So fond were Elvira and Humperdink of their children that they called themselves "Ma and Pa Duck" (again, according to Don Rosa).
Quackmore married Hortense McDuck, sister of Scrooge and Matilda. They had at least two children, Della Thelma Duck, and Donald Duck.Ma and Pa Duck became Grandma and Granpa Duck.
But then a series of tragedies came close to destroying what had appeared to be one big happy family. Granpa Humperdink passed away. Della got married, even though she was too young and unexperienced, and left the farm outside of Duckburg. She never returned, even for a visit.
Matilda and Hortense, disgusted with the ruthless, even brutal, way Scrooge was making money in Africa, took off for parts unknown. (Matilda eventually resurfaced in her native Scotland, but her sister and brother-in-law are still missing as of 2007). Elvira was left to raise Donald, a bad-tempered little hatchling, all by herself. She rose to the occasion with true heroism.
Della had three children- Hubert, Deuteronomy and Louis - better known as Huey, Dewey, and Louie. They were wild and unruly children who put their father in the hospital with their pranks. Della gave up on them completely, passing them on to her brother Donald. Donald never gave up on the kids, and persevered until they reformed, with the help of the Junior Woodchucks and of course their great-grandmother, who proved to be the most positive adult influence and role model in their lives. The three ducklings spent many happy weekends and summers with their Grandma Duck in the farm. She was firm but kind, always wise, and persevered until the three little hellions became model children.
When Donald and his nephews became friendly with Scrooge McDuck, this created a bridge for a reconciliation also between Elvira and Scrooge, who became very good friends. The fragmented family became a real family again.
Grandma's grandnephew Gus Goose is her farmhand and lives on the farm. However, he is very lazy and does not work much. In some stories, especially older ones, Grandma Duck also gets help from Gus and Jaq, the two mice from Cinderella.
Grandma's farm is the center of the Duck family's annual holiday gatherings, with said gatherings usually arranged by her. These are always merry and warm and interesting occasions.
She is depicted as driving a Detroit Electric automobile. She refuses to acquire any modern gadgetry, and does not even watch TV.
In The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa, it is shown that her father is Clinton Coot, her mother is Gertrude Gadwall, her grandfather is Cornelius Coot, and her brother is Casey Coot. In older Italian stories (including Marco Rota's From Egg to Duck), she is sometimes shown as Scrooge McDuck's sister, but this tradition is no longer alive. The "truth" is that Scrooge is the brother of Elvira's daughter-in-law. For this relationship there is no word in the English language. According to Don Rosa's unofficial timelines, Grandma Duck died in 1970, aged 115.
Grandma made her animated debut in the 1960 Wonderful World of Color episode "This is Your Life, Donald Duck", where she was voiced by June Foray. She also made a non-speaking cameo in Mickey's Christmas Carol. Surprisingly, she never made an appearance on DuckTales.
[edit] Trivia
In a comic translated into Spanish, Grandma Duck ("Abuela Pata") gives her first name as "Eduviges." This is the Spanish version of "Hedwig." Hedwig is the name of Saint Hedwig, patron saint of orphans, and of Harry Potter's owl.
