BARNEY BEAR & BENNY BURRO
I have earlier made some comments on the ’non Disney Barks’ in the ‘Carl Barks extra’ installment in this column. Here follows the bulk of that production, the Barney Bear & Benny Burro episodes made in the period from 1943 to 1947 before Barks completely shifted to the duck universe and executed some of his best work around 1949.
Apart from the four 6 page episodes Serenade for a Senorita, Snap Goes the Turtle, The Doctor and his Patient and Cousin Kodiak they are all 8 page stories. Some of the ideas were later reused in Barks’ Donald Duck production, but there is a distinct first time flavor to this initial presentation.
I present the list here below. The first three titles are Benny Burro stories. From the excellent The Sound of his Horn, Barney Bear enters the scene.
Barks appreciated to have gotten hold of a character that had actual hands, which offered him better story writing opportunities. The stories were printed in the magazine Our Gang from issue 8 (1943) to issue 36 (1947). Here is the list:
With a Little Help to my Friends
The Playful Mountain Goat
A Bird of Beauty is a Pest Forever
The Sound of His Horn
The Merry Moose Hunters
Barney Rides Again
The Intrepid Wolf Trappers
How to be a Matador
Cougar, Cougar Shining Bright
Cool, Clear Water
Serenade for a Senorita
Snap, Goes the Turtle
The Doctor and his patient
To Ski or not to Ski
Cousin Kodiak
The Sounds of Silence
Mother Nature’s Children
The Master of Archery
The Compleat Anglers
The Dauntless Dogcatchers
Modern Art, and all That
Somewhere Under the Rainbow
A Hole in None
Ol’ McElk he had a Farm
Klipto Kleppo Strikes Again
Uncle Grizzly
Home, Sweet Home no More
Riches, Riches in the Wall
The Thieving Magpie
