Print

[The Australian Panther]

I am currently reading a book of short stories by Wordsworth Press called 'Vintage Mystery Detective stories' [ed David Stuart Davies.
In it I find a story by Earl van Der Biggers.No, not a Charlie Chan.
The story is 'the Dollar Chasers' and likely was originally published in a volume called
Earl Derr Biggers Tells Ten Stories (short stories, 1933)
Earl Der Biggers ,The Dollar Chasers
From this story I quote:-

'Gentlemen,' said Jim Bachelor softly, ' there it is. The first dollar I ever earned. I was a kid of eleven at the time.'
It was my first lesson in how hard money comes. On the first Saturday night I got my pay, this dollar,  and I walked home with my father past shop windows that were one long temptation. 'What are you going to spend it for Jim?  my father asked. I'm not going to spend it, I told him.  I'm going to keep it always. And I have. For thirty-seven years its been my lucky piece and its made good on the job. I've felt it in my pocket at the big moments of my life, and it's given me confidence and courage. A little silver dollar coined in 1884.

And the story? Somebody steals the silver dollar, Jim Bachelor [millionaire] feels unlucky in business, and all sorts of things happen until it is recovered. 
Earl Derr Biggers Tells Ten Stories was published in 1933.
As a lifelong Barks fan, seems impossible for me to to believe that this story didn't inspire Barks and added to his Uncle Scrooge characterization.

Cheers!
         
   

[Robb_K]

I am currently reading a book of short stories by Wordsworth Press called 'Vintage Mystery Detective stories' [ed David Stuart Davies.
In it I find a story by Earl van Der Biggers.No, not a Charlie Chan.
The story is 'the Dollar Chasers' and likely was originally published in a volume called
Earl Derr Biggers Tells Ten Stories (short stories, 1933)
Earl Der Biggers ?The Dollar Chasers?
From this story I quote:-

?Gentlemen,? said Jim Bachelor softly, ? there it is. The first dollar I ever earned. I was a kid of eleven at the time. ?..
It was my first lesson in how hard money comes. On the first Saturday night I got my pay ? this dollar ? and I walked home with my father past shop windows that were one long temptation. ?What are you going to spend it for Jim? ? my father asked. ?I?m not going to spend it, ? I told him. ? I?m going to keep it always. And I have. For thirty-seven years its been my lucky piece and its made good on the job. I?ve felt it in my pocket at the big moments of my life, and it?s given me confidence and courage. A little silver dollar coined in 1884.?

And the story? Somebody steals the silver dollar, Jim Bachelor [millionaire] feels unlucky in business, and all sorts of things happen until it is recovered. 
Earl Derr Biggers Tells Ten Stories was published in 1933.
As a lifelong Barks fan, seems impossible for me to to believe that this story didn't inspire Barks and added to his Uncle Scrooge characterization.
Cheers!

Very interesting! In 1933, Carl Barks, then 32 years old, was working and residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA), working as chief editor (basically, the entire staff) of The Calgary Eye Opener, a slightly risque bawdy humour magazine.  Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles, to work as an in-betweening animator, and storywriter/storyboard artist at The Walt Disney Studio.  Having known the man, and how he loved reading well-thought out and well-written stories (he was a voracious reader), I could well imagine him reading Earl van der Biggers' story, and that image of the lucky coin emblazened into his brain, to be emulated as a useful character attribute in the makeup of his most memorable own character.  Barks told me that Scrooge's character was formed as an amalgum of Dickens' stingy miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, The Robber Barons of The Nineteenth Century (John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Cornelius Vanderbilt), and 1930s newspaper strip's Andy Gump's Uncle Bim, who was so rich, he could travel all over The World having adventures - (every Boy child's dream).  But, yes.  It seems likely that Barks had read Biggers' story, and THAT was Barks' inspiration for giving both Scrooge McDuck's (character invented in 1947) first earned Dollar, and his first earned dime (early 1950s story), iconic super, magical, and lucky (symbolic) powers.