When it comes to dealing with troublemaking nephews, nobody has more experience than Donald Duck. Did you know that his three nephews – Huey, Dewey, and Louie – have been a lovable cause of stress to Donald for 80 years now? That’s right, despite their eternally young appearance, October 17, 2017 marked the 80th anniversary of these intrepid ducks.
Created by writer Ted Osborne and cartoonist Al Taliaferro, the triplets made their debut appearance in the Donald Duck Sunday newspaper strip on October 17, 1937. Six short months later, the trio made their first animated premiere in the short Donald’s Nephews. Since those initial appearances, Huey, Dewey, and Louie have gone on to star in various films, literature, television shows, video games, and more. Although, comics remain their primary medium as the trio is collectively the 11th most published comic book character in the world. Outside of the superhero genre, they are second only to Donald.
Originally, Donald’s sister was only supposed to drop the boys off for a brief visit with their Uncle. However, following a firecracker prank gone wrong, it was arranged for the boys to temporarily stay with Donald. This temporary situation became permanent when the boys’ parents were never heard from or mentioned again. Despite continually provoking the famous temper of Donald, these mischief-makers later proved to be valuable assets to both him and Scrooge McDuck, their Grand Uncle. The boys’ improved behavior is credited to the Junior Woodchucks organization, along with the wise counsel of their great-grandmother.
In early comic books and shorts the boys’ hats were colored randomly, depending on the whim of the colorist. But beginning in the 1980s it became established that Huey is dressed in red, Dewey in blue, and Louie in green. Disney’s archivist Dave Smith explained the coloring by saying “Note that the brightest hue of the three is red (Huey), the color of water, dew, is blue (Dewey), and that leaves Louie, and leaves are green.” Meanwhile their names were derived from politicians Huey Long and Thomas Dewey, as well as Disney animator Louis Schmitt.
Russi Taylor voiced Huey, Dewey, and Louie in the 1987 animated series, Ducktales until 1990. A reboot of this original series recently aired on Disney XD with Danny Pudi as Huey, Ben Schwartz as Dewey, and Bobby Moynihan as Louie. What better way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of these ducklings than with a Ducktales marathon? Woo-oo!
