Plot
It is Gladstone Gander's birthday, and Daisy Duck is planning a big party for him at Grandma Duck's farm. However, Gladstone is nowhere to be seen. He is purposefully hiding from his relatives, because his birthday is the only day in the entire year when he is unlucky, and he wants to avoid coming to any harm.
Not wanting Donald and Daisy to discover him, Gladstone heads away from Grandma's farm, but a sequence of extraordinarily improbable events foils each of his travel attempts, first in a taxicab, then in a train, and finally in an aeroplane. Gladstone is on a flight to Alaska, but he is accidentally evacuated from the plane, landing on a hot-air balloon, which takes him to Grandma's farm, against his wishes.
At Grandma's farm, the origin of Gladstone's unlucky birthday is revealed. Way back when Gladstone's mother Daphne Duck was born, a travelling painter had painted a sign of a "triple distelfink" on the front end of Grandma's barn, keeping good luck in, and an upside-down version of the same sign on the back end, keeping bad luck out. Later, Gladstone was born on his mother's birthday, and during one of his childhood birthday parties, lightning had hit him while he had been hoisted on the upside-down distelfink sign by Donald. The event caused his birthday to become the only exception to his near-universal good luck.
When Donald and Gladstone hear of this, both of them rush to the front end of the barn, trying to get hit by lightning again, but this time on the rightside-up sign. Donald hoists himself up first, but the part of the roof where the rope is attached is rotten and falls away, making Donald fall back down and flinging Gladstone up in the air instead. Lightning hits Gladstone on the rightside-up sign, and thus the bad luck is annulled, and Gladstone is now lucky throughout the entire year.
The German word Distelfink means European goldfinch in English.
Daisy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the girlfriend of Donald Duck, she is an anthropomorphic white duck that has large eyelashes and ruffled tail feathers around her lowest region to suggest a skirt. She is often seen wearing a hair bow, blouse, and heeled shoes. Daisy was introduced in the short film Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940) and was incorporated into Donald's comic stories several months later. She appeared in 11 short films between 1940 and 1954, and far later in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) and Fantasia 2000 (1999). In these roles, Daisy was always a supporting character, with the exception of Donald's Dilemma (1947). Daisy has received considerably more screen time in television, making regular appearances in Quack Pack (1996), Mickey Mouse Works (1999–2000), Disney's House of Mouse (2001–2003), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016), Mickey Mouse (2013–2019), Mickey and the Roadster Racers (2017–2021) and The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020-present). Daisy has also appeared in several direct-to-video films such as Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (1999), The Three Musketeers (2004), and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004).
Gladstone Gander is a cartoon character created in 1948 by The Walt Disney Company. He is an anthropomorphic gander who possesses exceptional good luck that grants him anything he desires as well as protecting him from any harm. This is in contrast to his cousin Donald Duck, who is often characterized for having bad luck. Gladstone is also a rival of Donald for the affection of Daisy Duck. Gladstone dresses in a very debonair way, often in a suit; wearing a bow-tie, fedora, and spats. He has a wavy hairstyle which is depicted either as white or blonde. In the story "Luck of the North" he is described as having a brassy voice.
Professor Ludwig Von Drake is a cartoon character created in 1961 by The Walt Disney Company. He is the paternal uncle of Donald Duck. He was first introduced as the presenter in the cartoon An Adventure in Color, part of the first episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC. According to the episode The Hunting Instinct of that series he and Donald Duck's father are brothers. He is described as a scientist, lecturer, psychologist, and world traveler. The character displayed his "expert" knowledge on a variety of subjects in eighteen episodes of the classic anthology series, as well as on a number of Disneyland Records.
The Donald Duck universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting of stories involving Disney cartoon character Donald Duck, as well as Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Scrooge McDuck, and many other characters. It is a part of the larger Mickey Mouse universe. Life in the Donald Duck universe centers on the city of Duckburg and Little Golden Books, television series such as DuckTales (1987–1991), Darkwing Duck (1991–1992), and the DuckTales reboot (2017–2021), and video games such as QuackShot (1991), Goin' Quackers (2000), and DuckTales: Remastered (2013).
The Duck family is a fictional family of cartoon ducks related to Disney character Donald Duck. The family is also related to the Coot, Goose, and Gander families, as well as the Scottish Clan McDuck. Besides Donald, the best-known members of the Duck family are Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Donald's three triplet nephews.
A distelfink is a stylized goldfinch, probably based on the European variety It frequently appears in Pennsylvania Dutch folk art. It represents happiness and good fortune and the Pennsylvania German people, and is a common theme in hex signs and in fraktur. The word distelfink is the German name for the European goldfinch.
Donald Duck, a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company, is today the star of dozens of comic-book and comic-strip stories published each month around the world. In many European countries, Donald is considered the lead character in Disney comics, more important and beloved than Mickey Mouse.
"Oolated Luck" is a comic story about the rivalry between Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander, first published in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #528 in April 1988. It was written and drawn by Don Rosa, based on a small item appearing in an earlier story by Carl Barks. The story is reprinted in volume 1 of The Don Rosa Library, The Son of the Sun.
"The Lost Charts of Columbus" is a 1995 Donald Duck comic by Don Rosa, a sequel to Carl Barks' 1952 story The Golden Helmet.
"Luck of the North" is a 32-page Disney comics adventure story written, drawn, and lettered by Carl Barks. It stars Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie, and Gladstone Gander. It was first published by Dell Publishing in Four Color #256 with three gag stories by Barks: "Toasty Toys", "No Place to Hide", and "Tied-Down Tools". The story, cover, and gags have all been reprinted many times.
"A Little Something Special" is a 1997 Disney comics story created by Don Rosa to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Scrooge McDuck's first appearance in Carl Barks's "Christmas on Bear Mountain" in 1947.
"Nobody's Business" is a Donald Duck comic written and drawn by Don Rosa, featuring Donald and Gladstone Gander. The story was first published in Uncle Scrooge #220 in August 1987. "Nobody's Business" was Don Rosa's second comic story, after The Son of the Sun.
"A Financial Fable" is a Donald Duck comic book story written and illustrated by Carl Barks in September 1950. As with many other Barks stories, it was originally untitled. The story deals with what will happen if everyone in a community becomes a millionaire.
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is known for his semi-intelligible speech and his mischievous, temperamental, and pompous personality. Along with his friend Mickey Mouse, Donald was included in TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time in 2002, and has earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has appeared in more films than any other Disney character, and is the most published comic book character in the world outside of the superhero genre.
"The Duck Who Never Was" is a 1994 Disney comics story written and drawn by Don Rosa. It was written to celebrate Donald Duck's sixtieth anniversary. The story was first published in the Danish Anders And & Co. #1994-23; the first American publication was in Donald Duck #286, in September 1994.
"Searching for a Successor" is a Disney comics story by Carl Barks about the rivalry between Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander.
"Race to the South Seas!" is a 22-page Disney comics story written, drawn, and lettered by Carl Barks. Characters in the story include Donald Duck, his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Gladstone Gander, and Uncle Scrooge. The story was first published in March of Comics #41 (1949), and has been reprinted several times. Race is one of Barks's first stories to present Gladstone's good luck to be something almost supernatural.
"Wintertime Wager" is a 10-page Disney comics story written, drawn, and lettered by Carl Barks. It was first published in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #88. Characters in the story include Donald Duck, his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Daisy Duck, and Gladstone Gander. The story marks Gladstone Gander's first appearance. "Wintertime Wager" has been reprinted many times.
Donald Duck is an American comic strip by the Walt Disney Company starring Donald Duck, distributed by King Features Syndicate. The first daily Donald Duck strip debuted in American newspapers on February 7, 1938. On December 10, 1939, the strip expanded to a Sunday page as well. Writer Bob Karp and artist Al Taliaferro worked together on the strip for more than 30 years. The strip ended in May 1995.
