theeuropeantourdenmark

Thursday 9th of June
Barks arrives in Copenhagen by ferry from Norway
Registers at Hotel Phoenix
Visit to Egmont's. Press meeting. Lunch. Meets the employees
Private dinner at Egmont's managing director Jan Frøshaug's residence

Friday 10th of June
Press meeting
Lunch
Visit to the National Museum. Display of his own oil paintings
Dinner with Egmont Publishing

Saturday 11th of June
Press meeting
Lunch
Visit to Tivoli Gardens. Donald Duck's 60th birthday is celebrated
Dinner in Tivoli

Sunday 12th of June
Visit to Fantask comics shop
Visit to The Comics Library
Sightseeing in the afternoon

Monday 13th of June
Breakfast with renowned Danish duck artist Freddy Milton
Attends a Disney licencee meeting
Lunch
Departure by plane to Finland

Thursday (Donald Duck's 60th birthday)
Despite the early hour and the rainy weather hundreds of fans were down at the dockside to welcome Carl Barks when he arrived by ferry from Norway. As he left the boat he broke into one of his special, heartwarming smiles and he waved enthusiastically to the crowds before he was escorted to a limousine which took him straight to his hotel in the middle of Copenhagen.
Shortly after, the youthful man was ready for his first press conference at Egmont's. (Egmont's is the leading provider of printed entertainment for kids and teens in 24 countries, and as such the largest provider of Barks stories to an insatiable audience.)

Friday
Barks arrived at the National Museum which had just installed a new, large entrance hall. The hall is several storeys high and was filled with crowds of fans who applauded for many minutes when Barks entered. He happily waved back at them for some time, and then went on to the purpose of his visit - the opening of an exhibition displaying 30 of his oil paintings. For about half an hour he walked around at the exhibition and commented on all the paintings, regrettably though, he had been given a faulty microphone, but it was easy for everyone to see that he very much enjoyed talking about his oils.

Saturday
Of course, Barks could not visit Copenhagen without a trip to the famous Tivoli Gardens. His visit was transformed into a triumphant event because school classes from all over Denmark had gathered around the outdoor stage where Barks was to celebrate Donald Duck's 60th birthday.

Sunday
Barks made two visits on Sunday. First, he paid a visit to Fantask, the world's oldest comic book shop, situated in the inner part of Copenhagen. Here he was greeted by a few specially invited Barksists and presented with a number of drawings from Danish cartoonists depicting his visit to Denmark.
Then Barks visited what is probably the only of its kind in the world namely The Comics Library. In there you can freely borrow comics from many nationalities and Barks was duly impressed. Among the invited guests was his Danish translator for decades, Ms. Sonja Rindom, to whom he uttered: 'You are looking GOOD!'. It should be mentioned that she was just three years younger than the old charmer himself!

Peter Kylling

At Fantask, Mads Stoumann had taken an excellent initiative as he had managed to arrange for Carl Barks to visit our shop and meet some fans. However the event was somewhat restricted. The man is after all 93 years of age and he has a hearing problem. Consequently, we were told not to bring more than 12 guests plus the attending staff. If this was acceptable we had a deal. No problem! We simply drew lot among our Barks' subscribers and as it turned out they represented the whole country.

In order to have a quiet visit, the seance took place outside opening hours on Sunday at 12.30 p.m. We had cleared the book department and placed chairs and small tables in the space. Two cars with Carl Barks and his escort arrived and Mads undertook the welcoming and the showing of the comic book department. Barks was duly impressed to learn that Fantask is both the oldest and the largest comic shop in Europe.

A number of Danish cartoonists had been invited to make a tribute to Carl Barks and the original drawings along with accompanying letters were handed to him in a leather folder with goldprint. Then we showed him a special mug made especially for the occasion in 150 limited copies. The mug had been designed and approved previously on the condition that Barks was to have 12 for himself.
Then followed a relaxed session in which Barks and the guests exchanged views and he even told us about his coming Uncle Scrooge adventure story except for the ending, because, as he put it, if he revealed the ending he would not be able to sell the comic book! Anyway, I think that we all are going to purchase a copy when it is published.
Barks also told us about his paintings and the great amount of work invested in them as well as the practical problems of finding enough space at home to store them.

Finally, Barks autographed material that the guests had brought with them although it had been made clear from the start that he would not do so. But Barks is a kind man who likes to meet his readers and I suppose that is the reason why he signed after all.
The entire meeting lasting for an hour and when he and his escort had left we all sat back and relived the many good times we have had with the duck. All in all an exciting and nice Sunday at Fantask.

Søren Pedersen

The National Museum hosted a grand exhibition of Barks' oil paintings which had been flown in from USA. The oils later travelled to Germany, Italy and France to be exhibited when Barks arrived. It was not as hard as would be expected to gather all the paintings from the original buyers. As they were in the possession of only three American collectors: Kerby Konfer from Georgia, Steve Geppi from Maryland and the Carl Barks Studio in Oregon.
Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Danish National Museum joined in publishing an elaborate catalogue depicting 13 of the oils (the official numbers were 50, 61, 70, 81, 91, 94, 100, 118, 119, 121, 123, 125 and 131). Despite the genuine efforts to make the prints in the catalogue as excellent as possible, there was no comparaison to being able to see the actual paintings. Thousands of fans and art lovers flocked to see the exhibition for the few days it lasted.

Arrival by ferry		First press meeting
Courtesy of Fantask		Courtesy of Fantask

On top of Egmont's		Warm welcome at the National Museum
Courtesy of Fantask		Courtesy of Egmont

Attending Donald's birthday party in Tivoli		Visit to Fantask
Courtesy of Egmont		Courtesy of Fantask

Mads Stoumann and Barks		MY autograph? Really?
Courtesy of Fantask		Courtesy of Fantask