THENIECES

Daisy Duck's three nieces named April, May, June were invented by Carl Barks and are, of course, meant to be a counterpart to the nephews Huey, Dewey, Louie; the resemblance is obvious. But the girls never became anywhere near as popular as the boys.
The fact that they were 'just' nice girls - and consequently less appealing to the average reader in terms of action - made them fairly limited compared with the much more interesting nephews. It is also likely that Barks had difficulties finding special girl related problems for them to solve. So as time passed by, the nieces appeared in only six stories. Here they are in chronological order.

WDCS149 'Flipism' - 1953

Synopsis:
Donald is letting all the decisions of his whole life depend on tosses of a coin. Flipism will lead the way...

Comments:
This story marks the first appearance of the nieces; they are just seen in the last page accompanying the nephews. The basic idea - pairing the nieces with the nephews - was interesting, because with the right plots there would have been ample room for them to either team up or play against each other.

FC1055 The Double Date - 1959

Synopsis:
Daisy and Clara are going dancing with Donald as one of their partners. The other one is harder to find, because Donald will not accept just anyone...

Comments:
Six years would pass before Barks used the nieces again - and this time the script came from the professional writer Bob Gregory. Again, the nieces are just seen in the last page with the nephews.

FC1150 Small Fryers - 1960

Synopsis:
The nieces come to visit Daisy but they soon get bored. Then Daisy allows them to bake cookies all by themselves...

Comments:
This was the first time the nieces were actually named. The story is also Barks' only one-pager with the nieces. He received the script from an unknown artist.

FC1150 A Sticky Situation - 1960

Synopsis:
Daisy is tired of hearing that men can do anything better than women. So she decides to climb Precipice Peak that no man has ever climbed...

Comments:
Although the nieces are present throughout most of the story, they do nothing but follow Daisy around, commenting on the goings-on. Barks received the script from an unknown artist.

WDCS257 Movie Mad - 1962

Synopsis:
Donald is trying out his new movie camera. He especially likes to film the nephews - in embarrassing situations...

Comments:
The fleeing, wet nephews end up in a woman's house where the nieces happen to be at the time. Their contribution to the story is that they let the boys borrow an extra pair of dry clothes - dresses...

WDCS308 The Beauty Business - 1966

Synopsis:
Donald has started a beauty salon which enjoys enormous success. Daisy has to try it out but the nieces are meddlesome...

Comments:
Finally Barks wrote a story where the nieces play important parts. They try their best to help Donald in his beautician job, but, at first, they do not succeed when he serves Daisy. But in the end they manage to lay a perfect face mask and all is well.