THEFAMILYDOG

It would seem that the Disney Duck family (consisting of Donald and his three nephews) own a pet dog, that is especially special insofar that it only participates - and is visible - on very few occasions in the family's home. Apparently, the dog leads a very reclusive life from a doghouse in the garden, it is never seen either speaking or thinking, and even its name is somewhat of a mystery! The dog, a Saint Bernard, is most commonly known as Bolivar in English speaking countries.
Carl Barks used the dog in a few instances during his Disney comic book career, but he never tried to star it in his stories and he never developed it in any way as he used to with the other characters he 'inherited' from other creators and artists. Still, he portrayed the dog from time to time. This page is dedicated to the elusive and often forgotten pet dog Bolivar, that silently roams in Barks' duck universe.

THE CREATORS

Forbidden Fruit

Two Disney artists are normally connected with the official creation of Bolivar. Their first publishing with the dog appeared in a daily national newspaper comic strip on March 17, 1938, and is rendered here under its title Forbidden Fruit.
The writer was Homer Brightman, who wrote Donald Duck strips for the newspapers in the brief and (in this connection) important span of time from February to March 1938. After that Bob Karp took over for a longer period of time. The drawing artist was Al Taliaferro, who managed both the daily and the Sunday editions from 1938 to 1969.

It is impossible to determine who initially came up with the idea of Bolivar, especially because the Disney Corporation was known to ask for general and useful ideas from all their employees. But it is fairly accurate to state that the two official creators were not the initial inventors. At least, Disney had made a cartoon short in 1936 called Alpine Climbers starring Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Pluto - and a nameless Saint Bernard dog!
According to the cartoon's original animation drafts the dog was only mentioned as 'a St. Bernard', i.e. never with a name, but later credit lists bestowe it with the name Bolivar. It is plausible that Bolivar was actually dreamed up by one of the cartoon assistants. Incidentally, one of them was an in-betweener named Carl Barks...

THE CHARACTER

Bolivar is probably the most simple and straightforward of Disney's characters, because it was taken directly from the real world without being changed in any way. It is without a doubt a Saint Bernard by breed, and it has all the breed's stereotypical characteristics; a woolly appearance, a thick tail, large paws, a 'heavy' looking face, a hanging tongue, and an expression that reveals absolutely nothing about its present state of mind.
In fact, Bolivar is portrayed as being a dumb (meaning both Stupid and Non-speaking) dog with no active connection to the real world and with no personality. Its favourite pastimes are sleeping and eating (period).

THE NAME

The name Bolivar is used on this page because it is the most official and widely used name in greater parts of the world. But the dog has had different names in English speaking countries alone; Bolivar is commonly known and it was the name Barks most frequently gave him in his stories, but he also used Bornworthy in one story and Bernie in another, all suggesting that Barks had no deep thoughts about the dog. It has also been nicknamed Borny a few times.
The dog received its name in the comic strips for the first time on April 4, 1938, when Donald called it Bolivar, and this name was used by Taliaferro until he drew his last strip with the dog in 1947.

It has often been suggested that Disney for a brief period of time changed Bolivar's name to Bornworthy, because the company wanted to avoid any potential conflicts with Venezuela, the South American nation that holds their national hero Simón Bolívar in high regard. But there is little proof that this is actually correct! At least, neither Taliaferro nor any of his writers ever used the name Bornworthy in the newspaper strips. If such a change of name did take place it must have happened in 1951, when one artist used the name in one story. That artist was Carl Barks...

Extra: Taliaferro introduced Bolivar's son to the comic books, where it appeared for a brief period only to disappear into oblivion. The pup's name was Behemoth (also known as simply Behe). Barks used the pup once with the latter name in WDCS111 'Love Letters'.

THE STORIES

As mentioned, Barks probably had no deep thoughts about Bolivar as a character based on the simple fact that he never took steps to develop it in any way apart from adding a few facial expressions here and there. Also, Bolivar only participated in a story when it had a part to play and even then it was never a prominent or obtrusive role. Here are all the 9 stories in chronological order:

WDCS043 Three Dirty Little Ducks - 1944

Bolivar wanders cluelessly about in the Duck family's home, but manages to get involved in the action.

WDCS056 'Sleepwalking Donald' - 1945

The nephews decide that they prefer to sleep in Bolivar's doghouse instead of being harrassed by Donald.

WDCS065 'Joe from Singapore' - 1946

The nephews' new pet, an obnoxious parrot, tries to get rid of the pet cat - and then it is Bolivar's turn...

WDCS076 'The Howling Cat' - 1947

A rather irritating, meowing stray cat gets Bolivar's undivided attention, but soon the cat is accepted into the Duck family, a decision Donald quickly regrets.

WDCS082 'The Magician' - 1947

Donald tries to prove that he is one terrific magician. One of his illusions is trying to saw Bolivar in half, but the sluggish dog does not approve.

WDCS125 'Operation St. Bernard' - 1951

Barks made this story with the dog - here called Bornworthy for the first and only time - in a semi-leading role. It serves as the Junior Woodchucks' grudging troop dog.

KG Donald Duck tells about Kites - 1954

The dog is called Bernie (probably as a nickname that could stand for both Bolivar and Bornworthy). His grand moment in the story is when he accidentally eats glue taking it for dog food...

WDCS184 'The Bath Battle' - 1955

Donald lets Bernie (same name for the second time) track down the elusive nephews, but, of course, it is easily lead off their scent as they confuse the dog with a (real) red herring!

FC1047 The Gab-muffer - 1959

Bolivar serves only as a backdrop to the main story. In it, Little Helper plays drafts with Bolivar as the happy winner. This is the only time the dog shows some intelligence and strong emotions.