The Reverend Ed "P.B."
Bergen has made spreading Carl Barks' gospel his secular
passion. An exhibit of the cartoonist's work at the
Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake is the latest
example.
Growing up in Dayton,
Ohio, Bergen - now pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in
Crystal Lake - was fascinated with the artist and the rich,
irascible Scrooge McDuck Barks created. Annual visits with
the Oregon artist, starting in 1990, sealed the deal.
"I love Scrooge's
entrepreneurial spirit, his adventurous spirit," Bergen
said. "Carl, many times in his stories, would use some of
the great myths and put the ducks in those locales; Troy and
different locations in antiquity ... The ducks would do all
these things and they take us along with them on the
adventure."
As a boy buying dime
comics at the corner drugstore, Bergen was drawn to stories
about forays into Scrooge's secret Money Bin and numerous
treasure hunts. They included the 1954 story titled "The
Seven Cities of Cibola," in which our hero nearly is crushed
to death by a giant boulder.
Coincidentally, George
Lucas of "Indiana Jones" fame is a huge fan of Carl Barks.
"Carl Barks said he knew that
was a great hook for a story," Bergen said. The Scrooge
legacy began when Carl's "Christmas on Bear Mountain"
debuted in 1947. But it was not until 1952 that Scrooge
received his own comic book. At the height of its
popularity, Bergen said the Uncle Scrooge title sold close
to 5 million copies every other month.
"The Barks duck is kind of
the quintessential model," Bergen said. "They come from the
'50s and there is a moral base to them. I think they are
worth preserving and passing on. And it's a fun thing to do.
In a sense, it's a labor of love."
Bergen and a friend, Rob
Scherer, have taken two trips to Canada's Yukon Territory,
tracing the route Scrooge took when he discovered the "goose
egg nugget." The two also are planning a European trip
sometime in October 2005. They hope to hopscotch across the
continent for nearly a month, grabbing Carl Barks memorabilia
along the way at such Scrooge strongholds as Munich, Milan
and Copenhagen.
"It's really a whole
different culture over there," Bergen said. "One of the
Scandinavian customs when a child is born is to give them a
subscription to Disney Duck comics."
The legacy of "Duckburg,"
home to Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck and Donald's three
nephews, Huey, Louie and Dewey, may become even stronger now
that Gemstone Publishing of Baltimore has secured the rights
to publish old and new duck stories in the United States.
"Everybody after the
[second world] war wanted to go to Duckburg," Bergen said.
"But it entered the culture more in Europe than in America."
Bergen credited a 1982
Time magazine article for re-energizing his interest in
Scrooge and the character's creator. That led to a
leather-bound collection of Scrooge stories called "The Life
and Times of Scrooge McDuck" and a phone call to Carl Barks.
"Here he has thousands of requests every year and he called
me back," Bergen said. "That is what really hooked me."
Friends describe Bergen as
a people person with the disarming quality and unbridled
enthusiasm of a top-flight salesman. He is not shy about
jumping into something with both feet, be it playing
basketball with those half his age at Health Bridge Fitness
Center, taking his 1984 Corvette out for a summer drive or
educating the public about a personal hero.
"He is able to engage
people, whether it be preaching on Sundays or in the more
trivial pursuits such as his passion for collecting," said
Sue Scherer of Crystal Lake. "He wanted to know the man
behind the art."
Sue Scherer, former
secretary for Immanuel Lutheran Church and its school, said
she caught a case of the Barks from Bergen. Soon, her
daughter and her son, Rob, also became smitten.
Rob, who divides his time
between McHenry County and Ketchikan, Alaska, met "P.B." as
a 12-year-old Sunday school student. But he was not prepared
for this "whole duck thing." During a visit home about 10
years ago, Rob was surprised to learn his family had been
ab-duckt-ed.
"I was just a little
curious about what all of the enthusiasm is about - and a
little skeptical," said Rob, 45, "But the more you look at
it, the more you become involved with it... The artwork
almost becomes a life adventure itself."
Bergen, 60, is the founder
and president of the Carl Barks Fan Club. While it boasts
just 160 members worldwide, what the 5-year-old club lacks
in numbers it makes up for in fervor - aided by a quarterly
newsletter and its own Web site,
www.thecarlbarksfanclub.com.
"I'm not sure what makes
him tick," Rob Scherer said of Bergen. "He's a very genuine
person, a very happy person. His nickname as a kid was
"Hap." He wants to promote Carl's legacy in a positive way.
He wants it to last forever."
THE ADVENTURES OF CARL BARKS
* Carl Barks, at age 34,
began working for Disney Studios' animation department in
California, until the air conditioning's effect on his
sinuses prompted him to quit.
* Between 1935 and 1943,
he worked on numerous Donald Duck shorts and other story
projects. His first comic story, co-produced with Jack
Hannah in 1942, was called "Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold."
* By 1943, he was drawing
and writing original Donald Duck comic book stories for the
Disney licensee, Western Publishing of Racine, Wis.
* Upon leaving the studios
in 1942 and until his retirement in 1966, Barks wrote and
drew nearly 500 "duck stories'' for Disney Comic Books: Walt
Disney's Comics & Stories, The Donald Duck Adventures and
The Uncle Scrooge Adventures.
* Barks was never really
discovered by his fans until after his retirement in 1966,
when they convinced him to produce oil paintings of the
ducks. He produced nearly 150 oils before he died nearly
four years ago at age 99 in Grants Pass, Ore.
* The Rev. Ed Bergen,
pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake since
1970 and founder of the Carl Barks Fan Club, performed the
eulogy.
EXHIBITION TAKES FLIGHT
The gallery exhibition
includes artwork, fine art lithographs and serigraphs,
vintage comic book covers, photos and other Scrooge McDuck
memorabilia. The Scrooge legacy began with the debut of
Barks' "Christmas on Bear Mountain" in 1947.
Most of the collection on
display belongs to the Rev. Ed Bergen of Crystal Lake, who
began collecting Barks memorabilia about 12 years ago. Items
include a bronze bust of Scrooge, an art tile and an
original 1996 oil painting, "Eureka! A Goose Egg Nugget," a
Duck Tales sign from Disneyland, and commemorative stamps
issued by Guyana in 1997 to honor Scrooge's 50th
anniversary.
Bergen estimated he has
about 50 Scrooge-related pieces of art ... and three Scrooge
ties purchased overseas.
"He created an alternative
world which mirrored our own," Bergen said. " It was like
reading about people you knew."
The gallery at the center
was funded by Immanuel Lutheran Church as a memorial to
Florence Bohl and her family.
