Federico Pedrocchi (1 May 1907 – 20 January 1945) was an Italian
comic book artist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...
and
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, pla ...
. He sometimes used the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
Costanzo Federici.
He founded the magazine ''
Paperino e altre avventure'' (''Donald Duck and Other Adventures'') in 1937, and wrote some of the earliest
Disney comic book stories.
Life and career
Pedrocchi was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South Am ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
of Italian parents, and he moved back to Italy with his family in 1912.
[ Forced to interrupt his studies because of his father's death, in 1930 he opened a small advertising studio and the same year he started collaborating as illustrator with the children magazine '']Corriere dei Piccoli
The ''Corriere dei Piccoli'' ( Italian for "Courier of the Little Ones"), later nicknamed ''Corrierino'' ("Little Courier"), was a weekly magazine for children published in Italy from 1908 to 1995. It was the first Italian periodical to make a r ...
'' and with a number of other magazines, notably ''La Domenica del Corriere
''La Domenica del Corriere'' was an Italian weekly newspaper which ran from 1899 to 1989. It came out every Sunday free with ''Corriere della Sera
The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper publish ...
''.[ In 1935 he debuted as a cartoonist with the story "I due tamburini", and in 1936 he started collaborating with Cesare Zavattini for the script of '']Saturno contro la Terra
Rebo is an Italian comics character, created for the story ''Saturno contro la Terra'' (''Saturn against the Earth'') by Cesare Zavattini (plot), Federico Pedrocchi (script) and Giovanni Scolari (art) in 1936. He is the dictator of Saturn and wa ...
''.[
In 1937 Pedrocchi was allowed by ]Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
to write and draw stories with Disney characters, and the same year he founded the magazine '' Paperino e altre avventure'' (''Donald Duck and Other Adventures''), published by Mondadori
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy.
History
The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In ...
, in which Donald Duck
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 fo ...
became the protagonist of long, adventurous stories.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...
'' (Biancaneve e i Setti Nani). During the same period, he also wrote two further Disney stories which were printed in Mondadori's biweekly publication ''Albi d'oro''.[ Pedrocchi died in ]Gallarate
Gallarate (; Lombard: ''Galaraa'') is a city and ''comune'' of Alto Milanese of Lombardy and of Milan metropolitan area, northern Italy, in the Province of Varese. It has a population of some 54,000 people.
It is the junction of railways to Va ...
at 37 years old, after having been hit by a burst of machine gun during an English air raid.
Disney comics bibliography
Pedrocchi's Disney stories in ''Paperino e altre avventure'' were:
References
External links
Lambiek Comiclopedia biography
Italian comics artists
Italian comics writers
1907 births
1945 deaths
People from Buenos Aires
Disney comics writers
Disney comics artists
Italian military personnel of World War II
Italian military personnel killed in World War II
Deaths by airstrike during World War II
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