Bergen (VG) Sept. 15th 2002 - Gyro Gearloose's brilliant companion, Little Helper, was born with some help from the Norwegian Sigvald Grøsfjeld jr.

"I was instantly happy with his idea", Don Rosa tells VG.
Yesterday the American artist and Disney legend met his Norwegian idea-maker during the Raptus comics' festival in Bergen.

The inventor Gyro Gearloose, who often appears in the Donald Duck comics, has for years been aided by his little, silent "bulb-man", but nobody has ever told the story of how he came to be, before the Disney artist got some Norwegian help.

The Birth of "Little Helper"

Little Helper was born in the story "Gyro's First Invention", where Don Rosa takes up the thread from the Barks tale "A Christmas for Shacktown" from 1951. "In this story the money is falling out of Uncle Scrooge's Money Bin, but because Uncle Scrooge wasn't a well established character at this time he wasn't seen again before the following year. And by then his Money Bin had filled up with money once again", says Don Rosa.
And here was Don Rosa's problem. How could he explain that the money was back in the bin from one moment to the next? Don Rosa mentioned this in a Disney Comic's debate forum. Sigvald Grøsfjeld jr. read this and quickly wrote to Don Rosa.

"Exactly what I needed"

"I suggested that Gyro Gearloose could handle Scrooge's problem, and to involve Little Helper as well", Grøsfjeld jr., a proud Donaldist from Stavanger, tells us.
"The idea was exactly what I needed", says Don Rosa.
The result was "Gyro's First Invention" published in Donald Duck & Co # 19 and 20 this year. Gyro Gearloose is standing in front of his new friend for the very first time. Little Helper has got arms, legs and shoes when Gyro Gearloose says: "a brilliant idea!"
Gyro Gearloose's first success is a reality, Little Helper is born, Don Rosa is pleased. And it has also been a bit of a success for the Norwegian Donaldist.