And all this time, I thought it was Neo. I was looking down in the shower and wondering...Where did all these yellow ducks come from? [The duck-shaped anti-slip stickers we just put in the tub are from Grometville (at least I thought they were. Or maybe it was because Grometville was out of the groovy flowers that we got ducks...), but that's not important right now.]
Seriously, I hope Ernie's cashing fat checks; thanks to his song, generations of kids--and more importantly, their parents--have been turned into willing propagators of the rubber duckie empire.
Trying to see where it all started, I thought I'd find a single ur-duckie somewhere, but that's not how it happened, apparently. What's clear, though, is that if these toys ever decide to turn on us, Charlotte Lee will be first in line to welcome our duck overlords. She is certified by the Guiness folks as the keeper of the world's largest collection of rubber ducks (1,439 when they counted in Oct. 2003).
Clicking through Duckplanet, Lee's duck collecting portal ("Ducks Without Borders/Canards Sans FrontiËres") it appears that over the decades, various shapes and styles of rubber ducks coalesced into the standardized form we know today. And with their design power consolidated, the ducks are poised to take over the world. You have been warned.
Duckplanet.com ("Serving rubber duck collectors since 1999")
Rubber Duckie a guidebook by Jodie Davis [who has a collection of "more than 275 (*yawn*) rubber ducks." ]
