Goofy is a funny-animal cartoon character created in 1932 at Walt Disney Productions. Goofy is a tall, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a close friend of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and is one of Disney's most recognizable characters. He is normally characterized as extremely clumsy and somewhat dimwitted, yet this interpretation is not always definitive; occasionally Goofy is shown as intuitive, and clever, albeit in his own unique, eccentric way.
Goofy debuted in animated cartoons, starting in 1932 with Mickey's Revue as Dippy Dawg, who is older than Goofy would come to be. Later the same year, he was re-imagined as a younger character, now called Goofy, in the short The Whoopee Party. During the 1930s, he was used extensively as part of a comedy trio with Mickey and Donald. Starting in 1939, Goofy was given his own series of shorts that were popular in the 1940s and early 1950s. Two Goofy shorts were nominated for an Oscar: How to Play Football (1944) and Aquamania (1961). He also co-starred in a short series with Donald, including Polar Trappers (1938), where they first appeared without Mickey Mouse. Three more Goofy shorts were produced in the 1960s after which Goofy was only seen in television and Disney comics. He returned to theatrical animation in 1983 with Mickey's Christmas Carol. His last theatrical appearance was How to Hook Up Your Home Theater in 2007. Goofy has also been featured in television, most extensively in Goof Troop (1992–1993), as well as House of Mouse (2001–2003) and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016) Mickey Mouse (TV series) (2013-Present), Mickey and the Roadster Racers (2017-Present).
Originally known as Dippy Dawg, the character is more commonly known simply as "Goofy," a name used in his short film series. In his 1950s cartoons, he usually played a character called George Geef or G.G. Geef. Sources from the Goof Troop continuity give the character's full name as G. G. "Goofy" Goof,[4][5] likely in reference to the 1950s name. In many other sources, both animated and comics, the surname Goof continues to be used. In other 2000s-era comics, the character's full name has occasionally been given as Goofus D. Dawg.
Background
While original concept drawings were by Frank Webb, animator Art Babbit is credited for developing his character. In a 1930s lecture, Babbitt described the character as: "Think of the Goof as a composite of an everlasting optimist, a gullible Good Samaritan, a half-wit, a shiftless, good-natured colored boy and a hick".[6]
In the comics and his pre-1992 animated appearances, Goofy was usually single and childless. Unlike Mickey and Donald, he didn't have a steady girlfriend. The exception was the 1950s cartoons, in which Goofy played a character called George Geef who was married and at one point became the father of a kid named George Junior. In the Goof Troop series (1992–1993), however, Goofy was portrayed as a single father with a son named Max, and the character of Max made further animated appearances until 2004. This marked a division between animation and comics, as the latter kept showing Goofy as a single childless character, excluding comics taking place in the Goof Troop continuity. After 2004, Max disappeared from animation, thus removing the division between the two media. Goofy's wife was never shown, while George Geef's wife appeared—but always with her face unseen—in 1950s-produced cartoon shorts depicting the character as a "family man
In the comics, Goofy usually appears as Mickey's sidekick, though he also is occasionally shown as a protagonist.[8] Goofy lives in Mouseton in the comics and in Spoonerville in Goof Troop. In comics books and strips, Goofy's closest relatives are his nephew Gilbert,[9] his adventurer cousin Arizona Goof (original Italian name: Indiana Pipps),[10] who is a spoof of the fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones, and his grandmother, simply called Grandma Goofy.[11]
Goofy's catchphrases are "gawrsh!" (which is his usual exclamation of surprise and his way of pronouncing "gosh"), along with "ah-hyuck!" (a distinctive chuckle) that is sometimes followed by a "hoo hoo hoo hoo!", and especially the Goofy holler.
According to biographer Neal Gabler, Walt Disney disliked the Goofy cartoons, thinking they were merely "stupid cartoons with gags tied together" with no larger narrative or emotional engagement and a step backwards to the early days of animation. As such, he threatened constantly to terminate the series, but only continued it to provide make-work for his animators.[12] Animation historian Michael Barrier is skeptical of Gabler's claim, saying that his source did not correspond with what was written.[13]
Appearances
Early years
Goofy first appeared in Mickey's Revue, first released on May 25, 1932. Directed by Wilfred Jackson this short movie features Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow performing another song and dance show. Mickey and his gang's animated shorts by this point routinely featured song and dance numbers. It begins as a typical Mickey cartoon of the time, but what would set this short apart from all that had come before was the appearance of a new character, whose behavior served as a running gag. Dippy Dawg, as he was named by Disney artists (Frank Webb), was a member of the audience. He constantly irritated his fellow spectators by noisily crunching peanuts and laughing loudly, until two of those fellow spectators knocked him out with their mallets (and then did the same exact laugh as he did). This early version of Goofy had other differences with the later and more developed ones besides the name. He was an old man with a white beard, a puffy tail and no trousers, shorts, or undergarments. But the short introduced Goofy's distinct laughter. This laughter was provided by Pinto Colvig. A considerably younger Dippy Dawg then appeared in The Whoopee Party, first released on September 17, 1932, as a party guest and a friend of Mickey and his gang. Dippy Dawg made a total of four appearances in 1932 and two more in 1933, but most of them were mere cameos.
In the Silly Symphonies cartoon The Grasshopper and the Ants, the Grasshopper had an aloof character similar to Goofy and shared the same voice (Pinto Colvig) as the Goofy character.
By his seventh appearance, in Orphan's Benefit first released on August 11, 1934, he gained the new name "Goofy" and became a regular member of the gang along with two other new characters: Donald Duck and Clara Cluck.
Trio years with Mickey and Donald
Mickey's Service Station directed by Ben Sharpsteen, first released on March 16, 1935, was the first of the classic "Mickey, Donald, and Goofy" comedy shorts. Those films had the trio trying to cooperate in performing a certain assignment given to them. Early on they became separated from each other. Then the short's focus started alternating between each of them facing the problems at hand, each in their own way and distinct style of comedy. The end of the short would reunite the three to share the fruits of their efforts, failure more often than success. Clock Cleaners, first released on October 15, 1937, and Lonesome Ghosts, first released on December 24, 1937, are usually considered the highlights of this series and animated classics.
Progressively during the series, Mickey's part diminished in favor of Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. The reason for this was simple: Between the easily frustrated Donald and Pluto and the always-living-in-a-world-of-his-own Goofy, Mickey—who became progressively gentler and more laid-back—seemed to act as the straight man of the trio. The studio's artists found that it had become easier coming up with new gags for Goofy or Donald than Mickey, to a point that Mickey's role had become unnecessary. Polar Trappers, first released on June 17, 1938, was the first film to feature Goofy and Donald as a duo. The short features the duo as partners and owners of "Donald and Goofy Trapping Co." They have settled in the Arctic for an unspecified period of time, to capture live walruses to bring back to civilization. Their food supplies consist of canned beans. The focus shifts between Goofy trying to set traps for walruses and Donald trying to catch penguins to use as food — both with the same lack of success. Mickey would return in The Whalers, first released on August 19, 1938, but this and also Tugboat Mickey, released on April 26, 1940, would be the last two shorts to feature all three characters as a team.
Break off into solo series
Goofy next starred at his first solo cartoon Goofy and Wilbur directed by Dick Huemer, first released on March 17, 1939. The short featured Goofy fishing with the help of Wilbur, his pet grasshopper.
The How to... series
In 1938, one year after his last session as the character, Colvig had a fallout with Disney and left the studio, leaving Goofy without a voice.[1] According to Leonard Maltin, this is what caused the How to... cartoons of the 1940s in which Goofy had little dialogue, and a narrator (often John McLeish) was used (they would also reuse Colvig's voice in recording or hire a man named George Johnson to imitate it). In the cartoons, Goofy would demonstrate clumsily but always determined and never frustrated, how to do everything from snow ski to sleeping, to football, to riding a horse. The Goofy How to... cartoons worked so well they that they became a staple format, and are still used in current Goofy shorts, the most recent being the How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, released theatrically in 2007.
Later, starting with How to Play Baseball (1942), Goofy starred in a series of cartoons where every single character in the cartoon was a different version of Goofy. This took Goofy out of the role of just being a clumsy cartoon character and into an Everyman figure. Colvig returned to Disney in 1940 and resumed the voice of Goofy three years later.[1] Many of the Goofy cartoons were directed by Jack Kinney.
World War II
The 1950s saw Goofy transformed into a family man going through the trials of everyday life, such as dieting, giving up smoking, and the problems of raising children. Walt Disney himself came up with this idea,[15] hoping it would put personality back into the character that he felt was lost when Goofy was merely a crowd of extras. Goofy is never called "Goofy" during this period. While every cartoon continued with the opening, "Walt Disney presents Goofy" before each cartoon's title, he was usually called "George Geef" in the cartoons' dialogue. When the stories featured Goofy as multiple characters, then he had numerous other names as well. In addition, the 1950s Goofy shorts gave Goofy a makeover. He was more intelligent, had smaller eyes with eyebrows, often his whole body was pale instead of just his face (while the rest was black), and sometimes had a normal voice. He even lacked his droopy ears, the external pair of teeth and white gloves in some shorts.
According to animation historian Christopher P. Lehman, Disney had started casting Goofy as a suburban everyman in the late 1940s. And with this role came changes in depiction. Goofy's facial stubble and his protruding teeth were removed to give him a more refined look.[16] His clothing changed from a casual style to wearing business suits. He began to look more human and less dog-like, with his ears hidden in his hat.[16] By 1951, Goofy was portrayed as being married and having a son of his own. Neither the wife nor the son was portrayed as dog-like. The wife's face was never seen, but her form was human. The son lacked Goofy's dog-like ears.[16]
Lehman connects this depiction of the character to Disney's use of humor and animal characters to reinforce social conformity. He cites as an example Aquamania (1961), where everyman Goofy drives to the lake for a boat ride. During a scene depicting a pile-up accident, every car involved has a boat hitched to its rear bumper. Goofy is portrayed as one of numerous people who had the same idea about how to spend their day. Every contestant in the boat race also looks like Goofy.[16] Lehman does not think that Disney used these aspects of the film to poke fun at conformity. Instead, the studio apparently accepted conformity as a fundamental aspect of the society of the United States.[16] Aquamania was released in the 1960s, but largely maintained and prolonged the status quo of the 1950s. The decade had changed but the Disney studio followed the same story formulas for theatrical animated shorts it had followed in the previous decade. And Lehman points that Disney received social approval for it. Aquamania itself received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[16]
Later appearances
After the 1965 educational film Goofy's Freeway Troubles, Goofy was mostly retired except for cameos, because of the fading popularity, and the death of the voice actor Pinto Colvig. Goofy had an act in the 1969 tour show, Disney on Parade with costar Herbie the Love Bug. He only makes a brief appearance in Disney/Amblin's Academy Award-winning hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit, in which the titular Roger Rabbit says of Goofy: "Nobody takes a whollup like Goofy! What timing! What finesse! What a genius!". However, he made a comeback in Mickey's Christmas Carol as the ghost of Jacob Marley. After that, he appeared in Sport Goofy in Soccermania which was originally intended to be released theatrically in 1984 but was aired as a 1987 TV special instead. His popularity then rose again. With Colvig dead, Goofy was then voiced with different voice actors until Bill Farmer became the official voice.
