The World Owes Me A Livin ! - Best Of Goofy

The great George Dawg Geef ! Pippo ! Dingo ! Quenotte ! Piloche ! Achille Nigaudot ! The nice catastrophe !
He might not be the sharpest of the bunch, but damn if he isn't a fantastic character! I guess it's time to celebrate the character that proved geniuses like Carl Barks and Walt Disney wrong OR as Leon LeWacky put it, the ultimate incarnation of Voltaire's Candide !

For those who don't know, a Goofy prototype first appeared in Mickey's Revue (1932) by Wilfred Jackson.Dippy Dawg, as the prototype was named by Disney artists, 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). That laugh was provided by Vance DeBarr "Pinto" Colvig, who'd also voice Grumpy and the Practical Pig.
This early draft was an old man-dog with a white beard, a puffy tail and no trousers. The big break came when animator Art Babbitt took "Dippy Dawg" and transformed him into the refined and perfected Goofy we all know , writing a long essay about the character's conditions (if you wanna read them , www.michaelspornanimation.com/... ). This is the model that will be used in the Gottfredson comics strips where his influence would grow over time , surpassing the presence of previous Mickey's sidekicks like Horace Horsecollar until he became the great Mouse's best friend. But that is for another day...
In 1939, Pinto Colvig had a fallout with Walt Disney and left the studio, leaving Goofy without a voice.
The How to... cartoons of the 1940s, as a result,had little dialogue but a narrator (often John McLeish) was used. In those cartoons, Goofy would demonstrate how to do everything , with varying success. Later, starting with How to Play Baseball (1942), Goofy starred in a series of cartoons where every single character IS Goofy ! This would make Goofy evolve into a clumsy Everyman figure.
Colvig returned to Disney in 1944 and resumed voicing Goofy. Most of Goofy's cartoons here are directed by Jack Kinney, a top contender for Disney's greatest animation director, but undoubtedly The Man of the Goof ! (His brother , Dick Kinney would also create Fethry Duck ! How Stupendous is that !)
The 1950s Kinney Goofy (which is ALSO the version used in Goof Troop ) is a guy going through the tribulations of everyday life in his own special. Walt Disney himself came up with this idea, thinking it would put personality back into the character which he felt was lost when Goofy was merely a crowd of extras (ironically , I'd take a Goofy over a lot of the Disney "classics" people praise so much...). Interestingly, Goofy is never referred to as "Goofy" during this period but as George Geef (Yep, I ruined your childhood ! That was his full name , MWAHAHAHAHAAA !).
It is curious to note that Goofy is the one that got the good end of the stick in animation, despite being a rather gregarious character.
Think about it :
- Mickey really has tough luck when it comes to animation (because of that BS about being the mascott and all that!)
and would get his TRUE personality thanks to comics.
- Donald , while indeed getting all his personality traits from the 40's cartoons, will unfortunately has his animated career butchered in the 50's due to the vermins (thankfully the comics and later animated work kept an intact Donald.).

But Goofy ? Undeterred in both mediums and despite Disney's threat to shut down the Goofy unit ! So is his power !

I guess we should start the Top 20 ! Ahhh-yuck !
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRLhaK...


20) FATHER'S LION (Kinney 1952)

Goofy takes his son on a camping excursion while boasting about all the great "adventures" he's been on. However when a real mountain lion comes, hilarity ensues . Especially when you notice how strong Goofy REALLy IS ! ...


19) GOOFY AND WILBUR (Huemer 1939)

By the mid to late 1930s, Goofy and Donald were major supporting players with Mickey but he still didn't get his own cartoon until 1939. This was his first time as a main protagonist !
It begins with Goofy rowing his boat onto a lake. Then, his pet grasshopper, Wilbur, jumps out of the boat and tries to instigate the fish to chase him so that Goofy nets the fish. This works great UNTIL the wrong move!
This is also the short where Goofy shows the full range of emotions from happiness to sadness .

18) NO SMOKING (Kinney 1951)

The best Anti-smoking P.S.A is usually the funniest !

17) HOW TO BE A SAILOR (Kinney 1944)

Learn of man's relationship with the sea through history, sailing and how one missile is to be handled in the navy !

16) HOW TO SLEEP (Kinney 1953)

You will defeat insomnia... WITH SCIENCE !

15) COLD WAR (Kinney 1951)

"A cold is nothing to be sneezed at" !

14) MAN'S BEST FRIEND (Kinney 1952)

Goofy buys a pet dog (called Bowser... somebody call Mario !) and has trouble training it... do you really need MORE ?! GOOFY TRAINS A DOG ! XD

13) DOUBLE DRIBBLE (Hannah 1946) / NO SAIL (Hannah 1945)

- The most ferocious Basket-ball competition you'll ever see.

- Donald and Goofy are stranded in the middle of the sea , and the contrast between them is just a riot ! You have the optimistic and nonchalant straight-man to Donald frustrated,frightened cantankerous sad clown .

12) VICTORY VEHICLES (Kinney 1943)

During the wartime shortages in gas and tires, a number of bizarre forms of transportation are demonstrated. UNTIL Goofy discovers THE solution : The Pogo Stick ! OF COURSE !

11) CALIFORNY'ER BUSTER (Kinney 1945)

The conquest of the far-west, as told by Goofy ! Also, Big-Chief Rain-In-The-Face REALLY needs to find a new moniker for practical reasons and the native-americans invented the harp and are better spies than Solid Snake .


10) FOR WHOM THE BULLS TOIL (Kinney 1953)

How to become Matador and QUICKLY !


9) TEACHERS ARE PEOPLE (Kinney 1952)

Many educators should watch this film. It may prepare them for the future ! And brother do I mean IT !


8) FATHERS ARE PEOPLE (Kinney 1951)

To any future father here: THINK IT THROUGH ! The bottle might help at night ...

7) FOUL HUNTING (Hannah 1947)

Goofy shows you everything you should not during a duck hunt (aside from bringing the dog from Duck Hunt with you...).

6) TWO WEEKS VACATION (Kinney 1952)

After several long days at work, Goofy finally takes a much needed vacation. However, his trip never quite gets off the ground mainly ...in fact ,it is basically the trip through Hell !

5) MOTOR MANIA ( Kinney 1942)

Because driver rhymes with MONSTER !

4) GET RICH QUICK (Kinney 1951)

Gambling and its dangers on the everyday man ...

3) A KNIGHT FOR A DAY ( Hannah 1946)

As Sir Cumference battles Sir Loinsteak for the British Empire championship at Canterbury Castle, the chance finally comes for lowly squire Cedric to become the eponymous knight ....

2) HOW TO BE A DETECTIVE (Kinney 1952)

This is easily the darkest Goofy short in the humor department (he's even reading a Mickey Mouse comics ! He is indeed a man of taste !). This is actually a lively spoof of detective films and the nonsense with which they are filled. Goofy plays Johnny Eyeball while Pete appears as Muldoon the cop (Pete playing a cop ?! That's a first !).

HONORABLE MENTIONS : Baggage Buster (1941), How To Fish (1942), El Gaucho Goofy (1943), African Diary (1945), Tomorrow We Diet (1951), Hello Aloha (1952), Father's Weekend (1953),,,

1) TWO-GUN GOOFY (Kinney 1952)

THE best Goofy short of them all ! He is mostly oblivious to the danger that comes in the form of Pegleg Pete . The story is standard , but who cares ! It is an avalanche of slapstick , sight gags and puns (some of which are fine dark humor !) and there isn't a single break ! Outstanding performances by Pinto Colvig and Billy Bletcher and Jack Kinney's crew on this one !

Well that is what I have to say about Goofy's classics . Though he will make a triumphant return in animation and get one of the greatest and most underrated Disney flicks ever made, proving how polyvalent he really is ! But We will get to that another day ...
And to properly salute ;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj1m4Y...