TheOriginOf.com

Goofy

March 21, 2007 – 9:36 pm

GOOFY

Goofy is a cartoon character from the stable of Disney. Goofy was created by Art Babbitt. He walks upright and has a speaking voice in contrast to Pluto as Pluto was created as a pet and Goofy as a human character. He is shown as a friend of Mickey Mouse. During the 1930’s shorts Goofy’s name was “Dippy Dawg”. Later during the 50’s his name was changed to “George Geef” and “G. G. Geef” and implied Goofy was a nickname. In the “Goof Troop” television show his full name was Goofy Goof. Goofy is shown as clumsy and dim-witted. While most other Disney characters are shown having a nephew Goofy is shown as divorced and having a son Max Goof.  Goofy also has an alias “Super Goof” which is used to show his super-hero alter ego. In a mockery of Superman, he flies above the city in red flannel jimmies and helps people.

Goofy’s first appearance was in “Mickey’s Revue” which was directed by Wilfred Jackson and released on May 25, 1932. Goofy’s name was Dippy Dawg and he was a member of the audience watching Mickey and others performing on stage. He is disturbing his fellow spectators by making sounds while crunching peanuts and laughing loudly. In this short the easily recognizable laughter of Goofy was introduced which was Pinto Colvig. Pinto remained Goofy’s voice actor till 1965 and his current voice actor is Bill Farmer. Goofy as Dippy Dawg appeared in “The Whoopee Party” (1932) as a friend of Mickey. He got his new name “Goofy” in “The Orphan’s Benefit” which was released on August 11, 1934. In 1935 the first of “Mickey, Donald and Goofy” short was released. “Mickey’s Service Station”, “Clock Cleaners” and “Lonesome Ghosts” are worth mentioning in this series. In the “Lonesome Ghosts” they are hired by someone on the phone to evict some ghosts from a haunted house. Actually they were hired by the ghosts themselves as they were getting bored as no one visited the house they were haunting and they wanted to have some fun by playing tricks on mortals. In the end they manage to scare the ghosts out of the house. In “Polar Trappers” (1938) Goofy and Donald appear together without Mickey. In this short Donald and Goofy are shown trying to capture live walruses in the Arctic.

In “Goofy and Wilbur” (1939) Goofy starred in his first solo cartoon. In this short Goofy and Wilbur, his pet grasshopper, are fishing together. Goofy has to rescue his pet from predators such as fish and frog. Goofy did a series of “How to….” Cartoons in 1940’s in which he would demonstrate how to do various things including ski, ride a horse, to sleep. These were so popular that they are still used in current Goofy shorts. From “How to Play Baseball” (1942) new series started in which every single character was shown as a different version of Goofy. In this series “No Smoking” was released on November 23, 1951 where goofy struggles with nicotine addiction in a world of Goofys. In the shorts releases in 1950’s he is never called Goofy even though the shorts opened with “Walt Disney presents Goofy”. He is usually called “George Geef” in these shorts.

Except for cameos and a small role in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” Goofy appeared in very less roles after appearing in short “Aquamania” (1961). In 90’s he got his own TV series “Goof Troop” in which Goofy is living with his son Max and his cat Waffles. Living next door to them is Pete and his family. “A Goofy Movie” and “An Extremely Goofy Movie” were releases in 1995 and 2000 Goofy’s own movies. Goofy appears as head waiter on “House of Mouse” along with appearing in TV series “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse”.