(c) Disney

Toon Talk Trivia - Behind the Shorts:

• This isn’t quite the ‘complete’ Goofy: Freewayphobia No. 1 and Goofy’s Freeway Trouble were both released in 1965.
• The infamous ‘Goofy yell’ (“Waa-hoo-ooo-ooo …”) was first heard in The Art of Skiing (1941), and was actually first provided, not by Pinto Colvig, but by an expert yodeler.
• The Art of Self Defense (1941) was the first time ‘multiple Goofys’ were used in a short.
• How To Play Baseball (1942) was timed to be released around the same time as a more serious film on the sport, The Pride of the Yankees.
• Victory Vehicles (1943), Goofy’s first war-themed short, also features a cameo by Pluto.
• How to Play Football (1944) and Aquamania (1961) were the only Goofy shorts that were Oscar nominated. They lost to, respectively, MGM’s Mouse Trouble starring Tom and Jerry, and Ersatz (The Substitute), the first foreign cartoon to win the award.
• Delores the Elephant, first seen in Tiger Trouble (1945), would later co-star with Goofy again in The Big Wash (1948) and then with Donald Duck and Chip ’n Dale in Working for Peanuts (1953).
• A excerpt from the feature Pinocchio, as well as Goofy’s earlier shorts How to Play Baseball and How to Play Football, can be seen during the fight scene in Hockey Homicide (1945).
• In-Joke Alert: A lot of the names used for various players in the Goofy sport shorts are names of Disney staffers. For example, in Hockey Homicide, the ref is named ‘Clean Game’ Kinney, and in They’re Off! (1948), a horse is named ‘Hannah Biscuit’; these characters were named after the shorts’ directors, Jack Kinney and Jack Hannah, respectively.
• Hidden Goofy Alert: The pond the ducks fly over at the beginning of Foul Hunting (1947) is in the shape of Goofy’s head.
• Goofy Gymnastics (1949) is playing at the movie theater Roger Rabbit and Eddie Valiant hide out in in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
• Motor Mania (1950), as well as the MIA Freewayphobia No. 1 and Goofy’s Freeway Trouble, were staples of high school driver’s ed classes for years.
• Humphrey the Bear, who would go on to make several more appearances in shorts and on television, had his ‘official’ debut in Hold That Pose (1950).
• A frequent foil for Donald Duck, Louie the Mountain Lion appears with Goofy in Lion Down (1951) and Father’s Lion (1952).
• Goofy, long before Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie, had his own family in the shorts as well: Mrs. Goofy made her first ‘appearance’ (you never actually see her face) in Cold War (1951), later joined by Goofy Junior (voiced by Disney live action fixture Bobby Driscoll, who also voiced Peter Pan) in Fathers Are People (1951).
• Hidden Mickeys Alert: The mouse can be seen on Goofy Junior’s crib in Fathers Are People and on the cover of the comic book ‘Johnny Eyeball’ is reading in How to Be a Detective (1952).
• When Goofy expounds on his past adventures to Goofy Junior in Father’s Lion, his exploits are actually clips from Tiger Trouble, Californy ’Er Bust! and African Diary (all 1945).
• Also pre-Goof Troop, Pete co-starred with Goofy in Two-Gun Goofy (1952) and How to Be a Detective.
• Alan Reed, best known as the voice of Fred Flintstone, voiced the narrator in Teachers Are People (1952).
• The backgrounds of For Whom the Bell Tolls (1953) were provided by noted Disney artist Eyvind Earle, best known for his work on Sleeping Beauty.
• More In-Jokes: In How to Dance, the Antencio School of Dance is named after Xavier Antencio, famed Disney animator and Imagineer. The Firehouse Five Plus Two, Ward Kimball’s popular jazz combo made up of Disney Studio employees, can also be seen characterized in this short, as well as some reused animation from Californy ’Er Bust! and Hello Aloha (1952).
• There was an eight year difference between How to Sleep (1953) and Aquamania, which employed the then new Xerox process, pioneered with 101 Dalmatians earlier that same year. But even with this new technique, some animation was reused from the earlier shorts Motor Mania and Get Rich Quick (1951).

Coming Soon in Toon Talk:

• This year’s summer hit, Lilo and Stitch, making its DVD debut.
• The perfect Disney Christmas gift: The Lion King roars onto IMAX and other large screen theaters on Christmas Day.
• Murder, mayhem and “All That Jazz” … Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere star in Miramax’s Oscar-baiting film version of the Tony Award-winning Kander and Ebb musical Chicago, opening in limited release December 27^th and nationally January 17^th.
• Toon in for the Toon Talk Top 10 - The Best of 2002.

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-- Kirby C. Holt

Kirby, a former Walt Disney World Resort Cast Member (and Trivia Champ), is a lifelong Disney fan and film buff. He is also an avid list maker and chronic ellipsis user ...

Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.

The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.

-- Posted December 9, 2002