Teachers Are People - June 27, 1952

Despite its now uncomfortable parade of guns, grenades and schoolhouse explosions, the Goofy cartoon Teachers Are People remains one of the studio’s funnier endeavors and yet another hilarious take on post-war America sensibilities.

Released on June 27, 1952, this animated homage to the teaching profession took the interesting twist of placing Goofy’s Mr. Geef persona into a role that was at the time nearly completely dominated by the fairer sex. And much like his other Geef vehicles, the Goof plays the role with the usual disconnected innocence that is in stark contrast to the antics of the young pupils in his charge.

Allen Reed, who would go on to voice Fred Flintstone for Hanna Barbera, provided the irony-laced narration that was a standard feature of many of the Goofy shorts. All of the usual schoolhouse conventions are present: pigtails dipped in inkwells, apples for teacher, paper airplanes and overbearing parents. But the short’s humor is better found in its irreverent depictions of some of the less than innocent realities of childhood. The mayhem of the classroom and the apparent joys of truancy are not ignored, while homage is also played to cheating on exams and the limited attention spans of even our best and brightest. The cartoon’s most funny and likely perceptive observation is that sex education is more often learned in the schoolyard than in the classroom. Not necessarily the kind of gag one would expect to find in a 1950s era Disney production, but it’s an excellent example of how the Goofy shorts often pushed the envelope in ways more typically associated with the efforts of Warner Brothers and MGM.

This is no more apparent than in the scene where George, the resident class clown empties his pockets of everything from a slingshot and firecrackers to the slightly more lethal hand grenade and revolver. Potentially offensive in our current era of increased school violence, the scene manages to maintain its overall tone of absurdity enough to diffuse any real strong cries of protest. But even then it’s hard to completely exorcise from mind recent headlines and news reports when the schoolhouse literally explodes into ruin, and the cartoon concludes with George at the blackboard repeatedly scribing I will not bomb the school again. It’s a funny moment, but sadly, due to our all-too-recent history, a somewhat disquieting one as well.

Teachers Are People can be found on the Disney Treasures Complete Goofy DVD set.

Images © Walt Disney Company

A Goofy Guide to Walt Disney World

This week on the WDW Radio Show, Lou and I take a Goofy look at Walt Disney World in celebration of the Goof's 75th Anniversary. We point you to well known sights such as the Barnstormer in Mickey's Toontown Fair and Goofy About Health at the currently closed Wonders of Life pavilion in Epcot, and also to some slightly more hidden and less obvious references scattered throughout the World's 43 square miles. It's a fun time so gawrsh, don't miss it!

What a Character! - Goofy Junior

And it’s not Max.

Some four decades before the contemporary Goofy family dynamic was introduced in the television show Goof Troop and the films A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie, Disney’s dimwitted but always good natured star enjoyed a domestic condition rooted in the early days of the post-war baby boom. While the 1990s gave birth to the character of Max and portrayed the Goof as devoted single father, fifty years earlier, the Goofy cartoons featured prominently the character of George G. Geef, a perennial everyman whose immediate family then included the faceless Mrs. Geef and a very different, but still endearing chip off the old block.

Known in most historical resources as Goofy Junior, the little tyke was referred to simply as Junior throughout his five screen appearances, and was once actually identified as George Junior in 1953’s Father’s Day Off.

Born literally in the 1951 cartoon Fathers Are People, Junior would go on to star in four additional Goofy shorts through 1961. A quintessential postwar archetype, Junior was mischievous, charming and temperamental, keeping his father in a state of almost constant exasperation. The same era had given birth to Dennis the Menace, and Junior was not very far removed from Hank Ketcham’s now iconic creation. The highlight of Fathers Are People is the father-son battle of wills over a roomful of messy toys that George Sr. ultimately and unequivocally loses.

Junior’s most prominent role was in 1952’s Father’s Lion where he continually confounds an irritated mountain lion with fearless innocence and a dime-store pop gun. Patient with his father’s Baron Munchausen-esque storytelling, he is much less a foil than in his other appearances. His low key bravado is a comical contrast to his father’s well-meaning boastfulness.

Junior’s roles are reduced somewhat in both Father’s Day Off and Father’s Weekend. In Father’s Day Off, he is but one of a number of elements that contribute to the fiasco that develops when Geef takes over the household chores for the day. In Father’s Weekend, Junior only comes into the forefront later in the cartoon when his father takes him to the beach and its nearby amusement park. In 1961’s Aquamania, Junior is basically there just to drive the boat in a pratfall-filled water ski race.

Perhaps most distinctive about Junior is that he was not designed to be a miniature version of Goofy, a direction that was eventually taken when the character was reinvented as Max for the Goof Troop television show. With his bright red hair and absence of dog ears, he clearly stood apart from his on-screen father.

Upon becoming a parent of sons, I discovered an entirely new appreciation for these cartoons that featured the antics of G. G. Geef and Junior. Numerous moments in the films reflected some of my own personal experiences. While being firmly grounded in 1950s popular culture, they still retain a measure of timelessness that many contemporary viewers can no doubt still relate to.

Images © Walt Disney Company

Goofy's Candy Co.

Move over Willy Wonka.

One of the most creatively dynamic concepts realized in recent years at Walt Disney World in my opinion is in fact, not a theme park attraction. The Goofy's Candy Co. brand, and its signature store in Downtown Disney are amazing examples of the combined talents of both Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney Design Group.

Goofy's line of confectionery products can be found all over the Walt Disney World property, but the retail location of the same name is an adventure into all forms of sugar intoxication. While my two kids spent extended moments of indecision deciding on flavors of Goofy Glaciers (among the choices: Goofy's Glacier Green, Gawrshly Berry Blue, and Orange You Happy Orange), I busied myself taking pictures of the establishment's many colorful design elements.


From the fun product brands that adorn the walls--To the various chalkboards that feature formulas and instructions--

To perhaps my favorite design, the Periodic Table of Elements of which Goofonium takes center stage.
Goofy is certainly represented throughout, but most impressively near the main entrance where he takes on a very iced-over demeanor as he hawks the aforementioned Glacier concoctions.

Goofy's Candy Co. has proven to be successful and very popular since its debut in 2005. It has been featured in the Boo to You Parade at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and its products have a presence in nearly every merchandise location on property.

Willy, who?

Snapshot! - Angling in Animal Kingdom

Along a meandering stream in the Camp Minnie Mickey area of Disney's Animal Kingdom, Goofy finally puts to use (well, sort of) the skills he learned in his 1942 short How to Fish. I really love the details that went into this scene, from the contents of the lunch box to the Goof's bedroll. The holes in his shoes are an especially nice touch and are a specific carryover from his many cartoon appearances.

The Violent Mayhem of Hockey Homicide

In our current era of too-frequent overbearing political correctness, the 1945 Goofy cartoon Hockey Homicide stands as a shining example of a creative process not held hostage by studio executives overly concerned with pleasing soccer-mom demographics. The genius of this short is rooted in its parody of the sport’s reputation for excessive violence and the subsequent frenzy that that violence inspires in the game’s spectators. Rather than ignore or disavow this darker side of competition, it embraces it and celebrates it with an irreverent and sardonic glee. In the fifty-plus years since its release, Hockey Homicide has lost neither its humor nor its relevance. It is a hyper-paced, hilarious eight minutes of unbridled mayhem that also casts a satirical eye to sports fandom’s often unquenchable thirst for blood and brawling.

The cartoon is very much in the spirit of the classic quip of “attending a boxing match only to have a hockey game break out.” Beating and pummeling are the strategies of play with occasional hockey maneuvers peppered throughout. The short’s most memorable and now classic gag is the ongoing rivalry between star players Ice Box Bertino and Fearless Ferguson. When the two begin brawling even prior to the opening faceoff, it sets off a cycle of fighting and penalty suffering that extends almost the length of the cartoon. It is highlighted by the announcer’s oft repeated “Here come Bertino and Ferguson out of the penalty box . . . and there go Bertino and Ferguson back into the penalty box.”

The frenzy of the game builds and builds until it spills into the stands and ignites the spectators. The crowd storms the ice and chaos ensues, leading to an eye-popping montage of violence that incorporates scenes not only from other Goofy sports cartoons but from the studio’s features Victory Through Air Power and Pinocchio as well.

A couple of particularly funny gags: the two rival fans featured throughout the short are seated appropriately in Section 8; and when the ice is cleaned between periods, among the debris shoveled up are cowboy boots and spurs, cups and saucers, a bottle of Heinz 57, boxing gloves, an umbrella, a hair brush, a croquet mallet and even an extended hand clutching a cigar.

Especially notable in Hockey Homicide are the references by name to Disney employees. The aforementioned Bertino and Ferguson refer to animators Al Bertino and Norm Ferguson, while referee “Clean Game” Kinney pays homage to the short’s director Jack Kinney (and possibly also to storyman Dick Kinney). When a scorecard is examined early in the short, the teams’ rosters are a veritable who’s who of the Disney Studio in 1945. It’s a great screenshot, worthy of Freeze Frame status, and it is very likely the most extensive “in-joke” ever incorporated into a piece of Disney animation.

Hockey Homicide stands as one of the best Goofy cartoons produced and also easily qualifies as one of the studio’s funniest. Goofy in name, but certainly more sophisticated in content and humor, the short takes a not-so-subtle shot-on-goal at a professional sport and the antics of its passionate fans.

It's Been a Goofy 75 Years

It appears that another major milestone of the Disney Company is going unrecognized and uncelebrated. Seventy-five years ago this month, Goofy appeared for the first time, albeit in the form of Dippy Dawg, in the 1932 Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey’s Revue.

Goofy is especially unique among his famous costars in that his performances were not limited to the intellectually-challenged but always good natured personality he came to embody . His range extended to his now famous Sport Goofy and “How To” roles, and then ultimately to the post-war character of Mr. Geef, who was essentially a cartoon counterpart to the likes of television icons Ozzie Nelson and Ward Cleaver.

From the black and white shaggy persona of Dippy Dawg to his upcoming and hopeful return to glory later this year in How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, it is time to celebrate 75 years of Goofy-ness. That’s exactly what we plan on doing here over the next few weeks. There’s a lot of potential ground to cover so stay tuned.