Goofy (Disney)

Goofy is an animated cartoon character created by Pinto Colvig, Walt Disney and Tom Palmer.[10] Making his theatrical debut in Mickey's Revue on May 27, 1932, Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog who is characterized as being clumsy and slow-witted, but with a good-natured disposition. Along with his misfit garments and rumpled hat, Goofy's defining characteristic is arguably his signature guffaw (enunciated as "a-hyuck").

The earliest iterations of the character, originally known as "Dippy Dawg", were inspired by stories of a "half-baked village nitwit" from Colvig's hometown.[10] Disney and his storymen had initially envisioned the Goof as an incidental stock character, but Colvig's comic performance proved popular amongst audiences.[11] Animator Art Babbit would be largely responsible for developing and refining the Goof's character. Babbit imbued Goofy with a warm-hearted and laid-back mien, while also establishing such traits as Goofy's sloppy wardrobe and gesticulation. The character was often accompanied by a leitmotif, "The World Owes Me a Living", written and performed by Colvig. Since the release of Mickey's Service Station in 1935, Goofy has regularly been paired with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to form a comedy trio. Goofy would eventually receive his own film series, starting with Goofy and Wilbur in 1939.

Beginning in the 1940s, Jack Kinney would feature Goofy in a series of "How To" cartoons, which saw a pantomime Goof participating in recreational activities (mainly sports) at the behest of a posh narrator. Goofy was reinvented as an Everyman father in the 1950s—in a series of shorts that would later inspire the 1992 animated series Goof Troop, which depicted Goofy as the suburban single parent of his son and only child, Max Goof. Goofy would also become the first of Disney's classic characters to star in his own feature-length film, being 1995's A Goofy Movie.

Clumsy, unintelligent, and humble are some of the words that describe Goofy. Living a rather simple lifestyle, Goofy tends to miss the obvious, act somewhat childish and absent-minded, and gets confused very easily.[12] As a result of these factors, Goofy is rather accident-prone and is an easy target for trouble. Nevertheless, his blissfulness usually keeps him from any legitimate harm, as he tends to walk away from life-threatening danger with a smile and his signature guffaw.[13]

While he always has good intentions, Goofy's blissfulness and optimism can sometimes blind him from the feelings of those around him, however, most notably Mickey, Donald, and his son Max, who are often annoyed by his antics, as they typically receive the short end of the trouble that follows him around.[14][15][16] Despite this flaw, Goofy is extremely supportive and caring towards his loved ones. He tries his best to lighten their spirits when they feel down and selflessly sticks by them when they're in need. Goofy is also charming, somewhat infectiously; often at times when someone meets him for the first time, they are immediately taken by his welcoming aura.[14][17]

Ironically, however, while Goofy is generally calm and laid-back and rarely gets angry, he's aware of his fairly limited intelligence, and though usually self-loving, he does not always enjoy being goofy. In A Goofy Movie, for example, Max tricks Goofy into taking him to a concert in Los Angeles. After discovering the truth, Goofy became uncharacteristically upset and downhearted, feeling his son had such a low opinion of his capabilities and intelligence that he believed scamming him would be an easy thing to accomplish. This is one of the rare occasions where he displayed genuine anger.

He has shown a level of intelligence, as he is shown to be a superb sports player in his "How to" cartoons, which requires the ability to follow tactics. He is also smart enough to raise a child as a single parent; Max's development into a mature and responsible adult proved that Goofy's parenting skills were completely reliable. Additionally, Goofy can be stern and no-nonsense when he believes necessary, most notably seen in his "George Geef" cartoons.

Goofy is also one of the most versatile Disney characters. Although primarily a good guy, the Goof has occasionally played antagonist roles in many cartoons, such as "Ye Olden Days", "Motor Mania", "Freewayphobia", "Goofy's Freeway Troubles", "Mickey's Christmas Carol", "No Service", and in many of the sports-themed Goofy shorts of the 1940s.

In contrast with other major Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, who are always shown only as uncles, Goofy's family life has instead afforded him portrayals as both a husband and a father. In the 1950s, cartoon shorts were produced that depicted Goofy as a family man, having both a wife—but always with her face unseen—and a son, Goofy Junior, whose birth was seen in the short "Fathers Are People". Though, this status of Goofy's was eventually fazed out afterward.

His grandmother, Grandma Goofy, made her debut in a 1944 Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, with her first speaking appearance being in 1955. In a 1953 newspaper strip, Goofy says that he grew up in a large family.[18] Though the specific members vary, many subsequent sources would go on to illustrate this in their own ways.

In the 1957 Disneyland episode "The Adventure Story", it was said that Goofy's father is named Amos Goofy and that he is, in fact, the Goofy from the cartoon "African Diary". Other members of Goofy's family tree given in the special included Wilbur Goofy (1901), Wyatt Goofy (1880), Lewis Goofy (1807), Pilgrim Goofy (1642), Leonardo da Goofy (1551), Cedric Goofy (1142), Nero Goofy (636 A.D.), Horatio Goofy (106 B.C.), and Caveman Goofy (no date given). Plus Goofy's Aunt Matilda, his Uncle Joe (the Goofy from "For Whom the Bulls Toil"), and his grandfather Ebenezer Goofy (a raincoat-wearing sailor).

In comic books, Goofy was regularly featured as having a nephew, Gilbert, who has never appeared outside of comics. In the 1958 comic Goofy's Last Stand, more information about Goofy's father is given as Goofy says "Looky here! Muh pappy was a railroad man!" while showing his family album to Gilbert. In the European comic books, Goofy has an adventurer cousin called Arizona Goof, who is a spoof of the archaeologist Indiana Jones. Goofy's brother Gaffy (Pappo in the original Italian version) disappeared in the jungle and was reunited with his brother in the Mickey Mouse comic The Quest for Tarzan (first published in 1957).[20]

In modern years, Goofy's status as a family man, as originally depicted in the 1950s cartoons, resurfaced in the 1992 animated TV series Goof Troop, albeit with two major changes. His marital status was changed to make him a single father, while his son was re-invented from Goofy Junior into Max Goof.[21] It was this TV show and its related media that explored Goofy's family more than any other media.

Several episodes of the show would feature Goofy telling Max about the heroic exploits of their ancestors, including Sir Goofy of Knock-Knees A.K.A. Goofin' Hood (Goofy's ninth great-granddad), Eliot Goof (Goofy's uncle), Sherlock Goof (Goofy's great-great-uncle), Mopalong Goofy (Goofy's great-great-grandpa), and Caveman Goof (Goofy's ancestor). The episode "Goof Under My Roof" first mentioned Goofy's Aunt Goophelia, whose china cabinet was said to be the family heirloom. Aunt Goophelia later appeared in person at a family reunion in "Calling All Goofs" along with three other members of the Goof Clan: Great-Uncle Pattonleather Goof, Cousin Wernher von Goof, and Uncle M. Angelo Goof. Other relatives seen or mentioned in the show were Goofy's niece/Max's cousin Debbie, Goofy's great-great-grandfather Gooferamus T. Goofy,[5] his "great-grand-uncle" Dr. Frankengoof,[6] an unnamed uncle who "had a rewarding yet brief career in the circus,"[7] his Aunt Mildred, his other great-great-grandfather Gooferamus G. Goof,[5] and even his grandma (whom he referred to as "Granmammy").

Goofy's parents were also mentioned in two Goof Troop episodes each, in contexts that implied them both to still be alive during the show's time.[22][23][24] Goofy even once implied that his mother had given birth to him at a public place like a zoo or a farm or some such.[25] His father, meanwhile, was also a point of importance and reverence in the 1995 spinoff feature film A Goofy Movie, wherein it was said that Goofy, when he was Max's age, once took a road trip to Lake Destiny, Idaho with his father and that the two had also once gone on a camping trip at Yosemite National Park. A map depicting the road trip to Lake Destiny was shown in the movie to have first belonged to a "Walter P. Goofey", which was passed down to a "Benjamin Goofey" and then to "all Goofeys". The movie also featured a fishing pole that had been "handed down from Goof to Goof to Goof," as well as a fishing technique called the Perfect Cast, that Goofy described as "a family secret handed down through about twelve or thirteen Goof generations."

In the April 1995 issue of Disney Adventures magazine, a Goof Troop comic strip titled "Losted Founder's Day" referred to Goofy's granddad as having known the real story of how Spoonerville (Goofy's hometown in Goof Troop) was founded, which he passed down to Goofy who then told it to Max. In the same comic, it is implied (but never confirmed outright) that another of Goofy's ancestors was a man named Sourdough Goof, who was one of two gold prospectors involved in the formation of Spooner Lake in the 1800s (the other being his partner, Grubstake Pete, who was likewise implied to be one of Pete's ancestors). In the French magazine Le Journal de Mickey, three out of nine Goof Troop (or La Bande à Dingo) comic strips published from 1993 to 1995 went into Goofy's ancestral history in ways very much like the aforementioned "Goof History" episodes of the TV show. The ancestors described by Goofy (or "Dingo", as he is known in France) in these issues were Aladdingo, his lover-turned-wife Princess Samia, Sherlock Goof again[26] and Messire Dingochotte de La Mancha.

In An Extremely Goofy Movie, Goofy's father is brought up again when his old counting machine is given to Max as a going-away-to-college present from Goofy. Both of Goofy's parents have also made cameo appearances in episodes of House of Mouse, with his mother appearing in the cartoon short "How to Be Groovy, Cool and Fly" during the episode "Big Bad Wolf Daddy", and his father briefly shown working in the nightclub's kitchen in "Goofy's Menu Magic". A grandfather of Goofy's, Captain Goof-Beard, has also appeared in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode "Mickey's Pirate Adventure", and Goofy's Grandma was the subject of the 2013 Mickey Mouse TV series episode aptly titled "Goofy's Grandma".