Description

Goofy is an animated character that first appeared in 1932’s Mickey’s Revue. Named for his clumsiness and ineptitude, he is an anthropomorphic dog characterized as a hick with a southern drawl. Goofy is predominately known for his slapstick style of comedy, and regularly appears alongside his best friends Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Originally dubbed Dippy Dawg, Goofy was conceived as a one-shot character, but proved so popular amongst audiences and Walt Disney’s staff (in no small part due to his signature guffaw, courtesy of Pinto Colvig) that he quickly became a recurring character in Disney short films. He was known for regularly singing a blissful rendition of his trademark song, “The World Owes Me a Living”. Animator Art Babbit would be largely responsible for developing and refining the Goof’s character. Babbit imbued Goofy with a good-natured and laid-back mien, while also establishing such traits as Goofy’s sloppy walk and baggy attire. Goofy would eventually receive his own film series, starting with Goofy and Wilbur in 1939.

In the 1940s, Goofy featured in a series of “How To” cartoons, which saw a pantomime Goof participating in various 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 inspire the 1992 animated series Goof Troop, in which Goofy served 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.