12 May: Goofy

On this date in 1932, Goofy first appeared in the cartoon Mickey's Review by Walt Disney. 10 things you might not know about this Disney character.

1. However, he wasn't called Goofy back then. He was called Dippy Dawg, and appeared as an older character and more of a redneck. He was subsequently redesigned and renamed Goofy. In the 1950s he was briefly renamed again and became George Geef, an "Everyman" who struggled with everday problems, and finally went back to being Goofy as we know him today.
2. The character of Goofy was created by Frank Webb and Art Babbitt. The latter once said of the character "Think of the Goof as a composite of an everlasting optimist, a gullible Good Samaritan, a half-wit, a shiftless, good-natured colored boy and a hick".
3. Goofy's voice was at first provided by Pinto Colvig, who also provided the voices for Bozo the Clown, Bashful and Grumpy. Colvig fell out with Disney and left Goofy without a voice for a time, but since then, Hal Smith, Will Ryan, Tony Pope, and Bill Farmer have all voiced Goofy.
4. During the period when Goofy had lost his voice, the Disney studios made a series of short cartoons called the How To... series in which Goofy would demonstrate how to do things like Ski or ride a Horse with a narrator providing a commentary. The few utterances Goofy made in these cartoons were recordings of Colvig, or another voice actor imitating him. These cartoons were popular, and are occasionally made even today, the most recent being the How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, released in 2007.
5. Goofy has a son called Max Goof. This makes Goofy the only main Disney character to have a son. It may be that he was made a parent so he would appeal to the adults watching Disney with their children.
6. If he has a son, it follows that he must, at some point, have had a wife. His wife actually appeared in some cartoons in the late 1940s and early 1950s but her face was never shown, only the back of her head. However, the look of her hair and the fact she is shown as having five fingers instead of four like other Disney animal characters, suggests she was human. In one film, called Father’s Day Off, it was implied that when Goofy was away she'd kiss the milkman, the grocery store man, and the laundry man when they called. Hardly good clean Disney behaviour, so she was dropped with no explanation, and by 1955, it was being implied that she had died.
7. Goofy is portrayed as very tall, clumsy and silly. In fact, there is a height requirement for playing Goofy at Disney theme parks - applicants must be over six feet tall.
8. Goofy's shoe size is 18 and a half.
9. He's also known for his trademark "holler" which he utters if he falls or is launced into the air. It can be transcribed as "Yaaaaaaa-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey!" and was originally recorded by yodeller Hannès Schroll for the 1941 short film The Art of Skiing. The same holler is sometimes used in films which don't have Goofy in them. Listen out for it in Cinderella, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pete's Dragon, The Rescuers, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Home on the Range, Enchanted, and Moana.
10. There is even a version of Goofy in which he is a superhero, Super Goof, who gets his powers from eating super goobers (Peanuts).

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

Amazon Kindle

Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two