Goofy - Background

Background

Of Disney studio animators, Art Babbitt is most regarded for the creation of the Goofy character, while original concept drawings were by Frank Webb. In a 1930s lecture, Babbitt described the character as "a composite of an everlasting optimist, a gullible good samaritan, a halfwit and a shiftless, good-natured hick".

Goofy's (unnamed) wife has appeared - but always with her face unseen - in 1950s-produced cartoon shorts depicting the character as a "family man". Goofy's wife dies later on and Goofy states to Max "she up there with the stars" so his modern day appearances portray Goofy as a widower. While raising his son, Max Goof, Goofy's family life contrasts with other major Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, who are always shown only as uncles rather than parental figures. (In comic books, Goofy was regularly featured as having a nephew, Gilbert, but that character has only existed in comics, with no cartoon appearances.) In the European comic books, Goofy has an adventurer cousin called Arizona Goof (original Italian name: Indiana Pipps), who is a spoof of the fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones.

Goofy's catchphrases are "gawrsh!" (which is his usual exclamation of surprise and his way of pronouncing "gosh"), along with "ah-hyuck!" (a distinctive chuckle) which is sometimes followed by a "hoo hoo hoo hoo!", and especially the Goofy holler (see below). Pinto Colvig, who was a man of primarily one voice, would incorporate the unique laugh and speech pattern into otherwise unrelated cartoon characters that he voiced.

According to biographer Neal Gabler, Walt Disney disliked the Goofy cartoons, thinking they were merely "stupid cartoons with gags tied together" with no larger narrative or emotional engagement and a step backwards to the early days of animation. As such, he threatened constantly to terminate the series, but only continued it to provide make-work for his animators.