Just to add fuel to the fire... did Babbitt create Goofy? He certainly perfected the character and defined the personality - but Goofy appeared in several cartoons before Babbitt got a hold of him, didn't he?

But what I want to know is would Goofy win in a fight with Pluto?

And there are real mice in the same "universe" that contains Mickey Mouse.

Some characters were human analogs and some weren't. Even if they were the same basic species.

But since the original appearance by Goofy was just as a throwaway character in a crowd scene (it was the laugh that caught Disney's tradition) things probably weren't well examined and then future designs were just based on the previous ones.

Here's Goofy in his first appearance:



Notice the human pig, goat, cow, and dog, with the more natural looking cat and dog. Ultimately I'd say that the "dogness" of Goofy is immune to logical consideration.

And no, Art Babbit is not the originator of Goofy in his original form. Many artists came to "create" Goofy over a span of some years, but Babbit is credited with having had far and away the most input, and thus he is deemed the primary "creator" of Goofy, even though it's acknowledged to have been a group effort.


I still don't think Goofy's face look's anything like any actual dog. It's just generally dog-like, in a cartoonish way that matches no actual canine facial anatomy.

The argument that "it doesn't make sense" just won't hold up.

The human-like animals in the Disney world eat other animals (turkey at Thanksgiving etc)

Donald is ALWAYS "nude" on the bottom- but when you take off his shirt he covers his lower body.

It doesn't have to make "sense".

I was just thinking that when I was rewatching "Donald Gets Drafted" last weekend.

The Pants Optional aspect to most cartoons always amuses me. Practical Pig wears pants while the other two do not. Pants are practical, I guess.

It would indeed be practical for a certain genre of "pig."


But that's a subject for another thread .... on a different message board. ;)

Funny, that's what clinched it for me. Look again. The muzzle on both of them is tan, and the area around the eyes is black (minus eyebrows, which Goofy does not have). Add that to the overly long, thin and floppy, completely black ears, and I'm convinced.

I won't tell people the coonhound was the inspiration, but I'll believe it myself, regardless of grumpy detractors. ;) Oh, and yeah, nothing makes sense in cartoons.