On the subject of Goofy

[Ghoulish Delight]

So, we were watching the Westminster Dog Show and we noticed something.

Goofy is a coonhound. Dunno if that's more common knowledge than I realize, but I never really knew, or thought too much about, what dog Goofy might have been patterned after. But one look at a black and tan coonhound and it was patently obvious. Observer.

Goofy:

Spoiler:

Black and Tan Coonhound:

Spoiler:

That lead to some Goofy research and I came across this gem on Wikipedia. Spcifically, the Concept and Creation section.

Some choice excerpts:

His brain being rather vapory, it is difficult for him to concentrate on any one subject. Any little distraction can throw him off his train of thought and it is extremely difficult for the Goof to keep to his purpose. Yet the Goof is not the type of halfwit that is to be pitied. He doesn't dribble, drool or shriek.

He is in close contact with sprites, goblins, fairies and other such fantasia. Each object or piece of mechanism, which to us is lifeless, has a soul and personality in the mind of the Goof.

The improbable becomes real where the Goof is concerned. He has marvelous muscular control of his fanny.

[RStar]

It just goes to show the amount of work, developement, and background thought goes into each character.

Thanks GD!

[Not Afraid]

And, Pluto is a Bloodhound.

[Alex]

Yeah, but would Goofy fight a mountain lion to the death to protect Billy Colman?

[RStar]

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

Yeah, but would Goofy fight a mountain lion to the death to protect Billy Colman?

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

[innerSpaceman]

Sorry, but Goofy is not a dog at all. He is a dog-faced man. I have it on good authority.


zapppop and I have quite the running disagreement about this. But I always wondered why Pluto was such a complete dog (even though he had a mouse as a master), while Goofy was so totally anthropomorphized.


So I asked the ultimate authority ... Art Babbit, the creator of Goofy. And Mr. Babbit told me, told me himself, that Goofy was, and I quote, a "dog-faced man."


There you have it.

[mousepod]

Well, iSm, that's 20/20 hindsight for Babbit. When Goofy was first introduced, he was, of course, known as "Dippy Dawg". Much later, in the "how-to" series of films, he was known as "Mr Geef" and was often portrayed without his ears. In between, he was sometimes a dog, sometimes a man, and even occasionally a horse (I have an audio recording of Pinto Colvig from WWII where he introduces himself as "Goofy Horsecollar" - I kid you not).

Goofy is the most confusing of characters. That's why I love him so....

[Alex]

And even if he is just a dog-faced man, one can wonder what dog he has the face of.

[innerSpaceman]

True ... but, c'mon ... he doesn't have the face of a tan coonhound. With all due respect to the O.P., that's quite a stretch. (Heheh, he probably spoiler-tagged the comparison images for a reason. They don't pan out as a match ... sorry).


Goofy's history as man, horse, dog and dog-faced man is quite the genesis. Seeing as my conversation with Art Babbit happened when hindsight was likely 93% of his sight ... I'll grant that his analysis was a wrap-up of the Goof's tortured history. I don't see how that makes a difference. No one claims Goofy's a horse just because he was one at some distant point.

But the fact remains that the Goofy established as a major character was not a dog. He existed in the same immediate world as Pluto ... and even allowing for cartoon reality, it just doesn't gel that both characters are dogs.

Synopsis or not, the man who - by and large - was Goofy's creator told me in his own words. No better or further truth can be found.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

True ... but, c'mon ... he doesn't have the face of a tan coonhound. With all due respect to the O.P., that's quite a stretch. (Heheh, he probably spoiler-tagged the comparison images for a reason. They don't pan out as a match ... sorry).

I spoilered it because they took up too much space.

And, as Alex said, even if he is a "dog-faced man" and not a dog, that dog-face was patterned after something.

Unfortunately, the best drawing of Goofy I found on the 'net that showed the similarities wouldn't show up properly. Say what you want, but CP and I took one look at the dog's ears and face on the dog show and simultaneously came to the same conclusion.


This is just payback for my clock cynicism, isn't it?