Gawrsh: Celebrating 80 Goofy Years

Paul Perrello

12 years ago

The “top dog” in the
Wonderful World of Disney is celebrating his 80th birthday. One of Walt
Disney’s classic “Fab Five” animated characters, Goofy first stumbled onto the
silver screen on May 25th,
1932 in a cartoon called “Mickey’s Revue.” Originally named
Dippy Dawg, the droopy-eared, buck- tooth, bespectacled, hat wearing dog, Goofy
has appeared in more than 100 animated flicks and dozens of television
productions including the current “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” on Disney Channel.

Disney animator Art
Babbitt said ” … think of Goof as a composite of an everlasting optimist, a
gullible Good Samaritan … No matter what happens, he accepts it finally as being
for the best, or at least amusing.” While Goofy debuted in 1932, his
first film credit as Goofy was in his seventh film in 1934 in the “Orphan’s
Benefit” animated short.

In his long animated
career, Goofy has played polo, football and baseball. He has been a ghost
hunter, a boat builder and a clock cleaner. He has provided audiences
with hours of laughter with his “How To” animated series where he has
instructed fans on “How to Be a Sailor,” “How to Play Golf,” and more recently
“How to Hook Up Your Home Theater.”

Goofy is also a father to Max
resulting in the father and son duo landing their own TV series “Goof Troop” in
the 1990’s. The television show catapulted Goofy and Max onto the big
screen in their own animated films “A Goofy Movie” in 1995 and “An Extremely Goofy Movie” in 2000.

During his eight-decades
in show business, a number of actors have lent their voice talents to
Goofy. The character was originally voiced by one-time circus clown and
animation story man Vance Pinto Colvig. Since 1986 Bill Farmer has been
credited as the official voice of Goofy. A comedian and impressionist,
who worked on radio and television, Farmer auditioned for the role not knowing
if he would provide the voice once, twice or a thousand times. He has
since made a career out of speaking for Goofy more than three thousand times
over the past 25-plus years. His vocal talent as Goofy earned
Farmer the special honor of being named a Disney Legend in 2009.

As Walt Disney observed,
Goofy “has always been a modest, unassuming fellow, one who’s never let fame go
to his head.” As fans wish Goofy a special Happy Birthday, he is likely
to respond to all of the attention with a deep rose-colored blush and his
signature saying, “Gawrsh.” Happy Birthday, Goofy!