{"id":83887,"date":"2024-02-16T00:01:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T08:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=83887"},"modified":"2024-02-16T06:43:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T14:43:46","slug":"dippy-duo-the-85th-anniversary-of-goofy-and-wilbur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/dippy-duo-the-85th-anniversary-of-goofy-and-wilbur\/","title":{"rendered":"Dippy Duo: The 85th Anniversary of \u201cGoofy and Wilbur\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It was 1939, and what a year for film. In addition to Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<\/em>, and many of the other now illustrious movies that bowed that year, another significant debut happened.<\/p>\n

The first starring role of Goofy.<\/p>\n

After seven years in supporting roles, it was time for this significant Disney player to take center stage in the short Goofy and Wilbur. Making his debut as Dippy Dawg in Mickey\u2019s Revue<\/em> (1932), Goofy was a hit with audiences, appearing in a number of short subjects with Mickey, Donald, and the gang, such as the popular The Band Concert<\/em> (1935) and Lonesome Ghosts<\/em> (1937), before branching out on his own for Goofy and Wilbur<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The debut short was directed by the legendary Dick Huemer, who started his career at Disney in 1933, as an animator, after working for a decade with the Fleischer Studio. The same year that Goofy and Wilbur debuted, Huemer also directed the Mickey Mouse short, The Whalers<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Later at Disney, Huemer would partner with fellow legend Joe Grant, where they served as story directors for Fantasia<\/em> (1940) and wrote the screenplay for Dumbo<\/em> (1941).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In Goofy and Wilbur<\/em>, marking its 85th anniversary this year, Huemer, as director, not only gives Goofy (voiced here by actor Jack Bailey) center stage but introduces a new character, Wilbur, Goofy\u2019s pet grasshopper. As the short opens, and we meet them both, they\u2019re going on a fishing trip (stopping their boat in a \u201cno fishing area\u201d of a lake).<\/p>\n

However, this isn\u2019t just two buddies out for the day; Wilbur is happily used as bait. Forgoing the usual route of a fishing pole, Wilbur skitters across the water, and Goofy rings a horseshoe like a dinner bell.<\/p>\n

As the fish jump out of the water after Wilbur, Goofy extends a net to snag the fish. All is going well until Wilbur is swallowed by a fish (in a nice gag, Goofy uses the fish like a phone to try and talk with Wilbur).<\/p>\n

Wilbur is saved from the fish but is later swallowed by a frog, which in turn is swallowed by a stork. Goofy tries to chase the stork and rescue Wilbur in another clever moment where Goofy and the stork run the same way.<\/p>\n

When he can\u2019t catch the stork and his best friend seems lost, Goofy is despondent (even imagining a vision of Wilbur as an angel playing the harp) until an egg in the stork nest hatches and low-and-behold Wilbur pops out of it, reuniting the two for a happy ending.<\/p>\n

A number of other Disney animation legends worked on Goofy and Wilbur, including Art Babbitt, Ed Love, and Wolfgang Reitherman. Their talents can be seen in the smooth and kinetic sequences and physical humor. Of note is one scene where two fish attempt to eat Wilbur, and one winds up swallowing the other, and another where Goofy darts out of the boat and begins running on water.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

\n

What\u2019s interesting about Goofy and Wilbur<\/em> is that although the short is Goofy\u2019s solo debut, much of the run-time focuses on Wilbur, who has a genial design and is involved in inventive sequences outsmarting the fish. At the time of the short\u2019s release, The Film Daily noted, \u201cThe characterization of Wilbur is so real that one seems to have known him a long time. All Disney followers will welcome him.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Goofy and Wilbur<\/em> seems to be Wilbur\u2019s only screen appearance. In 1956, Goofy and Wilbur was shown with other Disney shorts as part of \u201cOn Vacation with Mickey Mouse and Friends,\u201d an episode of Disney\u2019s weekly anthology show. In the episode, Wilbur is referred to as the nephew of the episode\u2019s host, Jiminy Cricket (in a bit of Disney \u201cretcon\u201d).<\/p>\n

Still, 85 years later, Goofy & Wilbur<\/em> is significant because it made a leading man out of one of Disney\u2019s biggest and still most iconic stars. The short demonstrates how well the Disney animators understood Goofy and why audiences still respond to his personality. <\/p>\n

Art Babbit best sums up the character\u2019s persona in his 1934 studio notes, \u201cAnalysis of the Goof,\u201d where he writes of Goofy: \u201cHe has music in his heart even though it may be the same tune forever, and I see him humming it to himself while working or thinking. He talks to himself because it is easier for him to know what he is thinking if he hears it first.\u201d<\/p>\n