One of the biggest Disney mysteries of all time is the identity of Goofy's wife. One working theory is that Mrs. Goofy is a character named Glory-Bee, a humanoid canine character from the Disney Comics in the Seventies.Here is proof that Goofy is truly a dog:
Nine months later, Max was born.Yes, this was taken out of context. Goofy really called Glory-Bee on the telephone. But Goofy's original name was Dippy Dawg, so that answers that "What is Goofy?" question.
Glory-Bee seemed to work well as a romantic interest for Goofy, but it is easy to see why she would get frustrated and leave him.In comic books in the Seventies, Goofy had an alter ego named Super Goof.
I miss this baggy-pants, slightly overweight version of Goofy.Even though Goofy has had a son since the early 1950s (introduced in the 1951 short, "Fathers Are People"), the character was not used (to my knowledge) in the comic books. Goofy was paired up with his brainy nephew Gilbert in the Super Goof series.
My guess is that Goofy Junior was not used in the comics because the character was not endearing to audiences (in the cartoon shorts, the red-headed offspring of Goofy seemed to be created only to cause conflict for the Goof).Another dog-faced Disney character named The Sleuth appeared in the Seventies. The Sleuth worked with Mickey Mouse to thwart a bad guy named The Armadillo, a henchman for the crafty Professor Nefarious.
Clarabelle Cow often appeared in comic books with Goofy, and in some older stories, she dated him.The Beagle Boys made life difficult for Donald Duck's Uncle Scrooge for years in the comics, and then on the "DuckTales" syndicated animated series that debuted in 1987. Before that, Goofy appeared with Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey and Louie and the Beagle Boys in "Sport Goofy in Soccermania," which included a zoo full of animal soccer players that seemed to be based on characters from Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks movies. Soccermania also included a brief cameo of an early version of Roger Rabbit (in a crowd scene).
In Disney animation, a prisoner named Mad Dog can be chased down by dog-faced cops and their police dogs on leashes. Before the days of the Internet, I used to write letters all the time. I wrote to Walt Disney Television Animation and got a response from a very nice artist there named Wendell Washer, who at the time was working on Goof Troop. He even drew me a small picture of Max and PJ, so I got a sneak preview of what they would look like back in February of 1992.
Goof Troop first had a "sneak peek" run on The Disney Channel in the Spring of 1992, then it aired in syndication and on ABC in the Fall of 1992.
For Goof Troop, Walt Disney Television Animation revived the idea of Goofy having a son, and redesigned Goofy Junior into a more appealing character named Max. The idea of Pete having a son was also not new. Pete Junior first appeared in the 1942 Donald Duck short, "Bellboy Donald." Pete Junior (PJ) got an extreme makeover for Goof Troop.Single Dad Goofy (voiced by Bill Farmer) and Max (the late Dana Hill, who played Audrey in "National Lampoon's European Vacation") live next door to Pete (Jim Cummings), the very first animated Disney Villain (here he's a used car salesman). Pete has a wife named Peg (April Winchell), a son named PJ (Rob Paulsen) and a daughter named Pistol (Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson). Mrs. Goofy was never mentioned.
For many years, people have asked "What is Goofy?" and an equal number have probably wondered "What is Pete?" When Pete first appeared with Mickey Mouse, he was clearly a cat, but in later appearances, Pete looked more like a wolf or a dog. These days, Pete is now called "Pete the Cat" on the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" TV show.In the United States, Burger King promoted Goof Troop in October of 1992.
The Burger King Kids Club Kids enjoyed watching Goof Troop weekdays on The Disney Afternoon and Saturday Mornings on ABC.Whatever happened to the Burger King Kids Club Kids? Hopefully they are successful doctors and lawyers now, and not in rehab. With child stars, you just never know.
Poor original, red-headed Goofy Junior was replaced by Max just like Sarah Chalke replaced Lecy Goranson as the character Becky on the TV show "Roseanne." But wait, Lecy Goranson returned to that show. For a time, there were two Beckys! Well, the original, red-headed Goofy Junior DID have a cameo appearance many years later in a 2000 Goofy cartoon called "How to Be a Baseball Fan" on Disney's House of Mouse TV series.Max and PJ share some Halloween tips with us, and show off Burger King's Goof Troop toys.
Look, we also get a peek at the toys from Disney's new movie, Aladdin. I bet you that movie is going to do really well.Burger King's vinyl, pull-back Goof Troop bowling toys look like they were based on the Disney News magazine's "Suitable For Framing" artwork.
Max is just a pawn in the game of Goofy's career. The character shows up or ages as needed to give Goofy different stories. A version of Max that is even younger than his Goof Troop appearance can be found in the 1999 movie "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas." For the 2004 sequel, "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas", Max is a young adult.Have you ever wondered what a musical stage show version of Goof Troop would look like? It would be like the "Cats" musical but with dog-faced people on the set of "In Living Color." Check out the "Gotta Be Gettin' Goofy" music video seen at the end of Goof Troop VHS tapes.
I would actually like to see a CGI Goof Troop animated comedy movie. I think it could be a big hit.
For 1995, Goofy got his own movie (written by Jymn Magon), and it went through a few title changes. It was known as "The Goofiest Movie Ever" and then "The Goofy Movie" and then finally "A Goofy Movie." The movie stars Goofy, Max, Pete and PJ, but it is quite different from Goof Troop. Characters not featured include Peg, Pistol, Waffles (Goofy's cat) and Chainsaw (the Pete family's pet dog). The setting was changed, the characters were aged and all were redesigned.
In A Goofy Movie (directed by Kevin Lima, who later directed "Tarzan" for Disney), Max is a teenager (voiced by Jason Marsden). New characters include Roxanne (Kellie Martin), Bobby (Pauly Shore), Stacey (Jenna von Oy), and Chad (Joey Lawrence). Plush toys of Goofy and Max were sold at Big Lots, but I don't believe the Roxanne doll was actually ever produced in large quantities.Max (dressed as Powerline), Roxanne (with hair!), Bigfoot (with stamper feet) and Goofy (about to do the Perfect Cast) were featured in a big McDonald's Happy Meal in Europe and other countries outside the United States.
Bigfoot (with a dog nose) is my favorite character in the film.I believe this skateboarding Max toy was part of A Goofy Movie promotion at restaurants in Disneyland Paris in France.
A Goofy Movie was created by Walt Disney Television Animation, with animation production taking place at Disney's Animation Studios in France and Australia (both studios closed down years ago). Jenna von Oy hosted a great "Making of A Goofy Movie" special, which featured interviews with artists like Nancy Beiman about the process of bringing the characters to life.A Goofy Movie did well at the box office, but it really found a life of its own when it was released on video, and later on TV.
With its humor and high-energy songs (like Tevin Cambell's "Eye 2 Eye" concert performance) the tone of A Goofy Movie was a very different kind of Disney cartoon feature for its time.A warning to fans of Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie: Your head may explode in a minute. Here is a Goof Troop comic from a 1995 Disney Adventures Magazine that stars characters from A Goofy Movie. Say what?!?!
The cynic in me knows that this was only done to promote the video release of A Goofy Movie.Goofy and Pete are not in this story.
In case you wondered, Peg and Pistol are not in this story, either.Waffles and Chainsaw are absent, too.
I guess if the movie had been popular enough, more episodes of Goof Troop would have been made with these characters.I have to say I went to see A Goofy Movie in theaters with low expectations. I ended up really enjoying it. I thought it was better than Goof Troop.
A Goofy Movie did well enough for a DVD sequel. Roxanne and Stacey must have shared the same agent as Peg and Pistol, because they were were written out of the series. Roxanne did appear later in a Season 2 episode of Disney's House of Mouse TV show.An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000) followed the adventures of Max and Goofy in college. The only new character from A Goofy Movie to make it to the sequel was Bobby.
Goofy got a new love interest named Sylvia (voiced by Bebe Neuwirth, AKA Lilith Crane on "Cheers" and "Frazier"). By day, Sylvia was a shy librarian who shared Goofy's interest in all things related to the Seventies.McDonald's had an Extremely Goofy Movie Happy Meal, featuring launch toys that connected to form a "stadium."
The highlight of this movie was the "Shake Your Groove Thing" nightclub number, with Goofy and Sylvia dancing the night away.In 2004, The Beagle Boys were henchmen to Pete in the Mickey Mouse feature, "The Three Musketeers." Notice Pete's cat motif furnishings in the background.
Clarabelle Cow was Pete's sidekick here. This was something of a Goof Troop reunion, since April Winchell provided the voice of Clarabelle and was Peg in Goof Troop. The Troubadour Turtle was voiced by Rob Paulsen, who played Pete and Peg's son, PJ.Clarabelle Cow was Goofy's love interest in The Three Musketeers, reviving their old comic book relationship.
For most of her animated career, Clarabelle was paired up with Horace Horsecollar (who, like Goofy and Pluto, is voiced by Bill Farmer).In the upcoming science fiction adventure "The Attack of the Dog People from Planet Pluto" a race of alien canine people discovers a test subject dog in a space craft from Earth that has landed on their planet, Pluto. The Plutonians seek revenge on Earthlings by taking control of Earth's dog population and turning them against humans.
That movie I made up doesn't actually exist (yet!) but Disney did make the 2002 intergalactic film "Treasure Planet" which featured a dog-like scientist named Dr. Doppler (voiced by "Frazier" star David Hyde Pierce) and the cat-like Captain Amelia (voiced by Emma Thompson). The squabbling duo ended up getting married in the movie.I think The Attack of the Dog People From Planet Pluto could be the next Planet of the Apes.
Should it be all CGI characters or costumes and makeup on actors? I'm not sure.So how is it that Goofy wears clothes and drives a car, and Pluto can't? Because it's a cartoon.
Sometimes, even for high-priced collectibles, Goofy can't hide his original persona of Dippy Dawg.So we still don't really know who Mrs. Goofy is. Maybe we'll find out her identity in A Goofy Movie 3: Goofy About Family Health History.