John McLeish

This generous collection includes 46 of the 48 shorts that starred Goofy between 1939 and 1961 (but none of the great Mickey-Donald-Goofy films from the mid-'30s). The "How to Ride a Horse" sequence in The Reluctant Dragon (1941) set the pattern for many of these cartoons. An elegant narrator (artist John Ployardt) explains a sport that Goofy attempts to demonstrate. The character that animator Art Babbitt described in a 1935 lecture (quoted in the DVD bonus material) as an easygoing dimbulb gave way to an enthusiastic but spectacularly maladroit figure. One of the funniest entries in the series, "Hockey Homicide," contains several studio in-jokes: dueling stars Icebox Bertino and Fearless Ferguson, and referee Clean-Game Kinney are named for artists Al Bertino, Norm Ferguson, and director Jack Kinney.

Mild-mannered average guy Mr. Walker (Goofy) turns into violent Mr. Wheeler when he starts driving. Back on his feet, Mr. Walker finds it nearly impossible to cross the street.

The Wind in the Willows: Concise version of Kenneth Grahame's story of the same name. J. Thaddeus Toad, owner of Toad Hall, is prone to fads, such as the newfangled motor car. This desire for the very latest lands him in much trouble with the wrong crowd, and it is up to his friends, Mole, Rat and Badger to save him from himself. - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Retelling of Washington Irving's story set in a tiny New England town. Ichabod Crane, the new schoolmaster, falls for the town beauty, Katrina Van Tassel, and the town Bully Brom Bones decides that he is a little too successful and needs "convincing" that Katrina is not for him.

Inspired by a magazine ad, Goofy sends for a mail order body building course. First is weight lifting; after Goofy finally gets the weights up, a fly lands and sends him crashing through several floors in the apartment building. Chinups: the bar itself goes up and down. Then a rubber-band stretch device, which Goofy quickly tangles up in, sending him crashing through the building and several other pieces of equipment.

This animated fairy tale for kids tells the classic story of a dapper, automobile loving fellow named Mr. Toad, whose passion becomes a problem when he's framed for stealing cars by a band of rogue weasels.

Professor Small and Mr. Tall are on a Mississippi riverboat, where they attempt to race Captain Nobody- a ghost- on his boat. They win the race when Mr. Tall finds his lost lucky rabbit's foot.

A homely mermaid tries to get a stranded sailor all to herself.

Willoughby Wren gets a job at a circus and, with the help of this magic hat, saves the circus from an escaped gorilla.

Hairlock Combs, a parody of Sherlock Holmes, and his partner Dr. Gotsome bumble through an investigation of a stolen dinosaur skeleton.

Focuses on an inept golfer.

A collection of spot gags spoofing travelogues complete with narration.

Pegleg Pete is practicing his trombone, badly. So badly, it's annoying the gods Jupiter and Vulcan and neighbor Donald. Only Donald has the temerity to confront him. He does, and Pete kicks him back home. The gods see this, and decide to give Donald a little bit of power which instantly goes to his head.

Goofy provides a history of ships and sailing.

An anti-Hitler cartoon. While the soundtrack survives in full, the animation is partly lost.

Small and Tall break a mirror on a train trip and their seven years of bad luck start immediately. Stranded by an accident, they have trouble in a ghost town and finally are lost in the desert. The mirror saves them when they piece it back together, and everything is okay until they break the mirror again and their troubles start anew.

Donald tries his best to be polite and dignified as a hotel bellboy. But when his first guest is Pete Junior, the job is next to impossible.

Goofy's demonstration of fishing is fouled up by his clumsy casting and fly fishing, and problems with his boat.

Goofy's plans to give a swimming lesson and enjoy a day at the beach go awry.

A narrator explains the history of the Olympic Games while Goofy demonstrates events.

Three fun-loving, morally upright brothers from Pimento University save their fiancée from their fiendish archenemy, Dan Backslide, in this spoof of the Rover Boys.

A wartime cartoon that satirizes the Axis leaders of World War II.

Donald Fauntleroy Duck gets his draft notice and goes in, past all the amazingly enticing recruiting posters, to sign up. First he has to pass the physical. Despite his flat feet, he makes it. Donald wants to fly, but first he has to make it through Sergeant Pete's boot camp. He has a terrible time with close-order drills, and standing at attention without moving when he's over an ant-hill proves a real challenge. Eventually, Donald ends up on endless KP.

Mickey guest-directs a radio orchestra. The sponsor loves the rehearsal, but come the actual performance, Goofy drops all the instruments under an elevator, so they sound like toys. The sponsor hates it, but the audience loves it anyway.

Goofy takes a lighthearted look at self defense through the ages: cavemen, knights, the age of chivalry, and finally boxing.

Goofy, staying at the Sugar Bowl resort, demonstrates the basics of downhill skiing, which the titles and announcer insist is pronounced "SHEEing". The equipment is, of course, of the era. As you can imagine, Goofy has much trouble keeping his skis parallel and pointing downhill. The final ski jump conveniently lands Goofy right back in bed.

Dumbo is a baby elephant born with over-sized ears and a supreme lack of confidence. But thanks to his even more diminutive buddy Timothy the Mouse, the pint-sized pachyderm learns to surmount all obstacles.

Aided by his horse, Percy, Goofy takes horsemanship to a new level.

Yet another sport is made 'easy' for us by Goofy's demonstration how- never, ever, to try anything for real, least of all with a glider-flying machine he launches in ways that would kill anything but a cartoon character, such as a giant catapult and even a canon. Meanwhile Goofy proves totally incapable to control any of its movements in the air, let alone the 'landing' which is too messy even for a bombshell.

Lonely toymaker Geppetto has his wishes answered when the Blue Fairy arrives to bring his wooden puppet Pinocchio to life. Before becoming a real boy, however, Pinocchio must prove he's worthy as he sets off on an adventure with his whistling sidekick and conscience, Jiminy Cricket.

Krazy is sent on a mission to explore planet Mars.