"A Goofy Cartoon"

Release Date February 6, 1948

Alternate Titles

Der Große Waschtag - Germany

Dingo et Dolores - France

Stora tvättdagen - Sweden

Running Time 7:20

Synopsis

Goofy tries his hand at a big job in the circus : feeding and washing the elephants.

Characters

Goofy

Dolores the Elephant

Credits

Director : Clyde Geronomi

Animation

John Sibley

Cliff Nordberg

Hugh Fraser

George Rowley

Story

Bill Berg

Milt Banta

Layout : Al Zinnen

Background : Merle Cox

Music : Oliver Wallace

Poster available through MovieGoods.com."

United States

Cartoon Classics : Second Series : Special Edition : Fun on the Job

Germany

Bum, Bum, Bumerang

Das Grosse Mickey Maus Festival

France

Disney Parade 2

Italy

Sono Io ... Pippo

Cartoons Disney 5

Le Radici di Pippo

Video Parade 6

Laserdiscs

United States

The Goofy World of Sports / Happy Summer Days / Fun on the Job

Japan

Disney Cartoon Festival 2

All Star Cartoon Review

Mickey and Pluto

DVD

Region 1 : United States

Whispers : An Elephant's Tale

Disney Treasures : The Complete Goofy

Cartoon Classics Favorites: Starring Goofy

Region 2 : United Kingdom

Everybody Loves Goofy

Region 2 : France

Tout le Monde aime Dingo

Region 2 : Germany

Alle Lieben Goofy

Region 2 : Sweden

Alla Alskar Langben

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #16 : Escapees from the Ark

Mickey's Mouse Tracks : Episode 56

Technical Specifications

Color Type : Technicolor

Animation type : Standard

Sound mix : Mono

Aspect ration : 1.37 : 1

Negative format : 35mm

Print format : 35mm

Cinematographic process : Spherical

Original language : English

Released by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.

Production Number MPAA #11422

Gallery

Goofy prepares to do "The Big Wash"
Animation sketch courtesy of Van Eaton Galleries

Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized picture

Comments

From Ryan : This is one of my favorite Goofy shorts. Instead of having all those Goofy look-alikes, it focuses on the original Goofy. The plot focuses on Goofy, who is a circus employee, trying to give Dolores the elephant a bath. What is ironic about this cartoon is at the end, Goofy is the one who is receiving the bath ---- from Dolores.

From Mac : This short is one of very few Goofy cartoons which does not use a narrator, making me wish that more had been made like this since it is one of my favourites.

A great deal of the humour comes from the personalities of Goofy and Dolores. They both care about each other, but Goofy must make the elephant do something she does not want to, i.e take a bath, while she does everything she can to get out of it. They both display a degree of cunning which is a lot of fun to watch.

I find the funniest part to be when Dolores disguises herself as a clown and Goofy greets 'him' with a "Good morning, Sir!", not finding the fact that this clown is preposterously enormous strange in the least! Soon after, Dolores fills his clothes with water from a hose, giving him a hugely bloated appearance. Poor Goofy can't quite work out what's going on and scratches his head saying, "Sumthin' wrong here!". This phrase was one of Goofy's catchphrases in the classic shorts, but he never seems to say it in his more recent appearances on screen. This is a pity because this saying demonstrates how Goofy is often not quite able to realise what is going on around him, which is a key part of his personality.

From Mike : A very fun and funny short. It was cool to see Goofy outside of a "how-to" short or one with lots of Goofys. Delores!

Loved his song and dance at the beginning. Just another example of why Goofy rocks.

From Baruch Weiss : I noticed Dolores' sneeze was similar to the two Pluto shorts "Pantry Pirate" and "Springtime For Pluto." which is my personal favorite Disney short.

From Anthony : A short that really influenced my life-and as an aspiring animator too.

The water inflation bit fascinated me. Ever since I saw it when I was like 2 or 3-I've longed to be the first to do it to a female character. Makes me wonder why Disney hasn't reused it on one yet. Oh how great it'd be to see a girl like Gadget going through the same trouble!