Goofy Stars in Motor Mania

On this date, in 1950 the very first Goofy driving short was released, Motor Mania.  The cartoon was directed by Jack Kinney and produced by Walt himself.  The cartoon shows how the character, as the happy-go-lucky “Mr. Walker”, undergoes a change in personality to the violent “Mr. Wheeler” when he gets behind the wheel of his car. As Mr. Walker he’s good natured, while Mr. Wheeler, he is bad-to-the-bone. Upon reaching his destination in town (we are not shown the character’s reason for traveling) and leaving his automobile, he reverts to the mild-mannered Mr. Walker, whereupon he is the victim of other motorists’ unsafe (and sometimes even predatory) driving habits. However, once he returns to his car, he becomes Mr. Wheeler again, seeking to impose his own will upon traffic, to the point of blaming the tow truck that hauls him away for his slow pace after an auto accident.

Now you maybe wondering, why of all the cartoons we are mentioning this one.  Well there are a few reason’s.  This particular cartoon was the first to feature a redesigned Goofy.  He didn’t have the floppy ears or his big front teeth.  This film was as a Army commercial film used in 1955.  This film, along with 2 other Goofy films, Freewayphobia#1 and Goofy’s Freeway Trouble, have been shown in driving schools across the country.  Mr. Walker from the short, makes a cameo reading a newspaper in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  One other thing I noticed in this film, it’s pointed out that road rage was something that was occurring back in 1950 and something we still deal with today.

Here is the full length cartoon I found on Youtube and wanted to share it with all of you.  The cartoon is from Disney Shorts

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