Father's Day Off

With Father's Day fast approaching, I wanted to revisit my number Disney Dad, Goofy but I wanted to go back further than A Goofy Movie or even Goof Troop.  Instead,  I'm heading back to 1953 to take a look at  Father's Day Off.  This short comes from the Mr. Geef era of shorts, where you would see Goofy in a domestic setting.  It was a fun watch.

The Plot

The plot can best be summed by listening to Mr. Mom by Lonestar.  Seriously, someone needs to take this short and make an AMV using this song.  Because that's what this short is.  It shows Goofy doing his best and meaning well but he just can't keep up and can't run the house.   He has a rough time. His heart is in the right place but it's just too much for him to handle.  I liked this short and the humor in this short was different in that from other Goofy shorts, while the comedy did still come from the situations,  it was less exaggerated and more realistic,  which makes it easier to sympathize with Goofy in this short.   It's sweet and enjoyable and a different take on the humor with Goofy in this short.

Characters

Just so you know, I'll be labeling Goofy as Mr. Geef and Goofy.   With that out of the way, let's go.



Mr. Geef (Goofy)  voiced by Pinto Colvig

As I said when talking about the plot, Mr. Geef/Goofy is a sympathetic chap in this short as he  is thrust into situations that he isn't ready for and it's not that he's a bad father, quite the opposite but rather he's in over his head here.   Now I know this is a stereotype that isn't true of most fathers but in the context of this short and for the sake of comedy, it works.   One of the big things  that made me chuckle and it was just a little moment of Goofy sweeping paw prints.

Also note the broken window caused by Jr throwing a baseball through the house.  Some of the other great moments include Mr Geef/Goofy answering the door for all of the deliveries and each one giving him a kiss and then at one point, he is handed a baby out of nowhere.

But I think I have to say that my favorite joke that has great payoff at the end is Goofy/Mr. Geef starts listening to a radio drama, I believe a soap opera where someone is dying and he leaves the phone dangling and it leads to the phone operator believing that a murder had taken place at Geef household and at the end, you see a whopped out Mr. Geef and the cops think he is the dead body.

Junior - Uncredited

It's strange at first I was ready to dislike the character of Junior.  Not because of how much I like Max but I found him a bit annoying but the more I thought about it, I came to the conclusion, "he's just a kid".    Now that doesn't excuse what he's done but rather explain them.  I mean take a look at the drawing on the wall.  That is something kids do.   Or how about something like overfilling the bath but perhaps the most baffling thing and I think maybe because to me this is just dumb but riding in a washing machine.

The bath and drawing on the wall and even the broken window I get but could someone that grew up around this time explain the appeal of riding in the washing machine to me.




Mrs.  Geef voiced by June Foray

Goofy's wife is the one in the car and I'm just going to pretend that she and his deceased wife from Goof Troop are two different characters.  Just had to get that out of the way.  Now as for her character, she's not in the short that much but her absence sets up the events of the short but it shows that she is a clumsy driver and her driving scene reminds me of the driving scene from A Goofy Movie.




My Final Thoughts


I liked this short and it was a nice look at a different use of Goofy's humor. I've always thought he worked well as a father figure and I think this short shows that even though he has shortcomings he still does his best and  I couldn't think of a better short than this one for Father's Day.  Maybe watch this alongside Fathers Are People  that came out in '51.