It’s interesting to see how the personalities of Disney’s Big Three changed in the ’40s and ’50s. Mickey Mouse entered his Bing Crosby era. Donald Duck really solidified into Donald Duck, Aquatic Sociopath, by being a lousy parent. And Goofy became George Geef, Suburban Everyman. His character design was changed to make him look more human, he was given a name, and he acquired a wife and child. I don’t like these as much as I like the “how to” series, but they’re still a fascinating look into mid-century sociology.

In today’s short, George Geef (Pinto Colvig, Goofy’s voice since his 1932 debut as “Dippy Dawg” and until 1965) recovers from a stressful week at work by spending Saturday night on the town. He intends to spend Sunday at rest, but the universe has other plans. His son (Junior, voiced by June Foray) wakes him up. Geef intends to lounge in his hammock all day, but Mrs. Geef (also Foray) reminds him he’s promised to drive Junior to the beach. Which is its own form of chaotic, and Geef gladly escapes to work on Monday.

What we don’t discuss, because of course we don’t, is that the trip to the beach may well be Mrs. Geef’s only time off all week. We don’t see her out on the town with her husband, after all. She may be, but she may not. We don’t see that part, and her silhouette doesn’t join her husband’s. As much work as George is doing at the office, let’s not forget that he presumably comes home at night and sits in front of the TV with his paper. She doesn’t come to the beach; I believe this is because she’d rather just have an hour to herself for once.

Actually, I initially assumed this was another one where he was a single parent, because even in a cartoon, we couldn’t have the parents share a bed, and George is shown in a narrow bed where you can’t even see his wife’s. Also, in our house, it’s not the father who gets pushed out of bed by the kid taking up too much room, you know? And, you know, the mother is faceless, which always bothers me. And the child is a terrible brat, which these children always are in cartoons.

We’re supposed to be laughing at the foibles of parenting, but we never do see Geef parent here. He yells at his kid, goodness knows, but after the first time my kid ran off from me at an amusement park, they’d get the “stay with me or we go home.” And if he ran off again, we’d go home. That’s how this goes. But instead, there’s a lot of yelling and the occasional threat to spank the kid, and the kid learns nothing. The parent doesn’t, either; you don’t suppose it occurred to him that the mother doesn’t have an office to escape do, do you?

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