Freewayphobia N°. 1

Just watched on YouTube this Walt Disney educational cartoon starring Goofy. Or at least three of them, each given a Latin name representing what kind of car driver he is: Driverius Timidicus-the timid driver, Motoramus Figitus-the fidgety driver, and Negleterus Maximus-the neglectful driver. Each one demonstrates how disastrous their driving on the freeway is by doing several "don'ts" that get them into trouble with the last character providing the most laughs from me. The original voice of Goofy himself, Pinto Colvig, is allowed to be a little more insulting here since these Goofys are nothing like the more "aw shucks" version of the character like when Motoramus tells many of his other cars stuck in accidents to "Get a horse!" Quite entertaining while providing a lesson on driving. So on that note, I highly recommend Freewayphobia # 1 (a.k.a. The Art of Driving on the Super Highway).

Goofy plays three different types of highway pests in this Walt Disney cartoon film about how to drive on the freeway.

There would be a second one later in the year about how to prepare for a long journey, but here we are. Disney still wanted to produce short cartoons, both to keep his staff profitably busy and to keep his name on marquee lights. He was a good showman and knew that this was good publicity. The problem was that the full program of a feature and selected short subjects was dying out. So he turned his cartoon staff to turning out animated features, fillers for his TV show, and education/Public Service shorts. Here's one of the last that is educational and very funny.

I had to watch a couple of movies during Driver's Ed, and this was one of the ones that didn't make me fall asleep. Freewayphobia #2 was pretty good also. It has these humorous little bits about the do's and don'ts of freeway driving.

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.

Getting over FREEWAYPHOBIA and other bad habits behind the wheel are essential to developing good driving skills on the Super Highways.

Aside from being entertaining, this cartoon presents some valuable advice to staying safe on the nation's busiest roads. Goofy takes on the personas of Driverius timidicus, Neglecterus maximus and Motoramus fidgitus. Paul Frees is the narrator.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Peter Pan and Mr. Toad. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Very like the How to...series in format, and almost as good as the best of that series of Disney Goofy shorts. With a format so familiar, it's not much of a surprise as to the outcome of what Goofy does. In a way though, with the format you are guaranteed to be entertained and also to learn something. And that is the case with Freewayphobia. The documentarian-commentary-like narration is wonderfully droll and thoughtful. It is always so much fun to see Goofy doing the complete opposite as to what the narration says, and what there is to learn about how to and how not to drive on the freeway is really interesting and good for prior-knowledge for when you start driving. Goofy as always is an endearing character with great comic timing, as with some of the How to...shorts he takes on more than one persona- three in fact, all driver characters- which shows a wider range of acting emotions that has rarely been seen by any of the other popular Disney characters of the time. He is great as all three, but especially as the inattentive one, and it is nice to see him to be a little more insulting than usual, not since Motor Mania have we seen that side to him. The gags are cleverly timed and hilarious, always serving the format of the short well and never failing to entertain and teach. The animation is bright and colourful, not as fluid as the 40s and 50s Goofy shorts, but much improved over that of the previous short Aquamania, which was a not-so-successful attempt to introduce a relatively new animation technique to a Goofy short and didn't always feel like watching a Goofy short. Here in Freewayphobia you do feel like you're watching a Goofy short, and the format and the various personas Goofy takes on helps. The music is energetic and full of character and orchestral lushness. Pinto Colvig and Paul Frees' voice work are fine. All in all, entertaining and educational, well worth watching. 9/10 Bethany Cox