Mickey Mouse Short: Goofy's Grandma

Season 2, Episode 6: “Goofy’s Grandma”
Starring: Goofy and Mickey Mouse
Co-Starring: Donald Duck
Setting: Mickey’s House

Plot: Goofy’s grandma is in town and, on account of his place not being fit for her to stay, Goofy asks Mickey if she could stay at his house.  Mickey agrees and Grandma arrives shortly thereafter.

It quickly becomes apparent that Grandma isn’t your run-of-the-mill sweet, doddering old lady.  She eats (a lot), doesn’t have the best of manners and is a big fan of Monster Truck Rallies.  During the night, Grandma goes on to take over Mickey’s bed and then wakes him at the crack of dawn with a trumpet call.  Mickey is about to lose it when he sees that Grandma made him breakfast complete with heart-shaped pancakes.  But when Grandma slips, throwing the breakfast onto Mickey’s face, she’s sent crashing into and breaks a piece of furniture.  Here, Mickey does finally snap and calls Goofy to pick up his Grandma.  But, as it turns out, it’s all a ruse! – an elaborate ploy by Goofy (with some help from Donald) to trick Mickey into letting him stay at his house because, as Goofy tells it, he can’t stay at his place because of a spider.

After Mickey’s attempt to take care of Goofy’s spider ends in vain, both Mickey’s and Goofy’s grandmas can be seen now squatting at Donald’s house – much to the duck’s chagrin.   

Short Stuff:

Mickey has a note next to his phone reminding him to “Call Minnie.”

Being an old lady and all, Mickey assumes Grandma would enjoy taking in some Liberace on the television. 

With the aforementioned Liberace along with a pair of television newscasters, this short provides the first appearance of animated humans.

Mickey’s suburban ranch-house is very similar to the one appearing in “Flipperboobootosis.”

I like Goofy’s swamp shack.  Aside from his accent, it’s easy to forget his Southern yokel roots.  

The scene where Mickey opens Goofy’s closet door to a humongous, real-life spider is reminiscent of the recurring, what’s-behind-the-door-gags from Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies (1984 – 1991).  Or, if there’s an even earlier instance of the gag from some other show/movie, I’m unawares of it. 

While it’s not exactly Beauty and the Beast’s (1991) Mrs. Potts, Donald’s teapot is similar enough that it draws the intended allusion.

Final Grade: A-
Just give Goofy the Shorty now!  My word, what a performance!   Sure, it may be broad and cross dressing is probably the lowest form of comedy (i.e. any Madea movie and/or Big Momma’s House) but Goofy brought a much welcomed freshness and whimsical charm to the tired trope.  Both Mickey and Donald were also well served in their familiar roles as straight man and fall guy.  I liked the tone of the short too - the beats and timing remind me of an 80s/90s multi camera sitcom.  They even had a banjo rift transitioning from scene to scene a la Seinfeld’s (1989 – 1998) funky bass line.