GAC Forums - Cartoons on Radio, or "Goofy the Horse"?

Apart from animation, one of my long time interests has been old time radio. There's been a long history of intersections between the two, of course, with most attention focused on radio references in cartoons (Foghorn Leghorn, "Is that you, Myrt?," Jack Benny cameos, etc.) However, the occasional foray of animated characters into the purely aural medium is also of interest (and one reason I so enjoy Jack Tatay's Classic Cartoon records page).

To come to the point, inspired by the discussion of how often Horace Horsecollar has vocalized over in the Treasures Wave 3 thread, I present a small sample from a May 3, 1945 broadcast of "Command Performance." "Command Performance" (1942-1949) was an ambitious wartime entertainment program, broadcast over the Armed Forces Radio Service to troops overseas (and seldom heard by civilians at the time). The concept was that soldiers would mail in their requests for what they'd lik to hear, whether it be a celebritry appearance, concept, favorite song, or even in one case, recordings of birds chirping in the soldier's home town. This particular broadcast was allegedly in response to a request from an army mule to pay tribute to the animals in the service: cavalry horses, canine corps, carrier pigeons, mascots, etc. Thus, for this episode, a parade of cartoon animals from both Disney and Warner appear.

The episode would be notable for that alone, but this particular excerpt (the second sketch in the show) features an appearance by one "Goofy Horsecollar," played by Pinto Colvig (who by this point was at best, only sporadically used as Goofy at Disney, having had something of a falling out with Walt years prior). The name, of course, recalls our pal Horace, but the personality is pure Goofy, albeit a Goofy who whinnies and makes jokes about mares and "flat hooves," allegedly having just finished a run in the cavalry corps. Possibly the series writers (including Bob Hope gagsmiths Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, who would go on to script the "Li'l Abner" musical) felt the need to address the cavalry's contributions, and were hampered by the fact that there were few cartoon horses of note, and Horace, the best bet, spoke in only a handful of cartoons, and then usually only a line or two, probably never having a consistent voice. Thus, either to remedy this situation, or due to sloppy research or what have you, Goofy becomes equine for this broadcast, for the only time in his long career.

Without further ado, here's the clip, which also gives Pinto a chance to show off his clarinet prowess:
http://members.aol.com/Hungrywolverines/GoofyHorse.mp3

Apart from this oddity, the entire broadcast is great fun for cartoon buffs, with scattered wartime references. The other items on the program included the title song of Three Cabelleros performed by Donald Duck, Jose Carioca, and Panchito (who incidentally is not voiced by Joaquin Garay, as in the film, but Felipe Turich, the Mexican actor who also dubbed Sterling Holloway's "Cold-Blooded Penguin" narration for the Spanish version of "the movie); a sketch with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd; an aria by Clara Cluck; announcer Harry Von Zell imitating MGM's Cowardly Lion (singing "If I Were King of the Forest" from Wizard of Oz with Donald and Goofy as questioners); Latin singer Lina Romay (now best known for her cameo in Senor Droopy, as the hound's adored object); and finally, Porky Pig (with a hilarious comment about his brother in the service). AOL provides limited space, thus why I had to cut the broadcast up just to post this excerpt, but perhaps at some point, when I find a host, I can share more of these tidbits.