African Diary

Two animated fables from the Disney studios. In 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' Ichabod Crane is besotted by the lovely Katrina but has to contend with Brom Bones, the town bully. Their rivalry leads Crane to the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the headless horseman. In 'The Prince and the Pauper' Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Pluto star in Disney's re-working of the Mark Twain classic.

A very-recognizable audience of Disney animated characters gather into the House of Mouse nightclub to enjoy musical guests, cartoon shorts and Master of Ceremonies Mickey Mouse's comical introductions from the stage.

This generous collection includes 46 of the 48 shorts that starred Goofy between 1939 and 1961 (but none of the great Mickey-Donald-Goofy films from the mid-'30s). The "How to Ride a Horse" sequence in The Reluctant Dragon (1941) set the pattern for many of these cartoons. An elegant narrator (artist John Ployardt) explains a sport that Goofy attempts to demonstrate. The character that animator Art Babbitt described in a 1935 lecture (quoted in the DVD bonus material) as an easygoing dimbulb gave way to an enthusiastic but spectacularly maladroit figure. One of the funniest entries in the series, "Hockey Homicide," contains several studio in-jokes: dueling stars Icebox Bertino and Fearless Ferguson, and referee Clean-Game Kinney are named for artists Al Bertino, Norm Ferguson, and director Jack Kinney.

Washington Irving's tale of Ichabod Crane and the headless horseman is brought to life, narrated by Bing Crosby.

Mickey is trying to lead a concert of The William Tell Overture, but he's continually disrupted by ice cream vendor Donald, who uses a seemingly endless supply of flutes to play Turkey in the Straw instead. After Donald gives up, a bee comes along and causes his own havoc. The band then reaches the Storm sequence, and the weather also starts to pick up; a tornado comes along, but they keep playing.

When the gentle woodcarver Geppetto builds a marionette to be his substitute son, a benevolent fairy brings the toy to life. The puppet, named Pinocchio, is not yet a human boy. He must earn the right to be real by proving that he is brave, truthful, and unselfish.

Follows the adventures of the famed spinach-eating sailor man. Popeye is one of the most popular cartoon characters of all time. This spunky but loveable spinach-eating sailor continues to delight young and old with his comic adventures, and the entire gang is around to provide plenty of rousing fun and action: Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea, Wimpy and Bluto.

Goofy, staying at the Sugar Bowl resort, demonstrates the basics of downhill skiing, which the titles and announcer insist is pronounced "SHEEing". The equipment is, of course, of the era. As you can imagine, Goofy has much trouble keeping his skis parallel and pointing downhill. The final ski jump conveniently lands Goofy right back in bed.

A hilarious throwback collection of kooky escapades from this rare 1960s cartoon about lovable cats, mischievous mice and big mouthed pups.

Dumbo is a baby elephant born with over-sized ears and a supreme lack of confidence. But thanks to his even more diminutive buddy Timothy the Mouse, the pint-sized pachyderm learns to surmount all obstacles.

Mild-mannered average guy Mr. Walker (Goofy) turns into violent Mr. Wheeler when he starts driving. Back on his feet, Mr. Walker finds it nearly impossible to cross the street.

Goofy's plans to give a swimming lesson and enjoy a day at the beach go awry.

Inspired by a magazine ad, Goofy sends for a mail order body building course. First is weight lifting; after Goofy finally gets the weights up, a fly lands and sends him crashing through several floors in the apartment building. Chinups: the bar itself goes up and down. Then a rubber-band stretch device, which Goofy quickly tangles up in, sending him crashing through the building and several other pieces of equipment.

Taking all the places on both teams, Goofy demonstrates the game of football with varying results, having problems with the coach and the goal post.

In the city, Goofy finds his daily job much too stressful so he decides to leave this hustle and bustle for a more peaceful life in the tropics. He finds life there most enjoyable collecting shells from the beach, making a hut in which to live, getting back to nature, and even joining in the big luau feast (with meals such as shark fin soup). Yes, Goofy thinks nothing can go wrong in this paradise...until the natives need to sacrifice someone to their volcano.

Yet another sport is made 'easy' for us by Goofy's demonstration how- never, ever, to try anything for real, least of all with a glider-flying machine he launches in ways that would kill anything but a cartoon character, such as a giant catapult and even a canon. Meanwhile Goofy proves totally incapable to control any of its movements in the air, let alone the 'landing' which is too messy even for a bombshell.