The Art of Skiing
Studio: Disney Release Date : November 14, 1941 Series: Goofy Cartoon

Cumulative rating:
(2 ratings submitted)

Synopsis

Goofy teaches us how to ski; sometimes forward, sometimes backwards, but one way or another he makes it down the mountain.

Characters

Goofy
(Voice: Van DeBar 'Pinto' Colvig)

Credits

Note: "Unverified" credits may not be correct and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Director

Jack Kinney (unverified)

Animator

Jack Gayek (unverified)
Frank Oreb (unverified)
Edwin Fourcher (unverified)
John Sibley (unverified)

Story

Jack Cutting

Narration

John MacLeish (unverified)

Producer

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney


Distributor(s)

RKO Radio Pictures

Clips Used In:

Buyer Be Wise
A Salute to Father

Included in:

The Goofy Sports Story

Television

Mickey Mouse Tracks (Season 1, Episode 36)

VHS

United States

Jiminy Cricket's Christmas
Goofy Over Sports
The Goofy World of Sports
Cartoon Classics : First Series : Volume 6 : More Sport Goofy

Germany

Goofys Lustige Sportschau
Goofys Lustige Olympiade

France

Donald et Dingo allias Goofy Champions Olympiques

Italy

Pippo Star delle Olimpiadi
Pippo Olimpionico

CED Disc

United States

Disney Cartoon Parade Volume 5

Laserdisc (CLV)

United States

Happy Summer Days / Fun on the Job! / The Goofy World of Sports
Starring Mickey and Minnie / Starring Chip 'n' Dale
Cartoon Classics : More Sport Goofy

Japan

Jiminy Cricket's Christmas
Once Upon a Mouse
Disney's Cartoon Jubilee
Disney Cartoon Festival 5
Goofy's All Star Olympics

DVD

United States

The Complete Goofy
Have a Laugh, Volume 2
Starring Goofy
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Santa Who?

Germany

Alle Lieben Goofy
Disney Treasures : Wave 2 : The Complete Goofy
Micky's Lustiger Adventskalender
Weihnachtsspass mit Donald

France

Tout le Monde aime Goofy

Italy

3 … 2 … 1 … E Natale
Il Mio Eroe Pippo

United Kingdom

Everybody Loves Goofy
Disney Treasures : Wave 2 : The Complete Goofy
Countdown to Christmas
Have a Laugh : Volume 2
Donald Duck's Christmas Favourites

Sweden

Alla Alskar Langben
Disney Treasures : Wave 2 : The Complete Goofy

Canada

Have a Laugh : Volume 2
Classic Cartoon Favorites : Volume 3 : Starring Goofy

BluRay Disc

United States

Mickey's Christmas Carol
Olaf's Frozen Adventure

Germany

Weihnachtsspass mit Donald

Technical Specifications

Running Time: 7:57
MPAA No.: 6810
Animation Type: Standard (Hand-drawn-Cel) Animation
Aspect Ratio: 1.37 : 1
Cinematographic Format: Spherical
Color Type: Technicolor
Negative Type: 35mm
Original Country: United States
Original Language: English
Print Type: 35mm
Sound Type: Mono: RCA Sound Recording

Reviews and Comments

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From Danny Pick :

I got this, along with about 30 other Goofy cartoons on tape. I just loved watching Goofy's antics in the Alps while trying to ski.

From Kristi :

This is one of my all-time favorite Goofy shorts. The whole thing is really funny. One of my favorite parts is when Goofy goes through the cloud (Thdoomp-thdoomp!)and comes out looking likes he's wearing one of those really puffy winter coats. It doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I always have a really good laugh!

From Per Nilsson :

This short draws a few laughs, but it's really not that interesting.

From Jeff Henderson :

The funniest part is the yell that Goofy gives as he goes over the top of the mountain. Truly unmistakable and couldn't be more appropriate.

From Tim Durling :

Rating? An easy 10. I first saw this short back in 1986 (I was 12) as part of Mickey's Christmas Carol and have watched it every year since. My sister Julie and I get the biggest kick out of it, particularly because our father can yodel and whoop just like Goofy. But the whole skit is a masterpiece, right down to the sound effects (like the "SHNICK" sound when Goofy walks backwards to put his pants on--over his skis (uh, sheez), mind you.) One of the best Disney shorts.

From Baruch Weiss :

I think that this is the first short in which Goofy yells his famous yell. It's also one of the few times where Goofy's theme is not used during the title presintation.

From Dino Cencia :

AH-Hoo-Hoo-Hooey!!!!!! That was my favorite part when he did the shush, and the ski jump. I give it 300 out of 300.

From Billy Joe :

The narrator chooses Goofy to demonstrate on how to ski (or "shee"). This ridiculous cartoon begins with Goofy in bed. When he goes outside, he is having a hard time succeeding. At the end, Goofy skis down a hill back to into bed. I believe this is the first "how-to" Goofy short. (How to Ride a Horse was part of the package feature "The Reluctant Dragon.") This cartoon is obviously hilarious, so I recommend seeing it. It gets a 10 out of 10.

From Ralph W. Daniel :

There's a good reason for the quick close-up of the Sugar Bowl Lodge entrance to show where Goofy is staying. Walt Disney was one of the first investors in the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort in California's High Sierras. He was persuaded to invest by Hannes Schroll, an award-winning Austrian skier, who Disney got to do the authentic yodeling heard in the short. The Sugar Bowl resort is still operating.

From Tom Wilkins :

Since this is a Goofy cartoon, the setting could be no other place than the Swiss Oops. Inside the Sugar Bowl Lodge (don't ask me if there was a New Year's or New Orleans influence), Goofy is sound asleep with hot pads, several blankets, and a bearskin rug to keep him warm. Needless to say. "Baby...it's cold outside."

The alarm clock rings and Goofy awakes slowly but surely, which is completely the opposite of what the narrator is pointing out. Afterwhich, the narrator points out basic information on the undergarments, the skis, and the shoes. Goofy puts on his skis after he scratches his back. Keep in mind he is not fully dressed yet, but still he puts them on with the shoes, where is foot is squeezing inside very uncomfortably. Once again, Goofy goes by his patented self by going back to sleep after putting that on! Well, "now" the narrator yells to wake him up and Goofy proceeds to put on his sweater on (the Goofy way, of course). Goofy is mislead by the narrator and thinks he is completely dressed...oops, forgot about the trousers. He tries to put them on with the skis and pants on (please don't try this at home) and gets his legs and skis crossed as he tries to balance himself. Do I need to explain more?

There is a great pan shot of the mountains while the narrator reads a poem. After he is finished, we see Goofy relaxing on the ski lift as he takes in the thin, fresh air. Goofy falls off at the very end and gets "spanked" by the seats of the lift. Goofy then proceeds (well, tries) to show how you are supposed to position yourself as you prepare to go down the hill, as well as how to get up. Of course, Goofy is his clumsy self, getting every part of his body entangled, even in an upright position. He is certain to win a game of Twister that way.

As he prepares to ski down a very easy hill, he goes backwards as expected, nails a rock head first and lands with his head in one of the shoes, and hangs upside-down between two cliffs. As the narrator would say, "Skiing is really quite simple once you get the hang of it." Goofy then tries to ascend using a "herring" technique, leaving his skis imprinted in the snow. However, when Goofy continues to climb vertically, then upside down, he obviously falls, leaving his own body imprints behind.

As Goofy tries to change direction at high speed, he jumps but loses his skis and both cris-cross for a while until they get reacquainted in a self-made collision (yes, X does mark the spot). On a downhill run on a steep slope, Goofy skis extremely fast...and eventually crash-lands at the bottom of the mountain.

The slalom was no better for Goofy because he crashes into a tree, takes it with him, slams in the middle of a cliff, and does his Woody Woodpecker imitation after he loses the tree. Needless to say, Universal Pictures was not that impressed, since they created Woody Woodpecker a year earlier.

The final and most exciting part of the cartoon, the ski jump, has Goofy ready to leap as high as he could and land perfectly safe, which he does neither. He jumps so high that radar gets affected, loses his skis from his feet but hangs on to them for dear life, nearly nails mountain, goes through a puffy cloud, and finally nails a mountain with a cloud covering the summit.

The plane has crashed. Goofy (yes, he's the plane) twists, turns, and tumbles all the way down until he crashes into his own hotel room and his bed...in sleeping position! Needless to say (as what the narrator says at the end), after a vigorous day in the open, the skier never has any trouble falling to sleep.

I'm surprised he did not crash into a hospital bed after all that!


From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project :

I’ve made no bones about it, the Goofy “How To…” shorts are my favorites. We’ve seen a few of these so far, like Goofy’s Glider or How To Ride A Horse, which was buried inside The Reluctant Dragon. But where the series really kicks off for me is with today’s short – The Art of Skiing.

The hilarity begins from the very first shot of the film, when the book “The Art of Skiing” is shown on screen, and underneath it reads “Pronounced SHEE-ing.” I have never before and never since heard anyone pronounce it that way, but listening to John McLeish pronounce skiing that way is hilarious.

As always, the humor here is in seeing Goofy try to comply with the ways that the narrator is telling him to act, but completely lousing it up. I think this short does a better job of that than the previous ones. Goofy looks directly into the camera, as though listening, and attempts to make the correct move, only to fail miserably. It starts right from the beginning, when he tries to put on the skis.

One of my absolute favorite things from Goofy is the yodel/yell he unveils in this short. The “Waaa-hooooo” yell is one thing that makes me laugh every single time. It is frequently quoted around my house and something I never tire of, no matter how many times it is used in the Goofy shorts.

There's not much to talk about in this short, except that it's just fun. Sure, there's the pain of seeing Goofy crashing through things and falling down mountains, but that's part and parcel of the experience. It's also interesting how many different gags the animators came up with for this one idea.

There's the typical stuff (Goofy gets twisted around or goes down the wrong slope), but then there's also some more inventive ideas, such as Goofy flying through the air as he does a ski jump. He manages to get a hold of hte skis and turn them into wings, eventually crashing him through the window of his hotel and back to bed. It's a fun ending to a very funny and exciting Goofy short.