Motor Mania

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Motor Mania
Goofy series

No Smoking poster.
Directed by Jack Kinney
Story by n/a
Animation by n/a
Voices by Pinto Colvig
John McLeish
Produced by Walt Disney
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date June 30, 1950 (USA)
Format Technicolor, 7 min (one reel)
Language English
IMDb page

Motor Mania is a cartoon made by the Walt Disney Company in 1950. In this Jekyll and Hyde-spoof cartoon, Goofy, in one of his first episodes of the "Goofy the Everyman" series, takes on a split personality when he gets behind the wheel and provides the lowdown on how not to drive safely.

[edit] Synopsis

The cartoon shows how Goofy, as the pleasant, friendly, and good-natured "Mr. Walker", undergoes a change in personality to the beligerent "Mr. Wheeler" when he gets behind the wheel of his car. Mr. Wheeler is self-centered, inconsiderate, and borderline violent. Upon reaching his destination in town (we are not shown the character's reason for traveling) and leaving his automobile, he reverts to the mild-mannered Mr. Walker, whereupon he is the victim of other motorists' unsafe (and sometimes even predatory) driving habits. However, once he returns to his car, he becomes Mr. Wheeler again, seeking to impose his own will upon traffic, to the point of blaming the tow truck that hauls him away for his slow pace after an auto accident.

The cartoon can be viewed as an almost prophetic warning against road rage.

[edit] Trivia

  • This cartoon, due to its subtle topicality, along with the two 1965 Goofy cartoons about freeway safety (Freewayphobia #1 and Goofy's Freeway Trouble), was shown in driving schools across the country.
  • Goofy's character, Mr. Walker, calls a neighbor "Mr. Geef", the name Goofy himself would go by in many of his "Goofy the Everyman" shorts of the 1950s.
  • This short was awarded the Buyer Trophy for the best film on traffic safety.
  • An excerpt of this cartoon was shown on the House of Mouse episode, Max's New Car.