You do? Really? That’s always been my dream too, ever since I thought about it about 10 minutes ago.
My little girl has a subscription to Highlights magazine, courtesy of my parents, and we always read Goofus and Gallant first. Today, at dinner, we even role-played Goofus and Gallant. Goofus let forth with a mighty belch, and received a rather severe dressing down from Gallant. In fact, Gallant threatened to tell Goofus’ mother about the incident. Goofus retorted that his mother likely wouldn’t care, since she’s the sort of parent that would name her child “Goofus.”
I’ve already written my first episode. In the first panel, Goofus is standing outside of the boys bathroom, high-fiving his friends. Underneath, the caption will read “Goofus never washes his hands after using the restroom.” In the second panel, Gallant will be lathering up his hands. Behind him, there is a toilet with stink lines raising from it. The caption will read “Gallant is concerned about fecal-borne illnesses, and always washes his hands.”
When I was in grade school (this was ages ago, in the 1960s), the nun said, “Has anybody heard of Goofus?” I, always the smart one, put my hand up and mentioned the cartoon character in Highlights. Sister Mary Perpetual had never heard of this and gave me a puzzled look. No, she said, Goofus was a famous circus dog back in the day. She described the dog’s antics. ??? Now it was my turn to be puzzled. Did the name really originate with a circus dog? Has anyone else ever heard of this?
Every time I see Goofus and Gallant, I think of that Beavis and Butt-head episode with Beavis sitting in the dentist’s office snickering, “heh-heh, Goofus is cool!”
Gallant politely says, “Perhaps you overlooked the reference Guinastasia made to this incident in her delightful post.”
Goofus’s response, meanwhile, is peppered with vulgarity and name-calling that lead, in short order, to pitting, a train-wreck of a flame war, and eventual banning.
Ah yes, this is documented well in that classic literary work, “Late Night with David Letterman: The Book”. I like the one where Frank and Fred are houseguests. “Frank shows the children how to do scientific experiments” (picture of Frank and a kid with beaker and flask), “So does Fred” (picture of a guy napping on the couch as Fred and a kid put his hand in a pan of warm water).
Yes, you are exactly right, except that, if memory serves, you have Fred and Frank backwards. But I can’t find my copy of the book right now to verify that.
Now it was my turn to be puzzled. Did the name really originate with a circus dog? Has anyone else ever heard of this?