Come Giocare A Baseball

I've seen this so many times, but have never commented on it. There is something about it that is quite charming. I like that all the players and the umpire are variations on Goofy. They do a nice job of showing how the game is played and then go to the seventh game of the World Series to demonstrate. Of course, everything is exaggerated and typical goofiness, but it works pretty well here. If you watch, you'll find my utter amusement in the title of this review.

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.

The Goof demonstrates HOW TO PLAY BASEBALL in the worse possible way.

In this "How To" entry, the National Pastime is subjected to much good natured ribbing. The jokes and animation are both fine, though unremarkable. John McLeish narrates in his best documentary style.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Bambi, Peter Pan and Mr. Toad. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

The first half of this is explaining, through some somewhat-amusing examples, the basics of baseball: hitting, pitching, the different kinds of pitches, etc.

The really funny part begins when they show the bottom of the ninth inning of the last game in the World Series. It's The Gray Sox versus the Blue Sox. One team is leading 3-0 and their pitcher is throwing a no-hitter. What happens after that is hilarious as the losing team creeps back into the game with a climactic finish. The scenario is completely exaggerated for a humorous effect and it works. I found myself laughing out loud at a few of the scenes.

This short starts off slowly and gets better and better as it goes on.

COMING DURING THE first year of the involvement of the UNited States in World War II, this cartoon short was a natural for this period. While most of Hollywood's output during those war years either portrayed the life of our Fighting Forces or the people giving their support on the Home Front; this Goofy entry, titled HOW TO PLAY BASEBALL, did its part to give support and some degree of humorous relief.

THAT THE NATIONAL Pastime was an important element of the American makeup was obviously an indisputable fact. It was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who urge the Major Leagues to continue to play a full schedule during those war years of 1942-45. FDR heartily endorsed continued play; albeit under a somewhat diminished set of circumstances. This would be due to so many of the first rate major leaguers being in uniform of their country, instead of their teams.

OTHER THAN THE year of the great conflict, there is nothing different about either the game or of the surrounding humor as generated by the cartoon. As usual, we find Goofy at the heart of the sight gag laden one reel of animated mayhem. The story, the narration and the comic situations portrayed here could well be exactly the same. Perhaps we would have to concede that an update in uniforms and some of the equipment would be in order; but this is to be expected and is a minor sort of change to be implemented at best.

ALONG WITH SO many of those other entries into the Disney GOOFY Series, this would be 8 minutes well spent. So, what are you waiting for, Schultz? And while you're watching, why not show it to some of the younger generation; who may well discover a whole, "new" world of truly funny animation shorts. And they are truly "clean" and "wholesome" entertainment.

Jack Kinney was something of a miracle-worker for Disney, tirelessly concocting short after short involving the iconic Disney characters of Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Goofy into cute, elaborate little short films that work as cute instructional videos, zippy entertainment, or often, a combination of the two. Kinney's How to Play Baseball is one of the several shorts he created that involved the Goofy character partaking in some kind of sport, whether it be golf, football, swimming, or even self-defense. The short focuses on Goofy's involvement in trying to succeed at the nation's pastime baseball and features a rousing game between the Blue Sox and the Gray Sox. During the game, the film shows numerous elements of the game that result in a surprisingly nailbiting short film. The one thing Kinney consistently does well is animate and conduct the action scenes, which are flawlessly animated for their time and completely unpredictable in their zaniness. Not to mention with a leading character like Goofy, hilarity is almost imminent.

Directed by: Jack Kinney.