1950 animated short film starring Goofy
Motor Mania is a cartoon released by Walt Disney Productions on June 30, 1950.[1] In this short, Goofy is a Mr. Hyde-type split personality, who gets behind the wheel and shows the dangers of not driving safely.[2]
Plot
The cartoon shows how the character, as the pleasant, friendly, and good-natured "Mr. Walker" who "wouldn't hurt a fly nor step on an ant", undergoes a Jekyll-and-Hyde-like change in personality to the violent "Mr. Wheeler, motorist" when he gets behind the wheel of his yellow car. As Mr. Walker, pedestrian, he's polite, safe, and good-natured while as Mr. Wheeler; he is very mean, reckless, and predatory. Upon reaching his destination in town (he apparently only wanted to buy a newspaper) 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, motorist, again, seeking to impose his own will upon traffic, to the point of blaming the tow truck which hauls him away for his slow pace after his own auto accident, and breaks the fourth wall by telling the narrator, "Ah, shaddap!"
The car that Goofy drives is a yellow Lincoln-Zephyr convertible, as indicated by the vehicle's deep, growling sound.
