February 6, 1948 – The Goofy Short Film The Big Wash is Released to Theaters
“I’m a-gonna warsh Dolorious, she’s a-gonna look glorious!”
On February 6, 1948, the Goofy short film The Big Wash was released to theaters. The name of the elephant, Dolores, is an allusion to Walt’s secretary, Dolores Voght. It was directed by Clyde Geronimi, with story by Bill Berg and Milt Banta.
It’s early morning at a circus fairground, and elephant Dolores wakes up to find that she has no food in her bowl. She peeks into Goofy’s trailer and decides to wake him by shaking him violently with her trunk. When that doesn’t work, she shakes the trailer, breaking it apart. This also doesn’t work, so she decides to trumpet loudly into his ear. He finally gets up and sets to work, singing a merry song while he does. She searches his belongings and finds a peanut he had stashed away for her. He then gets her bath ready, although she flees as she hates baths. When she sees the tub, she refuses to get in and tries to run, but Goofy chases after her with a hose. However, he gets tangled up in the hose as it pulls him back to the faucet like a yoyo.
Dolores puts on a disguise to sneak past Goofy and skip her bath
Dolores disguises herself in an old clown’s outfit to escape bath time, and Goofy falls for the disguise, allowing her to slip by. She then plays a prank on Goofy, letting water go in the hose so that it fills up Goofy’s clothes. As Goofy tries to walk, his clothes give out and sends water everywhere. Goofy continues his search for Dolores and chases her across the fairground. When he finally catches her, he chains her feet to the ground to keep her in one place. However, as he climbs the ladder to reach her back, she holds the ladder up high; when he reaches the top, he plummets to the ground, dropping everything, including a box of soap. The soap powder flies everywhere, and causes Dolores to sneeze, freeing her from her chains and sending Goofy flying into an ad on the fence. Goofy finally manages to give Dolores a bath, although she continues to sneeze thanks to the soap, causing more problems for Goofy when she lands on him.
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