John McLeish - The Narrator of the Goofy "How To" Cartoons

Q: Who does the voice of the sportscaster in the Goofy cartoons on football and basketball? I believe he also does the same thing in this short called Football Now and Then as well as in Moochie of Pop Warner Football. Do you know who the actor is?
Michael, Granite Bay, California 

A [Dave Smith]: The narrator of the Goofy "how to" cartoons was John McLeish, who was an animator and story man at Disney in the 1940s.

[Marcio Disney]

Here is a photo during the production of Disney’s The Reluctant Dragon on November 7, 1940. Actress Frances Gifford, who played a studio artist in the film, is the woman in the photo. Clockwise from Gifford: John McLeish, T. Hee, Ward Kimball, Fred Moore (back), Norm Ferguson (back) and Erdman Penner.

Dumbo was also narrated by John McLeish.

Goofy - How to Play Football (1944)

Goofy - How to Play Baseball (1944)

Goofy - How to Play Golf (1944)

The Reluctant Dragon

 Q: I am an avid Disney movie watcher, and I own all the Disney animated classics. What I have not been able to figure out is if the film The Reluctant Dragon is considered one of these classics. Although it is a stated to be in a variety of sources, it seems too short to qualify as a feature length film. Was it originally released as a combo film, or is this just a special circumstance where a short is considered a movie? 
Dylan, Los Alamitos, California 

A [Dave Smith]: The Reluctant Dragon was actually a 73-minute feature film released in 1941. It featured, in live action, a tour of the Disney Studio with humorist Robert Benchley, along with cartoon segments such as "How to Ride a Horse," "Casey, Jr." and "The Reluctant Dragon" (this segment was also released separately years later and, since it was the same title as the feature, this is probably the reason why you are confused).