the rent money. There are suspicions of him sharing his room with a chicken, this from chicken noises as Gerald listens from outside his door, never revealed, but covered up by him. Families Shortman family Phillip "Phil" Shortman (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is Arnold's cheery, fun-loving grandfather. He is 81 years old, as of the episode "Grandpa's Birthday". This would mean that he was born in 1917 since "Grampa's Birthday" was released in 1998. Arnold often comes to him for advice. He often tells Arnold stories about his past experiences, although he has a tendency to stretch the truth. Despite responding frivolously to Arnold's problems, he will often provide good wisdom. While his advice isn't usually the most helpful, his heart is always in the right place. He's a World War II veteran and claims to have single-handedly won the Battle of the Bulge by tricking a large troupe of Nazi soldiers into eating numerous cans of spoiled CHAM (a spoof of Spam), thereby poisoning them and creating a hole in the enemy line for the American troops to break through. Arnold does not believe his story at first, but it's later proven when Phil shows him a small monument of him hidden in some bushes in a park in Washington D.C. He likely married Pookie during the initial phase of the war, when America was still neutral. Phil was also a master at Chinese checkers in his youth, which earned him the nickname "Steely Phil". He's very healthy and spry for his age, as well as athletic. He has an older twin sister named Mitzi. When he and Mitzi were kids they used to be really close and they owned a Scottish Terrier named Pooter but one day he got out of their backyard and was killed by a milk truck after that day he and Mitzi stopped speaking to each other for 71 years. In the episode "Back to School", Phil admits to Arnold that he never graduated from grade school, because in 6th grade, on the Crash of 29, Grampa Phil was forced to drop out and work in a factory to help support his family, until he reached maturity in the latter phase of the Great Depression. This was until he reattended P.S. 118 in 1999 and earned his grade school diploma. Gertrude "Pookie" Shortman (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is Arnold's wacky but wise paternal grandmother,