Porky's Railroad

Porky's Railroad is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin.[1] The short was released on August 7, 1937, and stars Porky Pig.[2]

Porky's Railroad
Directed bySupervision:
Frank Tashlin
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
StarringMel Blanc
Billy Bletcher
Music byMusical direction:
Carl W. Stalling
Orchestra:
Milt Franklyn (uncredited)
Animation byCharacter animation:
Joe D'Igalo
Robert Bentley
Nelson Demorest
Volney White
(both uncredited)
Effects animation:
A.C. Gamer (uncredited)
Layouts byCharacter design:
T. Hee (uncredited)
Color processBlack and White (later colorized in 1968 and the 1990s)
Production
company
Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
August 7, 1937
Running time
7:15
7:04 (1968 Korean redrawn colorized edition with two banned shots cut)
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The short begins with many views of the #515 4-6-2 locomotive after the title card appeared showing the front of the train. A message appears reading: "The 30th century limited, the railroad's crack train." The train blows his whistle 4 times and rings the bell 2 times. The song "California, Here I Come" plays in the background until Porky's scene comes along (The same 4-6-2 locomotive later appeared on the Merrie Melodies short "Steamlined Greta Green"). After many scenes of the 4-6-2 (which will show later in the short), it fades black to Porky and his 0-4-0 typed locomotive (#13​1⁄2 "Toots" ), who immediately enjoys riding his "15th century unlimited (also a crack train, even more cracker including the engineer, Porky)." Many single-chime toots were heard while the train jumps for power. The train then managed to climb up the Piker's Peak, a steep hill. The train managed to stop in the middle, while going up the hill. Porky then managed to open its firebox, which is a candle. Porky then looks to the left, opening its second seat-box to find a can of pepper. Porky then starts to spray pepper all over the candle. The train starts to sneeze multiple times as the train starts to move faster. The train later went out of control, going up and down the hill like a rocket. Porky then manages to go through tunnels, scenery, etc. Porky then speeds up to the switchers, in which his 10 boxcars and a caboose scrambles into man forms of tracks, then connecting them all together back. The 4-6-2 later makes the appearance again, blowing his whistle again 3 more times. But Porky sees throughout the window after looking some scenery. Porky then tries to find another switcher. Porky parked his engine, 10 boxcars and caboose near the Portis station. He notices that he had no room. He tries to look at the caboose, but it is too late. The caboose was snapped off by the 4-6-2, but Porky feels in relief that the 4-6-2 continues to roll down the tracks. The caboose however did appear later. The same scene where Porky looks through the scenery before the 4-6-2 plays until he blows 4 toots of his single-chime whistle. A cow was eating grass on the tracks. Porky stops the train. Porky tells the cow to move out of the tracks in a polite manner. But the cow wasn't paying attention at all to the pig, so instead Porky tries to tell him again. Same thing happened, so instead of reminding the third time, he tries to push the cows legs, but ended up falling on the tracks after the cow got up. The cow moved frequently out of the tracks. Porky then angrily tries to get back on the train by scooping more coal into his firebox (candle). A bull later arrived marching, crossing the tracks and started to sit nearby a bush. Porky then tries to start up his engine but the bull's tail shocked Porky. Porky then angrily gets off the train, and tries to teach the bull a lesson. He called the bull a 4 legged piece of hamburger. He pulls the tail angrily while saying a reversed line (which apparently recognizes about not to explode Toot's unrecognizable wording, more information is at the next section below). The bull yells while Porky starts to jump and spin. He immediately gets back on the train and continues his faster journey, speeding more than 400 miles per hour (the bull later appeared minutes later).[3]

The Silver Fish

Meanwhile at the dispatch center, The call was waiting, forcing Porky to stop his train. After a moment of riding his "Toots",Porky stops at the dispatch center, waiting for the message. He reads it after a clothes line with a piece of paper clipped came to Porky. It reads that the "Silver Fish" is waiting, from the President "I. FULLER CINDERS". Porky is informed that his beloved train the 13​1⁄2 named 'Toots' is to be replaced by a streamline train by the name of 'The Silver Fish'. The driver, a dog, later greeted the audiences by riding on the fish, blasting his single chimed horn. The fish then arrives in a flash after Porky starts to tear down. Porky tries to greet the driver, who violent shakes Porky hand forcing the pig to stunt and fall down in sight. After the driver of 'The Silver Fish' insults 'Toots' by calling his a "brickulator on a roller skate", the train starts to faintly dying on air. Porky mutters that his train could easily take on the streamline train against the driver. The driver agrees to a race after the driver pokes Porky's nose between his eyes twice, which the camera fades black into the race, and the starting mark.[4]

The race

Another dog person waits with his stopwatch. And then, "boom" goes the pistol, and the race starts as the dog puts away his stopwatch. The Silver Fish leads in a flash while Porky's boxcars are all tied up, shocking the dog who is watching Porky's engine, and previously The Silver Fish. Clips were also showing the Silver Fish leading in a very fast movement, forcing a wood pile of logs to break free while a monkey hides inside, shockingly looks at the camera. The fish however then immediately blasts through a tunnel which its exterior of trees painted, forcing the tunnel to show its broken interior. The fish then stops at the boat crossing. A slow boat then goes underneath the bridge halfway. A fish then woos herself telling about the Silver Fish, calling the train a "man". Toots then immediately shows up catching up blowing his whistle a couple of times, who immediately almost makes it through the boat crossing. But the boat "S.S. Leon" (for Leon Schlesinger) starts to cross with the gates up, but Porky immediately makes it through with no damage. Some equipment was left with the boat, including a rowing boat with a sailor singing a song while rowing, which is connected on one of the boxcar's left side. The bull, who appeared earlier, thinks about the same train speeding by, about Porky can't get anything away like that, instead he wants to get a tore. The bull rushes while yelling, finds the caboose, and the bull smashes through the caboose and the boxcars (which is counted 12). The bull however tries the push the locomotive, but immediately set the train upwards near the electric wires. The same song from the beginning then plays as Porky flies on top of The Silver Fish. Many dogs from the row begin watching Porky while the other dog starts to raise the checkered flag, forcing Porky to win the race in a bounce (thanks to a bull seeking revenge after being previously insulted by Porky from earlier). And lastly, Porky (who is shown blasting the horn) becomes the new driver of 'The Silver Fish' whilst a battered, completely damaged 'Toots' is on a trailer behind with 'Headin' for the last roundhouse' written on a sign attached to it as the cartoon ends.[5]

Reversing sequence

At the scene where Porky gets insulted by the bull by pulling the bull’s tail, it is more likely that the short went through the Hays Censorship board. It was due to a hidden sentence telling the name of the train “Toots” (subtitled: old gal) to don’t pop Toots’s “b..b..b..b..”[6]

In-jokes

When a woodpile is knocked over there is a brief view of a monkey, a derogatory visual reference from the cartoonists to the then commonly used term "a n-word in the woodpile". During the race, Porky runs his train over the top of a boat called the 'S.S Leon', a gag dedicated to the cartoon's producer Leon Schlesinger. Also, the Morse Code heard is a message to write Schlesinger for a picture of Porky.[7]

UK home media releases
VHS Title Release Date VHS Studio Episodes
Hollywood Cartoon Superstars – Volume 4 September 1989 Virgin Video And Maple Entertainment Porky's Railroad (Compilation Cartoon VHS with 'Bugs Bunny', 'Daffy Duck', 'Porky Pig', 'Elmer Fudd', 'Casper', 'Felix The Cat' and 'Mighty Mouse'. – Bugs Bunny: Case of the Missing Hare, Porky Pig: Porky's Railroad, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig: Yankee Doodle Daffy, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd: The Wacky Wabbit, Casper: The Friendly Ghost, Felix The Cat: Neptune Nonsense and Mighty Mouse: Wolf! Wolf!.)

References
  1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 60. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 124–126. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. The Looney Tunes Show - Season 3 Episode 4: Porky Pig's Feat/Porky's Railroad - Metacritic
  4. Looney Tunes 1936-37: We've Got Ourselves a Star... Let's Get Another|Cartoon Research
  5. WorldCat.org
  6. Porky's Railroad (1937) - Hidden Audio by CCCartoons on YouTube
  7. Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America - Google Books (pg.43)

See also
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