Porky Pig's Feat

Porky Pig's Feat is a 1943 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin.[1] The cartoon was released on July 17, 1943, and stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.[2]

Porky Pig's Feat
Directed byFrank Tashlin
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Story byMelvin Millar
StarringMel Blanc
Music byCarl Stalling
Animation byPhil Monroe
Cal Dalton
Art Davis
Izzy Ellis
Color processBlack-and-white
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
July 17, 1943 (U.S.)
Running time
8:39
LanguageEnglish

It was directed by Frank Tashlin with musical direction by Carl Stalling, and produced by Leon Schlesinger. Originally released in black-and-white, clips of a digitally colored version of the cartoon were seen in bonus features for the first two Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD box sets, before finally being issued in its original monochrome form on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3 DVD.

Plot

The cartoon centers around Porky Pig and Daffy Duck's attempts to escape the Broken Arms Hotel manager without paying their bill (on which they are charged for every luxury, including breathing air, sunshine, and goodwill); the reason for trying to evade the payment is due to Daffy losing all their money playing craps.

Despite numerous methods to elude the hotel manager (from using the elevator, sending the manager down a large spiral staircase, or going out of the window), he eventually gets the upper hand and locks them up in Porky and Daffy's hotel room until they pay up. Winter approaches, and Daffy is beginning to lose his sanity. Porky (after writing "Porky Loves Petunia" amidst the graffiti on the wall) wishes Bugs Bunny was with them. Daffy concurs and decides to call Bugs for advice, as the trickster is famous for being able to get out of seemingly inescapable situations. While on the phone, Bugs asks Daffy if he's tried various methods of escape, to which Daffy replies that he has. ("Yes, we tried all those ways.") The door to the next room opens up and Bugs is seen in shackles. He says, "Ahh, don't work, do they?"

The cartoon irises out, with the "Porky drum" ending.

Production notes

The title is a play on words, referring to "pigs feet."

This was the first Schlesinger cartoon directed by Tashlin after his return to the studio following a five-year absence for stints at the Disney and Screen Gems studios. It is also the only appearance of Bugs Bunny, and final appearance of Porky Pig, in a black-and-white cartoon.

  • This was Bugs Bunny's first appearance in the Looney Tunes series.
  • This is the first cartoon where Bugs Bunny says "Eh, what's up duck?" instead of "Eh, what's up, doc?"
  • This is Bugs Bunny's only black-and-white appearance in the theatrical cartoons. His later appearances in black-and-white were in some Looney Tunes commercials from the 1960s.
  • This cartoon was colorized in 1968 (just after Seven Arts Productions, successor to Guild Films, to whom the black-and-white cartoon library had been sold some time before, acquired Warner Bros.) by having every other frame traced over onto a cel. Each redrawn cel was painted in color and then photographed over a colored reproduction of each original background. The cartoon was colorized again in 1990, this time with a computer adding color to a new print of the original black and white cartoon.

Music

Porky Pig's Feat contains the first use of the music "Powerhouse" in a cartoon.[3] Composed by Raymond Scott, "Powerhouse" became iconic through its use in over forty Warner Bros. cartoons. We also hear "Blues in the Night" after Daffy loses the rent money gambling in the elevator. "The Penguin", another Scott composition, can also be heard when Porky and Daffy run to the elevator with their bags.


Availability

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. 143. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 70-72. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. Raymond Scott's Music in WB Cartoons|Official Raymond Scott site|RaymondScott.com Archived 2008-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
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