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 bySupervision:
Frank Tashlin
Produced byLeon Schlesinger
Story byMelvin Millar
Music byCarl W. Stalling
Animation byPhil Monroe
Color processBlack-and-white
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • July 17, 1943 (1943-07-17)
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.

Reception

Animator Mark Mayerson writes, "Frank Tashlin had a very personal style of cartoon direction. He chose unusual camera angles and was never afraid to cut shots quickly for humorous effect. His characters were often posed in 'extreme' (exaggerated) positions, and these poses were held far longer than other directors would dare. Tashlin's direction is so flamboyant that it is as entertaining to watch as the characters. Porky Pig's Feat is fairly standard from a story standpoint, typical of Warner Bros. cartoons that pit characters against each other. It's how Tashlin tells this story that makes it so memorable."[3]

Production

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.[3] It is also the only appearance of Bugs Bunny, and final appearance of Porky Pig, in a black-and-white cartoon.

The 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.[4] Composed by Raymond Scott, "Powerhouse" became iconic through its use in over forty Warner Bros. cartoons. "Blues in the Night" is heard 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

The cartoon is one of a handful from WB to have fallen into the public domain.

The cartoon appears on:

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. Beck, Jerry, ed. (2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. Insight Editions. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-64722-137-9.
  4. 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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