126. The Blow Out (1936)

Release date: April 4th, 1936

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Tex Avery

Starring: Joe Dougherty (Porky), Martha Wentworth (Bomber), Joe Twerp (Cop, Reporter), Tex Avery (Rich Man, Police Radio)

This is a cartoon I’ve been looking forward to reviewing for quite awhile—it’s certainly one of my favorite Dougherty-era Porkys. Well, to begin, this is Porky’s first solo cartoon! Not a Beans in sight (sorry, Beans!). Tex’s first interpretation of Porky was a bloated, ravenous father who screams “WHOOPEE” a lot. Now, he’s characterized as a cute, naïve kid, a role he’d make up in the large majority of Tex’s Porky cartoons. Even as far as 1941, Porky’s age is mentioned to be 7 years old in Tex’s Porky’s Preview. 

In terms of synopsis: a hungry Porky longs for an ice cream soda, yet he’s short on money. However, his prayers may be answered as he finds out doing favors for people earns him a quick buck. His biggest favor of all—returning a bomb to a mad bomber.

Menacing music underscores an overhead shot of a local building. A sinister laugh offscreen is brought on by a mysteriously cloaked figure, who placed an alarm clock in front of the building. The figure darts away, the clock ticking forebodingly as a trail of smoke pours out of it. And, of course, BOOM. Newspaper headlines pour in (with a keen eye, you’ll spot that they’re addressed to Podunk Journal, Podunk Express, etc., etc.) detailing the bomber’s acts, one newspaper gloating a $2,000 reward if captured. All the cop cars are called, phone lines and telegram wires burning up as the search for the bomber ravages on.

Police sirens wail in the distance as a shot of a dingy old alley pans to an exposed basement window. Zoom into the pitch black darkness, the same sinister laugh from before piercing our ears as a bat flies into view. The pans are very well thought out and well structured as we pan through the basement, finally getting a good glimpse of the bomber, hard at work.

If I had to make a guess, I’d estimate Chuck Jones does the closeup of the bomber making his time bombs (Chuck liked to play around with shadows, and there’s a sinister shadow behind the bomber at work—it also aligns with his style, and he even gets an animation credit.) Lucille Laverne provides a great, obnoxious, sinister voice... as she should, since she was probably recording for Snow White around the same time. 

“A clock, a little dynamite, a black bomb, a few firecrackers, some lovely skyrockets, and ya have a little time bomb that will blow up a CITY!” The bomber masks himself, draping himself in his black cloak and donning his hat. He does your stereotypical villain walk, covering his face—I love me a Tex Avery villain. Almost always a very obvious parody. Everything with Tex is to be laughed at, to be funny, to be made fun of. The bomber ponders where he’ll strike next, scanning a city map. He circles off a random area, crossing over it for good measure, and he furtively creeps out into the street, ready to strike.

Elsewhere, Porky is deeply invested in an ice cream parlor, his face pressed against the window. A sign advertises an ice cream soda for 10 cents. Inside, we get a good look at the frothy goodness as an offscreen waiter places a straw inside. Another offscreen hand grabs the drink, and we’re met with Porky’s smiling, hungry face, eagerly observing as the offscreen customer slurps away. Porky’s face quickly turns crestfallen, and soon he’s frowning at an empty glass.

However, he’s undeterred. Porky reaches into his pocket (conveniently made of his own flesh) and pulls out a fistful of coins, narrating “Five pennies! Just enough for an ice cream soda!” He struts confidently into the parlor with his outstretched hand, a lovely score of “Fella with the Fiddle” (a sort of unofficial theme song for him--it'd also be associated with him in Little Beau Porky.) backing him up. 

He marches to the counter and asks “One ice cream soda, please!” Unfortunately, the offscreen waiter has to break the news—“Too bad, sonny. You only have half enough pennies for a soda.” Porky’s grin melts immediately as he dejectedly trudges away, hands in his “pockets”. Suddenly, inspiration strikes, and our little haggler zips back to the counter, bargaining “Well, how about a half of one, then?” Still a no. 

Having exhausted every option, Porky mopes on the sidewalk. A passerby drops his cane, and Porky halfheartedly returns it to him, not even realizing he’s done anything. The man offscreen expresses his gratitude by offering a penny to Porky.

Suddenly, Porky  snaps his head to the sweet copper that lies before him in an outstretched hand. He eagerly accepts the penny (“Oh boy! A penny!”). Bob Clampett animates his little jig as he does a dance, throwing the coin up in the air, whirling around just in time to catch it in his back “pocket”. A reoccurring gag that’s funny every time, perfectly and sardonically capturing his glee. He rubs his hands together, scheming, almost making a “Grinch face” as the gears turn. Doing favors = money = ice cream.

Thus launches a favor spree. Tex’s strong sense of timing furthers the potential of Porky’s motives and transforms a mundane idea into something hilarious and likable. Who doesn’t want to see him get his soda? Porky rushes in just in time to hand a woman her fallen glove, and sure enough she repays him. Another penny earned, another jig performed. Any subtlety at Porky’s desire to earn cash is quickly dropped as he puts on his best “cute” pose, pulling in his body and closing his eyes like the dickens he is, putting out his hand. More subtlety lost, more eagerness gained as Porky literally rockets forward at super speed to reunite a woman and her wallet. Another victory jig. 

Just as things couldn’t be any brighter, Porky  finds a nickel on the ground. A whole five cents, just what he needed! As he’s about to bend over, a Scottie dog zooms forward and snags the coin, perpetuating the "cheap Scotsman" stereotype. He flashes Porky a toothy grin and tips his hat before walking away. Porky simply stares back in bewilderment and grief.

Now, we pan back to the dingy, dark alleys as a familiar snicker rings out once more. The bomber creeps around the sidewalk, hiding behind the “Blotz Building”. The coast clear, he sneers “Here it goes!” As he turns the clock on, and foreboding ticking begins. He creeps forward, warily placing the bomb down at the front of the building. The bomber knows that his work is done as he hurries away.

What he DOESN’T know, however, is that he was a witness: a stuttering, chubby, porcine witness. Porky is just tickled to see the bomber turn the corner. He scoops up the bomb, mistaking it for a regular clock, and approaches the bomber, who’s crouching behind the corner, eyes squeezed shut and ears plugged as he braces for impact. Timing sharp as always as he slowly opens his eyes and spots Porky holding the clock in front of him... and wastes no time screaming as he does a take. What a great juxtaposition—Porky’s naïve oblivion, arms outstretched to return the clock like the good little civilian he is, and the harsh screech of the bomber as he recoils immediately, sinister and ugly and (relatively) smart.

A perfectly hilarious distance shot of the bomber making a break for it, zigzagging through the streets as poor little Porky  hobbles behind with such good intentions. I love that this is a precursor to Tex’s Droopy cartoons—largely relying on a little pest that follows you EVERYWHERE and is at every turn, no matter where you go (Tex’s first droopy cartoon, Dumb-Hounded—which I highly recommend—is a glorified take on this cartoon). The bomber seeks refuge in a garage, sliding a door shut in front of Porky. Of course, Porky pops in from the other end, proudly handing out the clock to the bomber who recoils once more and darts away.

The bomber scales a tedious amount of fire escapes, climbing to the top of a building, where he’s greeted by a familiar pig. Back down the flights of stairs the bomber goes. Laverne’s vocal characterization is side splittingly hilarious and obnoxious, and Tex’s knack for humor and speed totally make this cartoon something great. It’s a basic plot, really, and could have been handled disastrously in the wrong hands (could you imagine if this were a Jack King cartoon instead?). Porky greets him at the bottom, just completely clueless as to why this mysterious man keeps screaming “NO!!!!” at him. Desperate, the bomber dives into a manhole.

The Blow Out, 1936, left, and Confusions of a Nutzy Spy, 1943, right. See how much of a difference the illuminated clock face makes on the left. While being similar in context, there are dissimilarities, too. The staging on the left is much more coherent and open. Nevertheless, both are very clever in their rightful contexts.

You just can’t go wrong with this. The bomber creeps around in the dark, surely alone now. That little idiot couldn’t have possibly have crawled down in here. Yet, a lit up sclera and the visible face of a clock prove him wrong once more. The bomber runs the opposite way in the darkness, and yet again he’s met with that stubbornly optimistic pig. A similar twist would be put on this gag in Norm McCabe's Confusions of a Nutzy Spy, where Porky, hiding in a dark cave, reassures the enemy Nazi spy that the thunderous pounding noise isn't a stray bomb, but merely his "little ol' heart".

Frantically, the bomber dives out of the manhole, diving into another, followed by Porky. Out once more, pinning the next manhole cover down so Porky surely can’t escape. What he fails to notice is Porky crawling out of another manhole in the foreground. Instead, the bomber barricades the manhole cover with a traffic sign, snarling “Now I’ll fix the little pest, so he’ll be blown to pieces!” Porky is right next to him, both of them utterly clueless for different reasons. Now, the villain whips towards the audience and sneers “WHETHER YOU PEOPLE LIKE IT OR NOT!” 

Porky latches onto the villain’s cloak, blankly staring at him wordlessly. Tex effectively conveys that "baby who won't stop staring at you" feeling--beautifully uneasy and hilarious. The bomber is absolutely clueless to two things—his little parasite, and to the two police officers who recognize the bomber. Police sirens scream, as does the villain. 

He runs as fast as he can, and Porky holds on with an iron grip, just flailing along for the ride. A hilarious distance shot of Porky flopping around behind the villain, the cops commenting “Look, the kid’s got hold of him!” “Yeah! The little fella’s got plenty a nerve to tackle a mug like that!” 

Thankfully for the bomber, the chase leads right into his hidey hole. He spends a great deal of time tediously locking a stack of doors, celebrating his victory. The coppers bang on the door as the villain barricades himself in, sneering at their futile efforts to get him out. Great setup as his smile is quickly paralyzed, offscreen ticking growing louder. Of course, pan over to reveal the unflappably optimistic Porky beaming as he holds out the time bomb. The bomber throws aside his barricade and bursts out the door, diving straight into the police van.

Porky rushes outside and drops the smoking clock inside the van where the bomber is locked up in. The cherry on top as Porky facetiously poses, making a spectacle of himself as he coyly sticks out his hand and puts on his best innocent act. The car drives away... a bumpy ride ensues as fireworks explode one after the other, the car jumping and rocketing around.

Back to Porky, who’s still posing coyly for his earnings (now animated once more by Bob Clampett). A man says “Here’s your reward!” as he drops a hefty sack of dough in Porky’s palm, who buckles beneath the weight of the coins in his grubby little hands. Once more, an ecstatic pig tosses his earnings into the air, preparing to catch it in his flesh pockets as he performs his victory jig. Instead, the bag explodes on top of him and he’s covered in coins. 

A man walks up to him, paper and pencil in hand as he asks “What’re you gonna do with your reward, sonny?” Porky inhales before launching into a quick, breathlessly excited “I’m gonna buy me—I’m gonna buy me—I’m gonna buy me...“ 

What else? He’s gonna buy him $2,000 worth of ice cream sodas, that’s what. Porky slurps down soda after soda, a victorious “Fella with the Fiddle” blaring as an underscore. He pauses his feast to smile and wave at the audience—iris out as he sucks down more dairy goodness.

I love this cartoon, and this is my favorite cartoon we’ve seen so far. It’s such a feel good watch. Is it stupid? Absolutely. Break it down and you’ve got Porky running around for 4 minutes while a guy screams one word replies. Yet, it's so much more than that. Porky’s personality in this short is more than all of the personality we’ve seen in the past 125 cartoons combined. Tex perfectly captures his childish spirit. Innocent, naïve, oblivious and bumbling, yet smart enough to know that if he can put on an act he can earn a quick buck or 2,000. 

Timing is everything in this cartoon, and it works out just fine. The scenes never feel TOO tedious, though there are some that definitely lose just a little bit of their punch. Not much, though. Laverne’s deliveries are fantastically obnoxious. She definitely cheeses it up, and it certainly works in her favor. The villain works exquisitely well as a foil against the brutally honest demeanor of Porky’s. In fact, this is a slight breakthrough in the world of cartoon villains.

Tex would really demolish the villain wall with his epic Little Red Walking Hood a mere year later, but here, the villain is difficult to take seriously. There's plenty of suspense, sure, but the fact that the villain is terrified of an oversized pig in a sweater who says nothing shows that the villain may not be the most threatening after all. Slowly but surely, Tex is bending the archetypes of cartoons.

Is this Tex’s best? No, I don't think so. But it’s a memorable short that I always find myself coming back to, and it never fails to put a smile on my face. While I initially wrote this review in February 2021, as of May 2021 this still stands as my favorite cartoon of 1936 and favorite Joe Dougherty Porky cartoon. I certainly recommend a watch.

Link!