136. Porky’s Pet (1936)

Release date: July 11th, 1936

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Jack King

Starring: Joe Dougherty (Porky)

The first of MANY, MANY cartoons to flaunt Porky’s name in the title. This is also Jack King’s second to last cartoon at Warner Bros—he headed back for Disney as early as April 1936, leaving the rest of his films to run on. Porky’s Moving Day, released in September, would be his last. For now: Porky and his pet ostrich Lulu are Broadway bound, but trouble arises when the train forbids any animals to board. It’s up to Porky to find a way to hide his extremely noticeable and indiscreet pet.

A telegram boy is pedaling along on his bicycle, determined to deliver his envelope, bumping all along the way. Signs in the background include advertisements for “Malaria Motel” and “Buy Burton’s Burpo Beer”, a reference to producer John Burton. The scene runs a little long, yet it’s deliberate so as to show off the syncopation between the animation, music, and sound effects of intermittent bike horn honking.

Nevertheless, the telegram boy arrives at his destination by crashing into the sidewalk. Unscathed, he jauntily hops onto the porch and rings the doorbell a few times. Out comes Porky, who answers the door. A telegram just for him. He accepts the envelope and signs off. An amusing little detail as he tucks the envelope in the lip of his sweater, taking it out and tearing off the side.

The telegram reads: 

MR. PORKY PIG 

CAN USE YOU AND LULU IN MY NEW SHOW $75 WEEK. STOP. (that’s how you ended a sentence, considering there was no morse code equivalent to a period)

COME NEW YORK AT ONCE

J. BOTTS 

PRODUCER 

Remember when I said Porky would never say “WHOOPEEEEE!” again after Gold Diggers of ‘49? Well, that’s one bet I lost. I totally forgot, but he says his famous “WHOOPEE!” here, too. I think this is the last time he says it, unless Porky’s Moving Day has a surprise waiting for me. Regardless, Porky is ecstatic. He dashes upstairs, telegram in hand, skidding to a halt into his bedroom.

He approaches a birdcage, where we see the beginnings of a big bird head inside. Porky shows off the letter to his pet, stuttering “Look, Lulu! Look!”

A clever pan reveals that Lulu is, in fact, a giant pet ostrich with her head in the birdcage and the rest of her body perched in a rocking chair. Lulu gives her approval by squawking hilariously and incomprehensibly. “We’re Broadway bound, Lulu! We’re gonna be big shots!” 

Porky hardly wastes any time tying a rope around lulu’s neck and freeing her from the confines of her arbitrary birdcage. With his hat on his head and a couple of oddly placed train whistle imitations, Porky declares “Let’s go!” and together they fly down the staircase, Lulu sliding down on the banister. Good animation that’s easily mesmerizing. Lulu hits the end of the banister while Porky runs ahead, nearly choking her as he flies back towards her from the impact. Nevertheless she gets down, and Porky’s so excited he whips out the door, the door closing on Lulu and hitting her right in the face. She chatters Porky out furiously, but manages to recover.

Some time later, Porky and his prized Lulu arrive at the train station, seeking out the nearest train. After hearing the sound of the all too familiar whistle, Porky attempts to flag down the train, waving his hand and his hat to get it to stop. We then get a shot of the train, hurtling down the tracks at frightening speeds. So fast that the conductor doesn’t take note of Porky and his very obvious bird companion. The train speeds by, spinning Porky  Lulu, and the entire station around like a top, a sequence that would be perfected and stronger in Tex Avery’s The Village Smithy.

Both Porky and Lulu attempt to recover from the impact, Porky stuttering “Stop!” all too late while Lulu has her head buried in a hole in the floorboards. Nevertheless, they both recover quickly when the sound of another train approaches. This time, Porky thinks ahead. He pulls a lever that flashes a stop sign, and the speeding train literally jolts to a stop on the middle of the tracks. Good timing and amusingly stark visuals make the gag work. There’s an intriguing angle from inside the station as we view Porky and Lulu happily board from outside. Silence... until a yokel train conductor yells “YOU CAN’T BRING NO BUZZARD ON THIS TRAIN!” 

Lulu and Porky are promptly kicked out, landing right inside the station. If you notice, one of the flyers posted advertises Millar Manor, a reference to story man Tubby Millar. Considering Millar was a storyman often associated with Frank Tashlin, who inherited King’s unit, it’s not a stretch o surmise that he’s responsible for this cartoon’s story.

Porky signals for Lulu to bend down low, and he whispers a plan in her ear. The plan: Lulu wait by the tracks while Porky boards, and he’ll pick her up as the train passes by. Lulu gives her squawks of approval. Porky signals for Lulu to go to her post, and he himself boards the train.

Sure enough, the train begins to chug, the wheels turning. Lulu waits patiently, and just as Porky promised, he sticks his hand out the window and grabs her by the neck. Her neck is so long that the rest of her body lags behind, flopping in the wind, much to the surprise of one of the passengers looking out the window. Porky wrestles her inside, and everything’s good to go.

Here we have it, folks! The infamous “Porky stuffing an ostrich up his ass” scene. Porky realizes he didn’t quite think things through. An ostrich is a pretty damn noticeable bird. He signals under the seat, trying to stuff her in, ordering “Hurry up, Lulu! Get under the seat before the conductor sees ya!” Another push, and her head pops out of the crack in the seat, giving some happy squabbles. Treg Brown’s sound effects turn a puzzling scene into an amusing one with nonstop honking, Porky wrestling with how to get both ends of her body under the seat. It’s still a relatively awkward scene, but the sound effects certainly add humor to it. 

Eventually Porky opts to sit on the seat himself, stuffing Lulu’s body under and hoping he can conceal her head. But, as to be expected, Lulu pecks him right in the butt and he jumps up in shock. Another stuff beneath the seat, and she’s about as concealed as she’ll get. Porky grins at the camera, clearly accomplished with his feat.

But, as birds will do, Lulu hardly stays in one place long. She wrangles herself out from beneath the seat and swallows the toupee of a sleeping passenger’s from behind.

Ham or Ex make one final appearance! If only there was any indication as to how to tell them apart. The little pup turns the propeller of a toy plane and watches it whirl around in fascination. The plane makes its way towards Lulu, who promptly swallows it. Of course, the plane is still on, and works its way up from her throat all the way to her head, giving her “dog ears”. Amusing animation as Lulu’s neck loops around itself, the plane in her head directing her uncontrollably as she loops around her own body, flipping and flying around. She crashes right into a door, where the plane just... disappears. She doesn’t spit it out or anything of the sort, it just... melts away. Nevertheless.

Lulu now has her sights set on an accordion, which she also deems a delicious snack. And, predictably, her neck moves up and down and sounds like an accordion. A very predictable gag that isn’t all that hilarious, but Porky’s look of pure horror as she strolls past his seat is totally priceless.

Just in time for the conductor to ask for tickets. Panic-stricken, Porky snags a guitar case out from under the seat in front of him and stuffs Lulu inside. Her accordion neck blares loudly and noticeably, and he grabs her neck and wrings it out, sliding the accordion down to her body where it disappears. First a plane and now an accordion! Maybe Lulu’s act on broadway is “The Bottomless Ostrich”. She now fits in the guitar case... except for her feathers, which prominently stick out of the bottom. Porky steals someone’s pair of scissors (what a thief!) and cuts off the fluff, and instead of returning the scissors hilariously throws them out the window instead, hiding the feathers under the seat. Instead of just, you know, tossing them out instead.

The conductor approaches Porky for his ticket, but Lulu suddenly grows rowdy, giving herself away immediately as the guitar case begins to jolt around and squawk. She wrestles her legs free and barrels into the conductor, who now rides on top of the guitar case like some sort of twisted steed. Lulu barrels into the end of the cabin, freeing herself from the case. Porky goes to wrangle back his bird, but it’s too late. The conductor furiously throws her out the window, and then throws Porky out himself. Nice service! 

They reconnect on the tracks, Porky shrugging dubiously. Fortune smiles upon them when they spot a handcar. They both board at opposite ends, preparing to push their way to broadway, yet a cow blocks their path. No matter! Porky positions himself on the handles and grabs the cow’s tail like some reins, and they’re off. Soon they even manage to pass the very train they were booted from, much to the bewilderment of the conductor, who passes out as Porky tips his hat and Lulu squawks her greetings. Iris out.

With a lot of these rewatches of the Jack King cartoons, I’ve softened my perception of them and appreciated them more, but they’re still relatively below average. Nevertheless, this cartoon was, if anything, amusing. Not particularly funny, but amusing to watch Porky’s plight as he works so hard to hide his Very Obvious pet. Lulu’s squawking is hilariously obnoxious, which works in her favor and against her at the same time. The animation was very smooth and fun to watch for sure, especially with Lulu sliding down the banister and swallowing the toy plane. Lulu would make one more appearance in Porky’s Moving Day. I wonder, if King stayed longer, how many more cartoons she would have popped up in. Overall a decent cartoon but nothing to write home about. It wouldn’t kill you to watch it, but I think you’d be fine if you went without.

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