138. Porky the Rain-Maker (1936)

Release date: August 1st, 1936

Series: Looney Tunes 

Director: Tex Avery

Starring: Joe Dougherty (Porky, Porky’s Father), Tedd Pierce (Narrator), Earle Hodgins (Salesman), Tex Avery (Horsefly)

The first cartoon to have a narrator! Tex in particular would play around with narrators, whether it be in his travelogues or to serve as important plot devices like in The Village Smithy. This is also the first cartoon where Porky is considerably slimmed down—he’d fluctuate weight, especially contrasted with Tashlin’s large interpretation for him, but especially with the addition of Ub Iwerks and eventually Bob Clampett in 1937, Porky shifted onto a diet, Tashlin the last one to slim him down after Porky’s Double Trouble. Here, Porky and his farmer father are in the midst of a treacherous drought. Porky spends their remaining money on a selection of pills rumored to bring on any weather event at will. However, trouble strikes when the farm animals accidentally eat the miracle pills instead.

Tedd Pierce fills us in as we open to a long, beautiful pan of a farm. An overlay of visible heatwaves paired with his commentary indicates that we’re in the midst of a severe drought. “Valuable crops scorched by blistering heatwave! Shortage of feed threatens farmers with ruin—their only hope is rain!” Zoom in on an apple tree that wilts in an instant. “Uh-oh, looks like there’ll be no shade—“ a chorus of hilariously dissonant voices join in, singing the classic “—under the old apple tree.” 

All of the crops suffer from the heat: apples shrivel up in seconds, corn stalks are stripped of their contents... we even hone in on some more predictable yet slightly rewarding puns, such as water boiling inside watermelons or eggplants cracking open and frying eggs on the ground.

Porky and his father observe the drought solemnly, Porky’s father (Dougherty once more, only speaking in his natural voice, stutter and all) lamenting “Worry, worry, worry.” A clamor from various farm animals calls over their attention, and they approach the barn to see what all the fuss is about.

As the narrator implied, there’s been a lack of feed thanks to the drought. No crops to sell, no money to make, no feed to buy. The animals are none too pleased, forming their own union and going on strike. Haughty hens strut along, one carrying a sign reading “NO FEED — NO EGGS!”, the hen behind her matching with a simple “DITTO!”. A disgruntled horse is next, “NO FEED NO WORK” plastered on his side. A cow marches along with her nose in the air, her udders protected by a barrel that reads “CLOSED SHOP”—a very amusing gag that works both ways. Of course, closed shop implies that she isn’t giving out any milk, but it’s also a labor union term. Essentially, only those in the union can work at the shop/place of business. And, of course, only the cow can give the milk. How can you have milk if you don’t have any udders to milk? If you didn’t know Tex liked gags, you do now.

Despairingly, Porky’s father reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sock, complete with a clasp at the top. He opens it, stuttering “Here, my son. Take our last dollar—“ he fishes in the sock for a dollar coin, “—and buy them animals some feed.” Porky accepts the coin and heads on into town.

Just as he’s about to stroll into the general store for some feed, a sharp voice catches his ear. In the middle of town proudly stands a merchant on his stage, selling a product to the congregation around him. The sign behind him tellingly reads DR. QUACK’S FAMOUS RAIN PILLS — $1.00. Sure enough, Dr. Quack is ranting and raving:

“Now friends, I’m here today to advertise my famous rain pills!” Earle Hodgins does a wonderful job of the salesman, his lines full of energy and greedy passion. He lures his audience in, asking if they’re fed up with their dying crops thanks to this treacherous drought. He holds up his box of pills, assuring that they can bring instant rain.

“Each and every one of these capsules is guaranteed to make it rain where and when you want it!” The cost? As the sign behind him advertises: a dollar. Clever execution and timing as little Porky pops his head up in the front row of the crowd at mere mention of the cost. To make the deal even sweeter, anyone who purchases a rain pill gets a free box of assorted pills with all the weather events you can think of. Rain! Snow! Ice! Lightning! Thunder! Tornadoes! Earthquakes! Fog! Wind! You name it, it’s there in that measly little box!

Porky is absolutely enraptured, hoisting himself up to lean on the platform so he doesn’t miss a single beat. Wonderful comedic timing as the salesman seamlessly pauses his long-winded rant just to shoo Porky away, nudging him with his cane and instructing “Don’t lean on the platform, son, you bother me.” Porky obeys, still taking in every word as the salesman blabbers “I’m going to pass out... these umbrellas!” (more fantastic timing and a great gag), distributing umbrellas to the crowd to showcase a demonstration. Once everyone is armed with their umbrellas, Dr. Quack stuffs a rain pill in a little tube and spits it into the air. The pill is propelled into the air and explodes.

Sure enough, the clouds grow heavy and dark, real rain showering upon every citizen in the square. Porky is just beside himself as he sticks his hand out to feel the raindrops—“Oh boy! Real rain!” Dr. Quack eyes his audience, asking “Now who’s gonna be first to buy one of these rain pills?”

Zero hesitation or remorse as Porky fishes in his pocket and thrusts his father’s last earnings into the greedy hands of Dr. Quack, who hands him the fated pandora’s box. Porky heads back to the farm, ready to knock the socks off his father.

Porky’s father paces along, still muttering “Worry, worry, worry” all the way. His face brightens up as he sees his loyal little boy marching towards him with the feed he so diligently went to the store to buy. Feed in the shape of a box. With pills inside the box. Rightfully so, Porky father is furious. “PILLS!? I told ya to get FEED, not PILLS!” Porky  unable to decipher why his father is so angry, ducks as his father tosses the useless box away.

The contents of the box scatter all across the farm. One of the picketing hens stumbles upon a spare pill, a lightning pill. Mistaking it as feed, the hen happily gobbles down her food and grins contentedly at the audience. However, her delight is quickly put to a stop as volts of incomprehensible electricity jolt through her body and electrocute her. She flops to the ground, winded, and attempts to run for her life, squawking along the way. It’s too late—she turns into a literal lightning bolt as she tries to outrun from herself. The entire gag, from the contented grin to initial jolting reaction to turning into a lightning bolt in the midst of a frenzy would be reused in Porky’s Duck Hunt, with Daffy and an electric eel substituting the chicken and her lightning pill.

Elsewhere, the picketing horse stumbles upon a fog pill and wastes no time ingesting it, too. A cloud of fog grows around his stomach, and in no time his surroundings are shrouded in mist. A horsefly (literally a horse with fly wings, which would serve as a plot point in a similar Tex Porky cartoon Milk and Money) comments into a microphone “Altitude 10,000 feet. No visibility. Ceiling: 0.” Enough to get the gist, though. Meanwhile, a curious goose gobbles down both a thunder and wind pill, its body shuddering and shaking around as it regurgitates artificial wind from its body, blowing around aimlessly.

Porky and his father observe in steely silence, his father glowering and sulking. Helpful is Porky, who finally pipes up with “There’s a pill there that’ll make real rain, pa.” Porky’s father freezes. He whips his head around: “Well why didn’t ya say so? Where is it?” He crawls through the wooden fence and gets down on all fours, searching on his hands and knees for the fated miracle pill.

Spotting a cyclone pill, Porky reaches out to grab it. Unfortunately for him, a chicken swoops in and swallows it before he can retrieve it. Porky’s predictably peeved, glowering at the chicken, but his anger turns into awe as the chicken is whisked away into her own personal tornado. 

Things finally settle down, and all that’s left is a nude chicken with a single tail feather. She glares at her feather, but it too turns into a mini cyclone and flies away. Hilariously deadpan, she turns to the camera and gasps “Well, imagine that.” Not at all unlike an Oswald the Rabbit short Tex worked on in 1933, The Zoo, a bear’s fur reduced to shreds thanks to a swarm of hungry moths. Instead of screaming or overreacting, the bear also mildly states “Well, imagine that.” 

Never mind the cyclone pill— Porky spots another pill scattered on the ground, an earthquake pill. He reaches for it, and yet again another hungry chicken swallows the pill. This time an earthquake erupts in her body. Amusing incongruity as the hen stalks away with her beak held high in the air, interrupted by frantic bursts of spasms and shakes. She clings to a tree for support, the entire landscape around her shaking. When the earthquake has finally paused, she ogles at the camera in disbelief.

Porky and his father continue to search for the remaining pills, crawling on their hands and knees. Porky finds something in the distance and trots over to it. Sure enough, the fated rain pill is right in his reach! Surely nothing can go wrong now, right? 

Wrong! The goose who had swallowed the thunder and wind pills is still aimlessly blowing around the farm uncontrollably. It knocks right into Porky, tossing both of them to the ground. Nevertheless, the goose is unscathed, seldom hesitating as it gobbles up the rain pill. Porky ever so calmly and politely wrings the goose’s neck, calling it a varmint. He opens the goose’s beak and peers inside. No sign of the pill. Frustrated, Porky grabs the head of the goose and slams it on the ground, the goose settling back to normal as its head bounces back up. Sweet, mild mannered Porky! 

His animal abuse may bring about some good after all. The goose, now shaken up, regurgitates the rain pill, sending it flying into the air. With a familiar snap, the pill explodes. Could it be? Yes! It could! The clouds darken and dump buckets of real, genuine, miraculous rain. All of the farm animals (and Porky’s dad) crowd together, all sticking out their arms just to feel the rain, reveling in it and soaking up every single last drop. Apple trees grow back to size, corn stalks are nice and hearty again, all of the crops spouting 5x the amount of goods than what they used to. A gag that would be reused in many cartoons, a hen eagerly runs inside of her coop and lays an astounding mound of eggs, poking her head out of the coop and sighing in relief.

The joyous celebration continues, and everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief. Good times are here at last! Nary a problem in sight, only one little caveat. Just one teensy little issue that needs taking care of... the animals still have the pills inside them. The celebration is cut short as all the animals jolt, jitter, shudder, fly, you name it. Even Porky and his father feel the effects. The false sense of security is pulled off strongly and coyly. Everyone poses defiantly at the camera, a happy cartoon close sting... and then silence except for an array of sound effects as the pills take their course. 

Tex plays around with the iris out as the goose blows itself out of the iris and into the black void, where rain is still pouring down. The goose frantically pounds against the black wall, squawking frantically. The iris opens one last time as Porky yanks the goose inside for good.

A very amusing and creative cartoon for sure. Milk and Money would follow a similar route— Porky needs to help his father earn money for the farm, and hilarity ensues (and there’s also a horsefly involved.) I like that one a bit more, as I feel it’s a stronger cartoon. This one came off more as a showcase of gags than anything, not having too much plot, but it was still definitely there. Some gags were certainly funnier than others, but this still remains as a relatively funny short. The ending is particularly amusing, with the coy “all’s well that ends well” poses of the gang and the orchestral swell, interrupted by the natural elements inside each animal. The first appearance of Porky’s father, too, who would make a handful of appearances, even during the Mel Blanc era. Not Tex’s best cartoon, but certainly watchable and amusing. Worth a potential watch! 

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