152. Porky the Wrestler (1937)

Release date: January 9th, 1937

Series: Looney Tunes

Director: Tex Avery

Starring: Joe Dougherty (Porky), Tex Avery (Man Mountain, Voices), Joe Twerp (Fight Handler), Tedd Pierce ("Owww!"), Mel Blanc (Porky Screaming)

[EDIT: Keith Scott speculates Mel could have appeared as early as Boom Boom or Boulevardier from the Bronx. It's worth mentioning that Porky's woo-woo screams were reused directly from Blanc's studio audition rather than outfitted purely for the cartoon.] My, these voice actors have some strange names. What kind of name is “Mel Blanc” anyway? 

That’s right, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: Mel Blanc joins the scene! Many (myself included, always forgetting this cartoon) consider Picador Porky his first cartoon, where he supplies the voice of two drunks in a bull costume, but this is the first cartoon he does voices in, at least in the order of cartoons being released. It’s possible Picador Porky started production before this short. Nevertheless. 

His part is minor, just Porky doing Daffy’s WOOWOO shrieks before Daffy existed, Even then, this is a big, big deal! Welcome home, Mel! 

Pertaining to the plot: Porky is ecstatic to see the local wrestling match, but he gets much more than he bargained for when he finds himself in the wrestling ring instead.

There’s a rather tasteful opening that reminds me of the techniques Frank Tashlin would use in his cartoons: a printing press is busy printing a hefty stack of newspapers, with overlays of the papers flipping by as an offscreen voice declares “EXTRA! EXTRA!” We get a glimpse of the headline: CAPACITY CROWDS TO WITNESS CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING TONIGHT. As if CAPAPCITY CROWDS wasn’t enough of an indicator, Tex totes his love of typography as the words EVERYBODY’S GOING zoom into view at the bottom.

The next shot is a collection of eager hitchhikers, awaiting a ride to the big fight. A wiener dog extends his body back and forth as he jabs his thumb out, a lounging man signals with his toe, a dog with crossed eyes signals in opposite directions, another man droning “Calling all cars, calling all cars, give me a ride, please.” The transition sweeps across the scene break up momentum slightly, but it’s not supposed to be a quickly cut urgent scene in the first place, so it works.

Included in the interminable line of hitchhikers is our star Porky pig. “The Fella with the Fiddle” would temporarily be his theme song for 1936, but “Puddin’ Head Jones” would continue to be a theme song for him from 1937 onward. It’s a catchy song for sure, with amusing lyrics, essentially insinuating that Porky’s a bit of a dope (which isn’t too far off). He too works his best hitchhiker’s thumb, but doesn’t receive much luck. A man drives right past him in his jalopy, which falls to pieces, the man still suspended in mid-air. He stuffs his broken car parts into his suitcase, now joining the hitchhiker line. 

Another car screeches to a halt for porky, a man asking “Where ya goin’, sonny?” Porky approaches the car, lugging his suitcase. “Why, I’m goin’ to the wrassling match.” Lovely comedic timing as the man inside the car declares “So am I,” slamming the door shut and screeching away, leaving Porky in the dust.

No matter—the sound of honking signals Porky’s attention towards a long, pompous limo, “THE CHALLENGER” emblazoned on the screen below. Inside the limo, the portly challenger spots the hitchhiking pig and signals for his driver to pick him up, by grabbing the driver’s head and extending his neck over to him. A lovely visual gag that’s enhanced by its nonchalant nature. That’s what I love about Tex’s gags, they feel so natural and nonchalant. There’s never a feeling of “LOOK! LAUGH AT THIS!”, they just happen so offhandedly that it makes the joke all the funnier.

Screeching to a halt (the tires skidding and turning into shoes to halt), the limo picks up Porky  who happily steps inside. The challenger says in a thick, Russian accent, “Hello, what’s your name, kiddo?” “My name’s Porky Pig! What’s yours?” 

Thus spawns a reoccurring gag. Even here it isn’t pronounced correctly, as the challenger stumbles on his own name (I’m going by one of the pronunciations in the cartoon that feels the most correct): “My name is Hugo Yakinowskiokiwoskioski.” He tells Porky that he’s going to fight the champ—lovely animation as he gets up in the camera, eyeing the audience to assert his dominance.

Outside of the wrestling arena, two men pace around impatiently, one groveling “Looks like this guy Yakinowskiokiwoskioski has stood us up, chief.” Just then, the limo crawls into view and turns around the corner, the limo extending and then the rest of its “body” catching up like an inchworm, a very popular gag in the Looneyverse. Yakinowskiokiwoskioski marches out of the limo, but for reasons unknown, falls straight through a trap door in the sidewalk. Porky crawls out of the limo next, trap door now closed, when the two men spot him and heckle him. “You’re late, Yakinowskiokiwoskioski!” they grab Porky by the arms and drag him away.

Inside the arena, the crowd is clapping and whistling along to the underscore of “Parade of the Animals”. One of the assistants pops his head up to the ring, addressing the burly, bearded champ. “ Yakinowskiokiwoskioski just came in, champ.” 

The referee, a gangly man armed with a megaphone, addresses the fighters. I love the animation of the ref, a literal rubber hose character as he sticks his head through the megaphone. “In this corner at 406 and 7/8ths, Man Mountain the champion!” Man Mountain shakes his burly fists as he receives his applause. “...and in this corner, the challenger Hugo Manowskiowskimoski... Oskimawski... Brrroskioski... Awww, him.” He jabs his rubbery finger at an empty corner.

Below the ring is a little hideout for the wrestlers to get ready. An anxious Porky sits perched on a stool, an assistant pulling a lever. A pedestal in the floor rises up and propels Porky out onto the ring. Thus sparks Mel Blanc’s first ever lines in a Looney Tunes cartoon: pseudo Daffy shrieks. 

Man Mountain growls and bares his saliva riddled teeth, and a man sitting outside of the ring hits his knee. The reflex causes his leg to swing up and ring the wrestling bell (very clever), and a terrified Porky shrieks as he desperately attempts to claw his way out of the ring, tripping on the ropes, but to no avail. The animation combined with Blanc’s shrieks make for a hysterical scene—a good one to debut with.

Man Mountain slams his back into one of the wooden posts behind him, and the impact propels Porky right into MM’s grip. MM bounces Porky like a basketball, Tex Avery providing his husky vocals as MM tauntingly sings, bouncing him around through his legs. There’s a slightly jarring transition as MM tosses Porky offscreen and rushes to meet him, the next cut having them already engaged in action, MM crawling on top of Porky. 

Porky manages to weasel his way out of MM’s grip, and MM spends the rest of the time tackling himself and growling, pinning his own foot down and flipping over himself. What makes the scene even better is that there’s a bystander in the crowd shouting “GIVE IT TO HIM! GIVE IT TO HIM!” 

What launches next is probably one of Tex’s best scenes during his Looney tenure, especially for his Porky cartoons. While MM pounds in agony against the floor, the impact causes a spectator’s tobacco pipe to fly out of his mouth and directly into MM’s throat. MM pauses, and presses his stomach. A chuff of smoke bellows from his mouth. Another press, another puff. Soon, he begins to chug like a train, smoke pouring out of his mouth. Attempting to escape him, the referee and Porky both end up grabbing hold of MM, and they all form a train.

Even better is the suspension of disbelief in the entire scene. Instead of stopping there, Tex pushes it to the limit. A man moves the wrestling bell to the top of the corner post, the bell ringing and swaying back and forth like a railroad crossing signal as the train passes the corner. Now inside the crowd, a man offers snacks, pillows, and magazines like a train attendee. Even better, a spectator goes to fetch some water from the water cooler, but the floor sways and buckles beneath him as the roar of the train rushing on the train tracks grow louder. A man even looks out a WINDOW, and we see telephone lines and a rolling countryscape zoom past. The man is shocked—not because the wrestling ring has been transformed into a train cabin, but because he’s due for his stop. He grabs his hat, suitcase, and departs.

It’s certainly a nonsense scene, but that’s what makes it so good. Remember, this started because the champ swallowed a pipe. Anyone could make a gag about the champ billowing smoke from a swallowed pipe, but only Tex Avery would think to stretch the gag out of bounds, turning the entire wrestling ring into a train cabin, complete with moving scenery. 

Suspension of disbelief is key to appreciate the gag, and boy, is it a good one. Very similar to the wild horse chase in The Village Smithy. Funny how the strongest gags in the Porky cartoons hardly involve Porky at all.

Porky finally distances himself from the train, when Man Mountain barrels into him. He takes great offense: “So you don’t wanna play choo choo, huh?” Words flash on the bottom screen advertising THE AEROPLANE SPIN as MM twirls Porky above his head in an aerial spin, both of them turning into a literal flash of an airplane in the process, zooming around the arena and eventually crashing into the ring.

Snapping out of his momentary daze, Porky gives an uncharacteristic “WOAH!” in a deeper man’s voice—and rips a patch from the flooring, crawling underneath the tarp on the ground as Man Mountain crawls after him. He punts the pig shaped bump to one of the corners, where Porky’s head pops out of the corner post. MM whacks Porky in the head, which sends him propelling down through the post and out of the other diagonal post, knocking right into the perpetrator.

Man Mountain is seemingly down for the count, tiny Porky perched on his giant physique. The referee and the crowd all count in a rhythm of twos, man mountain interjecting “Uh-uh!” After the “five, six!”, regardless of Man Mountain’s protests, Porky is declared the winner. MM lifts his head up slightly, the referee placing his hand on the ground to catch him. Instead, MM slams his head to the ground, and the referee now pulls out a giant, flattened hand. Iris out.

This is certainly one of Tex’s better Porky entries, and one of his last—he’d only make 4 more after this in his entire career at Warner Bros. That train sequence is too wonderful for words, and I encourage everyone to check it out. It’s entirely nonsensical, but that’s the POINT, and the fact that Tex sticks to it so staunchly really brings the gag to life, so you don’t care that the wrestling arena is now an entire moving train. Stick to your vision and don’t give up, because these are the results that you’ll get! No matter how absurd it is, go for it. This is about as absurd as you can get, and it’s wonderful. 

Furthermore, this short has the historical significance of being Mel Blanc’s cartoon. Who doesn’t want to hear Porky shrieking like Daffy? And the reoccurring plight of Yakinowskiokiwoskioski’s name is another wonderful aspect of the cartoon. Watch it! It’s a great one for sure that’s worthy of your attention. Go check it out for yourself! 

Link!