Release date: June 4th, 1938
Series: Looney Tunes
Director: Frank Tashlin
Starring: Mel Blanc (Porky, Dog, Grandpa), Tedd Pierce (Falling Man, Stepin Fetchit)
Frank Tashlin is no stranger to fire gags--a number of gags in this short can be traced back to Tashlin's Van Beuren Tom and Jerry cartoon, Hook & Ladder Hokum.
As we iris in on the fire department, the blare of a fire alarm indicates that no time shall be wasted getting to the action. Indeed, one of the firefighters opens the doors to the fire department. A pause as the firefighters get settled into their vehicle...
...and crash out of the wall instead.
Everybody's favorite porcine is at the wheel, cranking the fire alarm as the truck bobs to and fro, hurtling down the streets. The physics of the firetruck behave in a rubbery and elastic manner, beckoning memories of cartoons from the early '30s. That is in no way a criticism--the energy of the furiously swaying firetruck is greatly appreciated.
Like with any cartoon donning Tashlin's name, there are bound to be unconventional angles. We get a driver's-eye-view of the truck screaming down the streets, the front half of the truck still swaying to-and-fro as the animated backgrounds whiz right on by. Props to Tashlin and co. for the extra effort in animating the backgrounds.
And, just as soon as it started, the action halts. The firetruck screeches to a halt to allow a line of cats through, one of them carrying a baby in its mouth. Again, the designs of the cat look straight out of 1933 rather than 1938, but that's not necessarily a complaint.
Speaking of 1933, a gag from Hook & Ladder Hokum, released that very year, is repurposed here: the firefighters approach the burning building, with the flames gushing out of the windows, spelling "HELP".
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| Note the Looney Tunes plug in the background. |
The boys screech to a halt, their braking so effective that the entire top half of the fire engine is catapulted off of the bottom and has to be lugged back into place.
With that, the firefighters clock in for the day, literally punching in their time cards. Porky is the last to do so, fetching his hat when the arms on the clock begin to spin. Always a classic as a stream of coins spout from the clock, Porky using his hat to collect his jackpot before resuming his duties.
Porky fetches the fire hose as the team attempt to put out the fire. The fire expresses its gratitude, spelling out messages of "THANKS BOYS" before clutching its flaming "hands" together and shaking its fists in the glory. While the short hasn't been particularly groundbreaking so far, its whimsy and lightheartedness are infectious.
Elsewhere, a gag is repurposed from a previous Tashlin effort, Porky's Building. Having the hose sufficiently plugged into the fire hydrant, Porky tells one of his coworkers "Eh-keh-eh-okay, eh-eh-eh-turn 'er on! Hurry up! Eh-eh-eh-turn 'er on!"
The aloof dog from Porky's Building leans against the fire hydrant, chuffing on a pipe and bothering to crack open an eye. Just like in the aforementioned cartoon, he lumbers alongside the hose sprawled out on the street to a constipated rendition of "Boulevardier from the Bronx", walking precisely alongside the hose's perimeter. The animation is amusing in more ways than one--the frequent billows of smoke, his waddled walk, the way he obeys the hose's perimeter are all great contributions to making the gag funny.
At last, he approaches Porky, already aiming the hose. Mel Blanc's growl is gravelly and unaffected: "What did you say?"
Porky is much more animated in his delivery, jumping out of his boots as he shrieks "I eh-eh-eh-said eh-TURN ON THE WATER!!!"
The unnamed dog isn't slighted at the outburst, instead giving a monotone "Oh," and returning to his interminable walkabout along the fire hose. His role in both this cartoon and Porky's Building are equally entertaining--the morbidity of the aforementioned cartoon can't be beat (he purposefully causes onlookers to die a fiery death in an explosion because they refused to move back from the explosion site), but the slow-burn and apathy here make for a great laugh. Certainly a scene stealer.
Also reused from Hook & Ladder Hokum is a single droplet of water plopping out of the hose, contrary to the giant water bulge snaking up the pipe. Porky takes matters into his own hands, grabbing a bucket and rushing to another nearby fire hydrant. Porky's scrambled run feels a tad floaty and awkward, but is still fun to observe--especially when he shoos a gaggle of dogs away from said hydrant.
With a turn of the crank, Porky fills his bucket with the necessary water, rushing to the burning building himself. Just as he goes to dump the bucket on the fire, the anthropomorphized fire teases him by grabbing the bucket and dumping the water over Porky's head instead before waving goodbye and turning back into a wall of fire.
As it turns out, the building that’s ablaze is a (“theatrical”) boarding house. Focus shifts from the plaque identifying the boarding house to an obtuse woman in the window (her briefcase labeled “MABEL THE FAT WOMAN”) begging to get down. Fat jokes aside, Tashlin’s drawing style is particularly strong in her design—very geometrical and heavyset with tiny little feet. She feels straight out of one of Tashlin’s comic strips.
Thus, the aloof, pipe smoking pup comes to the rescue, doing his signature waddle all along the perimeter of the hose and up the ladder. As Mabel continues to shriek, the dog approaches her at the window, asking again in the same monotone growl, “What did you say?”
His routine with Porky is repeated, and while the novelty is a little worn the second time around, the scene still rouses a laugh—especially when he carelessly grabs the woman, showing no signs of a struggle, and just drops her completely, totally deadpanned.
To accent the fall, we merely observe the dog leaning against the burning building as Mabel plummets offscreen. A drumroll is used in place of a music score, which heightens the suspense and humor of the entire gag.
Sure enough, Mabel hits the concrete with an unseen crash—the sound of cymbals colliding and a rather odd camera shake (the camera glides horizontally rather than creating a manic jitter, which hinders the impact of the fall) serve as appropriate context clues.
Even more inspiration is borrowed from Hook & Ladder Hokum as a profusely bearded old man shrieks for help. He, too, looks straight out of 1933. His design is quite close to the old man in the aforementioned cartoon—perhaps they’re one and the same, with grandpa deciding he’d skip a shave for 5 years.
Either way, Porky darts up the ladder and heads into the burning building to help the thrashing, rubbery old coot. Of course, traffic is another issue in the world of firefighting—there’s a particularly amusing gag where Porky veers off to an extended ladder on the side as a traffic light cues him to stop. Down comes the lumbering dog, moseying along with his hands in his pockets. With that, the light turns and Porky is free to resume his duties. Points for creativity and whimsy.
Porky jumps into an open window and prepares to save the day with a courageous “Eh-don’t worry, I’ll eh-eh-eh-save ya!”
Carl Stalling’s energetic, bouncy cue of “Old King Cole” indicates hilarity is about to ensue. Indeed, gramps shoves Porky’s fireman’s hat over his head. “Don’t worry about me—go save grandpa!”
Porky hardly has any time to do a full hat take as grandpa dives out the window with a Daffy-esque “HOOHOO! HOOHOOHOOHOO!” His thin, rubbery, and noodley limbs are fun to observe and beckon memories of cartoons past; a point which is furthered when gramps’ beard turns into a parachute, the old man patiently swaying to safety, hands clasped and everything.
Anthropomorphic flames tease the firefighters below, prompting an entire chase between water and fire. A steady stream of water serve as an answer to the flames. Thus cues a call and response battle between the fire and firefighters—every time the flame makes its presence known, a gush of water pushes it back through the building and out another window.
Back to the pig, who scrambles to grab a fire hose. The same floaty, slightly awkward scramble is repeated from before as he slides past the fire hydrant--it's as though the pan is slowing him down and keeping him suspended, so he appears to run in place. However, too quick of a pan would also be a hinderance, and an aimless, awkward scramble suits a bumbling character like Porky.
Such a point is made as Porky accidentally gets caught in his own hose, the hose tying him up and releasing him like a spinning top. The animation glides, the non-stop camera pan almost as dizzying as the action itself. "Fun" is a vague word that I use to describe many things, but if there were ever a case to describe the animation as such, this would be it.
Porky recovers from his dizzy spell and darts to attach the hose onto the fire hydrant. As he turns the crank, water spouts out of the other end of the hydrant. Quick to remedy the error, Porky attaches the hose to the afflicted spout, only for water to come out of the OTHER spout instead. Attaching two hoses to both spouts proves inadequate--water gushes straight out of the top, much to Porky's chin stroking befuddlement.
The gag's grand reveal serves as a light precursor to another Tashlin Porky effort, Porky Pig's Feat. There, A disembodied hand lights a match and gives Porky the ol' hot foot from the sanctity of a storm drain. Here, Porky lifts up the fire hydrant from the sidewalk and gets sprayed by a water bottle from someone hiding underground. Perhaps Frank Tashlin's way of venting out his frustrations working with the pig? Either way, very whimsical and amusing--I especially enjoy the camera nonchalantly panning away as Porky continues to get sprayed in the face.
As the pan halts at a manhole cover, the culprit of the gag is revealed--out comes the lumbering dog, still walking along to his motif of "Boulevardier from the Bronx", spray bottle in hand as he emerges and continues to his apathetic duties.
First was Mabel the Fat Lady, next is "Lucy the Bearded Lady", an equally rotund woman who begs for help out the window. Rather than focusing on her rescue, the process of her rescue--or lack thereof--is featured instead.
There's a rather intriguing down-shot of Porky perched on the firetruck's ladder. We begin with a close-up of Porky, who reassures her "Eh-don't worry! I'll eh-ss-eh-ss-eh-save ya!" The camera trucks out to reveal the entire shot of Porky and the firetruck, giving commands to one of the firefighters as the entire town observes. "Keh-o-keh--alright, weh-weh-wind 'er up fast!"
Porky's assistant is another pooch (who, again, looks like he belongs in a cartoon about 6 years before this), but one who's overzealous rather than deadpan. He cranks the ladder reel with such ferocity that the ladder snakes and through the entire building, smashing dozens of windows as poor Porky can only hang on to dear life. Lucy's fate is left up in the air as the ladder smashes through the rear exit of the boarding house, plopping a winded Porky onto the ground.
Seeing as this is a theatrical boarding house, it's only natural that some dramatics are in order. A group of men dive from the windows of the boarding house in unity, landing one by one to strike an acrobatic pose (musically timed to "Shave and a Haircut"), of course. They proudly lug a banner branding them as "The Flying Leroys".
Tedd Pierce lends his voice to the cartoon (for better or worse, in this case): a man lugging a suitcase plummets to the ground below, desperately begging to be caught. "Help! HELP! CATCH ME! GET THE NET READY! HURRY! HELP! HELP!"
He gets caught... in a cloud of smoke. Enter the inevitable and uncomfortable as the man emerges from the cloud of smoke in blackface, lounging on his suitcase and putting on the entire Stepin Fetchit (otherwise known as "the Laziest Man in the World”) routine, talking in a slow, dim-witted drawl instead. Fetchit caricatures are no stranger to these cartoons, but they remain uncomfortable and irksome today.
Little breathing room is granted as we cut from one blackface gag to the next. Porky darts around the outside of the building, scooping up lingering flames into a bucket. He scoops up an entire line of flames blazing on a board of wood and empties the bucket into a nearby fishbowl--cue inevitable blackface gag as the fish inside the bowl swim around in the black smoke.
Meanwhile, it’s not a point I’ve dwelled on in previous reviews, mainly due to my own ignorance of the genre (which I’ve been making an effort to remedy), but silent films play a very, very, very important role in the making of these cartoons. References to multiple classics hide in every corner. Here, Tashlin channels Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr.
A line of firefighters all spray streams of water through the windows of the boarding house. However, the wall of the building begins to topple, and falls right over the men. A cloud of smoke keep the reveal a secret, but sure enough, as the smoke dissipates, it's revealed that all of the men are unharmed, standing inside of their windows and continuing to spray their water. A nice little homage to a great gag in silent film history.
Cue the ever popular Frank Tashlin montage as overlaid footage from previous parts of the short convey action and time passing on screen. Here, I personally feel the montage is weaker than in other shorts--all of these gags feel rather specific to themselves. The montage worked in a short like Now That Summer is Gone because it showed a variety of nameless squirrels performing odd jobs, and that was about it. They didn't really have any formal introductions or too much weight on the cartoon. Here, showing Mabel screaming in the window again and the man falling, those events had a concrete establishment. I realize I'm looking too deep into like this, but the montage feels more like an attempt to fill up the time rather than to be theatrical.
Nevertheless, the jaunty score of "The Old Apple Tree" turns into a somber, minor-key dirge as the building is reduced to a smoldering pile of rubble (excellent firefighting, boys!). Truck into a close-up of the building, now a brick pile inhabited by the anthropomorphic flame from before. He furtively pokes his head out to see if any firefighters linger nearby.
Just as he believes the coast is clear, an armada of firefighters swarm around the building and waterboard the flame. The suddenness and urgency at which the firefighters appear is to be commended, as is the end gag: the flame re-emerges and shoots the firefighters down with its OWN hose, complete with machine gun sound effects. Iris out on a triumphant, chest-beating flame who gives a Tarzan cry of victory.
While this short has its share of moments, it's far from one of my favorites. The energy is certainly rambunctious and high, which is always a good thing in my book, but the short lacks conviction--maybe it's the 6 minute runtime talking, but it feels more like a string of gags slapped together to fill up the time slot. There's nothing wrong with having a showcase of gags at all--they were relatively amusing--but I suppose the short feels underwhelming. With Tashlin being one of my favorite directors, he sets a very high standard for himself, and when that standard isn't exactly reached, it's noticeable.
The highlight of the short is undoubtedly the lumbering dog from Porky's Building. Amusing already by himself, one has to wonder if audiences recognized him from the aforementioned cartoon, which would make his appearance in the short even more amusing. Either way, the whimsy of the gags are a lot of fun, too. Gramps using his beard as a parachute, Porky's battle with the fire hydrant, the dog, the grand ending, and so on. The animation is fluid and fun, and the short remains spirited. My biggest gripe with the cartoon are the back-to-back blackface gags, which are self explanatory.
While not a favorite short of mine, I'd still hazard a watch. If anything, it's worth watching Tashlin's Hook & Ladder Hokum (which also has its share of blackface gags, so a word of caution) and then comparing it to this cartoon. I don't think it's a bad cartoon, but compared to other Tashlin efforts from both the past and the future, it's a little underwhelming to me. Still has some fun novel gags worth looking out for.
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