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"Pigs Is Pigs" is a story by American writer Ellis Parker Butler. First published as a short story in American Illustrated Magazine in September 1905, "Pigs Is Pigs" went on to dozens of printings as a book and in anthologies over the next several decades.
Railway agent Mike Flannery wants to charge the livestock rate for a shipment of two guinea pigs and refuses to accept the lower pet rate, saying "pigs is pigs." Flannery believes that the "guinea" is an indication of the pigs' national origin. He argues that they should bear the higher freight charge of 30¢ for livestock, rather than the lower 25¢ for domestic pets. In support of this, he submits that if they were "dago pigs" or "Irish pigs," there would be no question of the animals' status.
Because the customer refuses to accept delivery, Flannery is forced to feed and house what he now calls the "dago pigs" in his office. When he eventually receives instructions to accept the lower price, he discovers that the customer has moved. He is then instructed by his superiors to return the pigs to the company warehouse. By this time, the guinea pigs have reproduced exponentially in Flannery's station house. After returning all the descendants, Flannery resolves to charge the lower rate for any future livestock.
The story was made into movie form several times, including the Walt Disney cartoon in 1954 that was nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short Film. The 1937 Merrie Melodies cartoon Pigs Is Pigs , directed by Friz Freleng, is not an adaptation of the Butler story.
The rapid reproduction of the guinea pigs and their near overrunning of a facility is mirrored by the Martian flat cats in the Robert A. Heinlein novel The Rolling Stones . Heinlein admitted he took inspiration from Butler but never plagiarized him. [1] In a note to David Gerrold over the similarity of Star Trek's tribbles to his flat cats, Gerrold claims that Heinlein wrote to him, “we both owe something to Ellis Parker Butler...and possibly to Noah.” [2]
Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS) is an American animated science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired simply under the title Star Trek, subtitled Created by Gene Roddenberry, on Saturday mornings from September 8, 1973 to October 12, 1974 on NBC, spanning 22 episodes over two seasons. The second series in the Star Trek franchise, it features mostly the same characters as Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the further adventures of the Starship USS Enterprise as it explores the galaxy.
The Rolling Stones is a 1952 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein.
The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig, also known as the cavy or domestic cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the genus Cavia in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the name "cavy" for the animal, but "guinea pig" is more commonly used in scientific and laboratory contexts. Despite their name, guinea pigs are not native to Guinea, nor are they closely related to pigs. Instead, they originated in the Andes region of South America, where wild guinea pigs can still be found today. Studies based on biochemistry and DNA hybridization suggest they are domesticated animals that do not exist naturally in the wild, but are descendants of a closely related cavy species such as C. tschudii. Originally, they were originally domesticated as livestock for a source of meat, and are still consumed in some parts of the world.
Isadore "Friz" Freleng, credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total he created more than 300 cartoons.
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David Gerrold is an American science fiction screenwriter and novelist. He wrote the script for the original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", created the Sleestak race on the TV series Land of the Lost, and wrote the novelette "The Martian Child", which won both Hugo and Nebula Awards, and was adapted into a 2007 film starring John Cusack.
"The Trouble with Tribbles" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by David Gerrold and directed by Joseph Pevney, it was first broadcast on December 29, 1967. In this comic episode, the starship Enterprise visits a space station that soon becomes overwhelmed by rapidly reproducing small furry creatures called "tribbles."
Ellis Parker Butler was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story "Pigs Is Pigs", in which a bureaucratic stationmaster insists on levying the livestock rate for a shipment of two pet guinea pigs, which soon start proliferating exponentially. His most famous character was Philo Gubb.
Beans the Cat is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Cartoons series of cartoons from 1935–1936. Beans was the third Warner Bros cartoon character star after Bosko and Buddy. He was voiced by Billy Bletcher. He was created by director Friz Freleng. The character was featured in nine cartoons made in 1935 and 1936.
Scaredy Cat is a 1948 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on December 18, 1948, and stars Porky Pig and Sylvester the Cat. The cartoon is notable in that it marks the first time the name "Sylvester" is used for the popular feline character. In previous shorts, the cat is unnamed, except for in the 1947 cartoon Tweetie Pie in which he is referred to as "Thomas".
Kitty Kornered is a 1946 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon, directed by Robert Clampett. The short was released on June 8, 1946, and stars Porky Pig and Sylvester.
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was primarily responsible for the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated short films. The characters featured in these cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig, are among the most famous and recognizable characters in the world. Many of the creative staff members at the studio, including directors and animators such as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Robert McKimson, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, Arthur Davis, and Frank Tashlin, are considered major figures in the art and history of traditional animation.
John Ryan Kinney was an American animator, director and producer of animated shorts. Kinney is the older brother of fellow Disney animator Dick Kinney.
Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas is a 2006 animated direct-to-DVD Christmas comedy film starring the Looney Tunes characters, directed by Charles Visser, produced by Warner Bros. Animation and animated by Toon City Animation. The film is based on Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol (1843). The special was released on DVD on November 14, 2006, and was then broadcast on Cartoon Network in December 2006. The special was rereleased on DVD as part of the Looney Tunes Holiday Triple Feature on September 1, 2020.
Spike and Tyke are fictional characters from the Tom and Jerry animated film series, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Spike is portrayed as an English Bulldog, who is generally amiable and friendly, and a loving father to his son Tyke in several episodes. However, Spike's character also has a very stern and fierce side for occasions, such as when he is defending his son Tyke.
Thomas Augustin Palmer was an Italian-American animator, cartoon director, and U.S. training film supervisor. He was active in the animation industry throughout the 1920s and 1930s and was best known for his animation work at Walt Disney Productions. He spent a good chunk of his later career directing training films for the United States Army.
Pigs Is Pigs is a 1954 animated film by Walt Disney Studios. Based on the story "Pigs Is Pigs" by Ellis Parker Butler, it relates the tale of a railway agent and his problems with a shipment of two guinea pigs that proceed to breed rapidly. The cartoon was animated in the flat, colorful UPA style. The melody of the traditional Irish jig "The Irish Washerwoman" is repeated throughout the short.
Tribbles are a fictional alien species in the Star Trek universe. They were conceived by screenwriter David Gerrold and first appeared in 1967, in the fifteenth episode of the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series, titled "The Trouble with Tribbles". They are depicted as a small, furry, gentle, cute and slow-moving, but rapidly reproducing, lovable species. Though they appear infrequently on-screen, they have become a popular feature of the Star Trek universe, featuring in their own eponymous official card game, and even lending their name to a conserved family of proteins that was first identified in the fruit fly as a regulator of cell division.
Harry S. Palmer was an animator in the United States. About 20 of his films are preserved in the Library of Congress. He worked at Gaumont Film Company's American division in Flushing, New York.
If that matter had simply been dropped after that one episode was filmed, I would have chalked it up wryly to experience. But the "nice kid" did not drop it; "tribbles" (i.e. my "flat cats") have been exploited endlessly… Well that's one that did "larn me." Today if J. Christ phoned me on some matter of business, I would simply tell him: "See my agent.
The full text of Pigs Is Pigs at Wikisource
Media related to Pigs Is Pigs at Wikimedia Commons
Pigs Is Pigs public domain audiobook at LibriVox