| Porky's Railroad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Frank Tashlin |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | Joe D'Igalo Robert Bentley |
| Color process | Black and White |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date | August 7, 1937 |
Running time | 7:14 |
| Language | English |
Porky's Railroad is a Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. [1] The short was released on August 7, 1937, and stars Porky Pig. [2]
Porky and his 2-2-2 typed locomitive (#131⁄2 "Toots" ) travel the 15th Century Unlimited and endure a larger locomotive and stubborn bull who crosses the tracks. [3]
In the scene in which Porky pulls the bull's tail, some of his speech is garbled. When played backwards, however, Porky's words here are "...Toots old gal, d-d-don't pop your b-b-b-b...". [4]
When a woodpile is knocked over there is a brief view of a caricatured black man, a derogatory visual reference from the cartoonists to the then commonly used term "a nigger in the woodpile". During the race, Porky runs his train over the top of a boat called the 'S.S Leon', a gag dedicated to the cartoon's producer Leon Schlesinger. Also, the Morse Code heard is a message to write "QST QSL Leon Schlesinger Hollywood picture of Porky" [5]
Looney Tunes is an American animated franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It began as a series of short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series Merrie Melodies, during the golden age of American animation. Following a revival in the late 1970s, new shorts were released as recently as 2014. The two series introduced a large cast of characters, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig. The term Looney Tunes has since been expanded to also refer to the characters themselves.
Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts featuring the character. Even after he was supplanted by later characters, Porky continued to be popular with moviegoers and, more importantly, the Warners directors, who recast him in numerous everyman and sidekick roles.
Leon Schlesinger was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant relative of the Warner Brothers. As head of his own studio, Schlesinger served as the producer of Warner's Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from 1930, when Schlesinger assumed production from his subcontractors, Harman and Ising, to 1944, when Warner acquired the studio.
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the Looney Tunes animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows Time for Beany and Beany and Cecil. He was born and raised not far from Hollywood and, early in life, showed an interest in animation and puppetry. After dropping out of high school in 1931, he joined the team at Harman-Ising Productions and began working on the studio's newest short subjects, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.
Merrie Melodies is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the companion series to Looney Tunes, and featured many of the same characters as the former series. It originally ran from August 2, 1931, to September 20, 1969, during the golden age of American animation, though it had been revived in 1979, with new shorts sporadically released until June 13, 1997. Originally, Merrie Melodies placed emphasis on one-shot color films in comparison to the black and white Looney Tunes films. After Bugs Bunny became the breakout character of Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes transitioned to color production in the early 1940s, the two series gradually lost their distinctions and shorts were assigned to each series randomly.
Buddy is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes series by Leon Schlesinger Productions. He was the second star of the series, after Bosko.
Petunia Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. She looks much like her significant other, Porky Pig, except that she wears a dress and has pigtailed black hair.
Piggy is the name of two animated cartoon characters in the Merrie Melodies series of films distributed by Warner Bros. The first character was a fat, black pig wearing a pair of shorts with two large buttons in the front, and his first film was You Don't Know What You're Doin'!
Gold Diggers of '49 is a 1935 Warner Bros. theatrical animated cartoon short in the Looney Tunes series. This film is the first animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery for Warner Bros., and the second Warners cartoon to feature the character Porky Pig. The star is Beans the Cat, with Porky Pig as the father of Beans' fiancée, Little Kitty. Looking for suitable characters from the Warners stable to embellish, Avery took two child characters from the previous short I Haven't Got a Hat, turned them into adults, and, as Steve Schlesinger writes, "set the studio on track to making adult cartoons."
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 is voiced by Billy Bletcher and occasionally by Tommy Bond. He was created by director Friz Freleng. The character was featured in nine cartoons made in 1935 and 1936.
Porky's Hare Hunt is a 1938 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated short film directed by Ben "Bugs" Hardaway and an uncredited Cal Dalton, which stars Porky Pig as a hunter whose quarry is a little white rabbit. The short was released on April 30, 1938.
I Haven't Got a Hat is a 1935 animated short film, directed by Isadore Freleng for Leon Schlesinger Productions as part of the Merrie Melodies series. Released on March 2, 1935, the short is notable for featuring the first appearance of several Warner Bros. cartoon characters, most notably future cartoon star Porky Pig. Beans the Cat, a minor Looney Tunes star in 1935-1936, also made his first appearance in this cartoon.
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.
You Ought to Be in Pictures is a 1940 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short film directed by Friz Freleng. The cartoon was released on May 18, 1940, and stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.
Porky Pig's Feat is a 1943 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin. It was released on July 17, 1943, and stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.
Dough for the Do-Do is a 1949 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on September 2, 1949, and stars Porky Pig. The short is a remake of Bob Clampett's 1938 cartoon Porky in Wackyland, as well as using footage from his 1943 cartoon Tin Pan Alley Cats.
Porky's Last Stand is a 1940 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Bob Clampett. The cartoon was released on January 6, 1940 according to The Indianapolis Star, and stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.
Notes to You is a 1941 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng. The short was released on September 20, 1941, and stars Porky Pig.
Old Glory is a 1939 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on July 1, 1939, and stars Porky Pig. The cartoon was commissioned by Warner Bros. as a counterpart for a series of live-action films about American patriotism.
Porky's Garden is a 1937 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short was released on September 11, 1937, and stars Porky Pig.* This cartoon's theme is a Looney Tunes theme from 1937, known as Porky Signature theme, but not "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", which would be first used as the opening theme in "Rover's Rival". However, a few bars of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" are played when the Podunk fair is introduced. This predates the use of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" as the Looney Tunes theme, and is one of the earliest uses of this song in the Warner Brother's cartoons, the last cartoon that Elmer Wait animated; he died about two months prior to the release. The film entered the Public Domain in 1965.
