Release Date:

May 27, 1950

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig, Miss Prissy

Summary:

Farmer Porky Pig is not happy with one of his hens, Miss Prissy, for refusing to lay an egg. As a gag, one of the hens lays an egg and places it under Prissy. Prissy believes it’s hers, and refuses to hand it over for it to be delivered to market. After it’s taken from her, Prissy goes to great lengths to get it back.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1119 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This marks the first appearance of the blue-bonneted hen, Miss Prissy, who often says a long “Yeeeeeesssssss…”. She would later become a frequent recurring character in the Foghorn Leghorn cartoons, and this is also her only appearance outside of a Foghorn cartoon.

Prissy is based off of Pert Kelton’s character, Martha Harrison, from the “Milton Berle Show”.

The cartoon was originally titled “Scrambled Yeggs”.

Prissy’s voice sounds a bit higher-pitched than all of her subsequent appearances.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

The store that Prissy smashes eggs in, attempting to find “her” egg is called “Foster’s Fresh Eggs”, which is a reference to Warren Foster.

What I Like About This One:

The cartoon opens on a billboard at Porky’s farm where it’s advertised as “Home of the Famous Hammond Eggs”.

Porky cheerfully greets his hens after walking into the henhouse (animated by Rod Scribner), and collects eggs from them one by one: Agnes gives him a normal one; he kisses Pauline upon seeing she’s laid two to which she squawks and spits in disgust; Miriam lays one that looks more like an Easter egg- one that’s yellow with red stripes and has red tips on either end: “N-n-now cut that out, Miriam. Y-y-you and your fancy tricks”; he finds none from Prissy and after she answers “Yes?” to him saying her name in an asking tone, Porky asks annoyed, “Eh, eh, why don’t YOU ever lay an egg? Why-why-why-why-why?” Prissy whispers something in his ear and Porky’s reaction reveals Prissy’s answer: “Embarrassing?”, to which Prissy responds, “Yes?” Porky rants, “Th-th-there’s nothing embarrassing about a hen laying an egg. And you’d better lay one or it’s your neck (makes throat-cutting noise). Y-you understand?”. After Prissy gulps (although the sound effect comes out as “gobble”) and confirms, “Yes”, Porky asides, “I g-g-give ‘em the old needle once in a while” (animated by Charles McKimson).

Another hen, Daphne, informs Pauline that “old square britches” (Prissy) is trying to lay an egg. Pauline laughs that she’ll never make it, to which another hen comes by and responds, “Of course not. She’s too O-L-D”. Miriam too laughs at this, “Too old. That’s right” (animated by Charles). Prissy ignores them and pulls down a curtain shade, “Hen at Work” and reads “The Egg and I” while trying to lay an egg (animated by Bill Melendez). As a joke, Miriam asks Agnes to lay an egg. After Agnes lays a light purple egg, the unnamed hen paints Prissy’s name on it (animated by Emery Hawkins) before Miriam slips it under Prissy (animated by Melendez).

Thinking she’s actually laid the egg, Prissy clucks excitedly (animated by Melendez) and puts cigars in all the hens’ mouths and also Porky’s before she starts jumping around on his head. Upon seeing that Prissy was excited about having laid an egg, Porky tells her to hand it over but she refuses: “Noooooo”. Porky takes it from her and runs to the delivery truck driver to give him the egg before he leaves (animated by Phil DeLara).

Prissy attempts to stop the truck, only for her to get run over by it. She then chases the truck to the city where after it stops at “Foster’s Fresh Eggs”, she runs inside and starts searching for “her” egg, smashing numerous other eggs in the process. The store owner gets so mad at this that he turns red in the face and literally blows his top, which scares Prissy into running out (animated by Scribner).

Prissy finds that her egg has been delivered to a random house where the woman of the house reads the name on it: “P-R-I. ‘Prissy’. That’s strange”. Horrified at “her” egg about to be boiled, Prissy runs in and turns off the stove every time the woman’s back is turned (animated by Melendez). The woman gets suspicious and imitates the noise of the stove turning on (animated by Charles), before Prissy starts rapidly clucking and takes the egg back. The woman demands her to “Give me that egg!” while swatting at her with a broom. Prissy runs out with “her” egg into a trash can (animated by Melendez).

With Prissy having gone missing, Porky goes to the police to see if they can help (animated by Melendez), but the chief informs him, “We’ve no time for hens. We’re closing in on Pretty Boy Bagle” (animated by Charles). When Porky asks him who Pretty Boy Bagle is, the chief points to a poster of Pretty Boy, a criminal who is a red-haired bulldog where his poster reads, “I’m Pretty Boy Bagle. Public Enemy Number 1”, where his picture is of him pointing to himself, as if the poster was specifically designed to answer Porky’s question (animated by Melendez).

The chief informs the other cops into his radio that Pretty Boy is hiding out at 13 13th Street (animated by Charles). The trash can that Prissy has been hiding in is on the corner of the very same 13th Street (animated by Hawkins). Upon seeing the cops approach, she thinks they’re coming for her and before she enters the building in front of her, asides, “Heavens to Betsy! I’m on the lam!” and then runs up the stairs into the building, which is revealed to be Pretty Boy’s hideout: 13 (animated by Scribner).

Once Prissy reaches the top of the stairs, she ends up going into (animated by Scribner) the same room Pretty Boy is in and squawks to him about the cops closing in on the hideout. “The cops?” “Yeesssss”. “Thanks, kid. I’ll take care of ‘em”. Pretty Boy finds that the cops have all gathered in front of his hideout: “Those coppers. They’ll never take me”. The cops’ bullets fired from a machine gun spell out on his curtain: “Wanna Bet?” One of the cops calls up to him, “Come on down, Pretty Boy. We’ve got ya surrounded”. Pretty Boy tears off his curtain and yells down to them, “Go on, ya blue-coated schmoes!”, to which another cop retorts, “Sticks and stones may break our bones but names will never hurt us” before they open fire, with the rapidly-firing bullets tearing apart the wall as Pretty Boy throws down bricks as well as a chair towards them (animated by DeLara).

Prissy doesn’t know what’s really going on: “Goodness. That nice man. Fighting to protect my egg”. As Pretty Boy is imitating machine gun fire (animated by DeLara), Prissy looks out the window and still believes it’s her they’re after: “Land sakes! All this fuss over one little egg” (animated by Scribner). Porky is also there and calls for Prissy to come on down to him while also telling one of the cops not to shoot her as “she’s no criminal; she’s a good little hen”. The chief orders his men to send in a tear-gas bomb, which shocks Porky. “T-t-t-tear gas bomb!?” (animated by Hawkins)

After said tear-gas bomb is thrown in, Pretty Boy comes out crying from the fumes as one of the cops says, “Aw. Bless his little heart”. While still sobbing, Pretty Boy agrees, “Yeah. Bless my little heart” as he is taken away. Prissy also comes out crying from the fumes (animated by DeLara) as Porky scolds her that she is coming home right away. “Th-th-the idea hanging out with gangsters!” (animated by Hawkins).

Inside Porky’s house, Porky rolls up his sleeves while holding a plank as he asks Prissy: “D-d-do you mean that you WON’T give me the egg?” “Yeesss”, Prissy answers (animated by Melendez). The other hens appear at Porky’s window and reveal the whole thing was a joke: “Take it from her. It’s not hers anyway. Agnes laid it” (animated by DeLara). Saddened, Prissy drops the egg and sadly walks away. Once the egg breaks from the drop, a chick that looks exactly like Prissy is revealed to have been in it. Porky realizes, “W-Well. You WERE Prissy’s egg after all. W-w-weren’t ya?” (animated by Melendez) The Prissy chick chuckles and agrees, “Yeesss” (animated by Charles).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕