Release Date:

January 29, 1949

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig, Charlie Dog

Summary:

After failing to sell himself on the streets in New York, Charlie Dog stows away in the canary cage intended for Porky Pig. Porky tries to get rid of Charlie, to no avail.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1067 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue.

This is the second appearance of Charlie.

The cartoon’s original restoration on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1 DVD set in 2003 inexplicably has a lower audio pitch. A newer restoration premiered in January 2021 in its normal audio pitch, making it the ONLY time where a new HBO Max restoration of a cartoon originally put out on the first two Golden Collections is the better print (the biggest problem of the otherwise excellent HBO Max restorations of the cartoons that hadn’t been put out on disc restored prior to 2020 is something known as “photoshopped titles” where stuff that wasn’t originally part of the cartoon is added onto the borders of the cartoons such as extra rings or artificially extended title cards. This was apparently done to make these widescreen safe, but NONE of the Warner cartoons were ever intended for that format. Fortunately, Warner Archive has been fixing these problems on the Collector’s Choice and Collector’s Vault sets by simply cropping out what isn’t supposed to be there). Why they fixed the pitch for this one, but didn’t for all the other ones that had a lower pitch, I will never understand (not to mention, several cartoons from the first Golden Collection that were presented in normal pitch are inexplicably low pitched in their HBO Max restorations, which makes their HD prints unfortunately suck).

The way Charlie says “Yes?” on the phone is how I often speak when I answer the phone.

Porky’s apartment is the same one as in the previous Porky and Charlie cartoon, “Little Orphan Airedale”.

What I Like About This One:

In tune to “42nd Street”, a crowd of people gathers around. What they are seeing is Charlie silently doing a presentation in time to the music, presented on several pages: “Attention Look” (where a realistic eye is also shown on this page); “You Should Have It In Your Home” (points to each word in time to the music); “It’s Colossal”; “It’s Stupendous”. In time to a drumroll, he presents the next three pages. “What Is This Great Boon to Mankind?”; “Yes! What Is This Great Boon to Mankind?” (points to each word on both pages with his tail); “It’s-”, before the drumroll ends when he presents the last page: “Me” in tiny letters (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

This only annoys everyone who came to see the presentation and they all walk off with bitter expressions, much to Charlie’s surprise. Seeing a deliveryman for the ACME Pet Shop going into his truck, Charlie stows away in the back (animated by Vaughan).

The deliveryman brings Porky the canary he ordered, to which Porky is excited about: “Gosh. M-m-my canary. At last. A-a pet I’ve always wanted. Th-th-there you are, little one.” He takes the sheet off the cage to reveal a grinning Charlie taking up the whole cage! Believing this to be a prank, Porky walks to the phone: “Gosh darn that old pet shop! I d-d-distinctly told them to send me a canary, n-n-not a monster!” A lethargic “Yes?” is heard on the other end of the phone as Porky answers, “Wh-wh-what’s the big idea? I ordered a canary, n-n-not a dog!” It turns out he’s actually talking to Charlie as his voice answers, “Is that bad? I think you’re very fortunate”. Porky replies back, “W-w-well, I don’t think I’m very fortunate. I-I-I-” He then sees that Charlie disconnected the phone cord. “After all, dog is mans’ best friend, ya know. You should feel privileged to own such an animal.” Porky tells him, “I D-D-DON’T feel privileged! I ordered a canary and I’m gonna GET a c-c-canary!” He then runs up to Charlie and throws him out, “D-d-dogs are out! Out! Out! Out! And s-s-stay out!” (animated by Ben Washam)

Charlie immediately bursts back in and starts the “you ain’t got no dog, I ain’t got no master” bit. After asking Porky, “Have you ever seen a bird retrieve a dog? Of course not. And yet in me, you see one of the finest pointers that ever lived. Now get a load of this”. He starts pointing all over the place and saying, “There it is” over and over again. Porky points out the door and says, “Th-th-there it is”. When Charlie looks out himself, Porky kicks him out and answers, “Th-th-there!” (animated by Washam)

Charlie gets back in through the door’s transom and tells Porky that having a dog around is comforting. “You can’t help but like it” (animated by Vaughan). Charlie yanks Porky offscreen and starts doing something to him as Porky demands him to stop. It’s revealed that Charlie has dressed Porky up like a typical master complete with glasses, pipe, fez, and a book and having him sit down in a chair in front of the fireplace as Charlie looks up at him with soulful eyes lying down (animated by Ken Harris).

Porky picks up the still-lying down Charlie by the tail and throws him out before he hears a baby crying. It’s actually Charlie disguised as one in a basket, which Porky is seemingly fooled by. “Gracious! An aband-aband-d-d-a deserted infant. Heh. What a cute little darling! Isn’t he c-c-cute?”, but then kicks the basket away before walking back into his apartment and saying to himself, “Th-th-that mangy old trickster!” Charlie reappears disguised as a lady with an umbrella who scolds Porky in a feminine voice, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? I saw what you did. Kicking that poor defenseless little baby”. He starts whacking him with the umbrella and shouting, “You brute! Oh, you beast! Oh! Oh! Oh!” which causes Porky to run out the door and Charlie to shut it. Porky gets wise and demands to be let back in. Charlie opens it and answers with the same lethargic “Yes?” from earlier (animated by Harris).

After Porky demands Charlie to get out, Charlie goes into a sob story and acts like he’s about to jump out the window. “I shall end it all by throwing meself long into eternity”. Porky pleads for him not to, but Charlie jumps out anyway. Porky looks out to see a very high and ridiculously well-balanced stack of mattresses with Charlie lying on the top one and asking, “Looking for something, bub?” Porky grumbles in fury and shuts both the window and curtain (animated by Harris).

Hearing a knock on his door, Porky opens it and starts yelling for who he thinks is Charlie to get out. It’s actually room service giving him his lunch, which upon realizing it, Porky chuckles in embarrassment. “Boy, g-getting rid of that mutt sure made me w-w-work up an appetite”, Porky says but upon lifting up the platter, finds Charlie with an apple in his mouth, imitating a roast! Charlie starts going overdramatic: “That knife! You-you wouldn’t! You-you just couldn’t! After all, we’ve been to each other. Oh, how could you? (sobs) I’ll scrub your floors! I’ll mend your socks! I’ll sweat over a hot stove! (animated by Phil Monroe) Now can I stay? Hm? Can I? Can I? Hm? Hm?” Porky briefly gives an evil smile and seemingly approves but tells Charlie that he’ll have to give him a dog coat first. Chanting, “Oh goody! I’m gonna have a wardrobe!”, Charlie sticks his arms out for Porky to make a “paper pattern” on him, but Porky instead does the evil stutter laugh while wrapping Charlie up like a package before shipping him off to Siberia (animated by Washam with Harris animating the shot of Porky wiping his forehead after putting the wrapped-up Charlie in the mailbox).

Later, Porky hears a knock on his door and is greeted by Charlie dressed as a Russian and asking in the manner of Bert Gordon’s “Mad Russian” character: “How do you do?” After Charlie talks about “all the places I’ve been, the things I’ve seen. Such singings (makes kissing noises)”, he does the Russian kick dance while kicking Porky in the behind several times before finally kicking him out the door (animated by Harris).

Charlie is removing his disguise just as the phone rings. Answering it with the same “Yes?” once more, Charlie gets a threat from Porky’s upstairs neighbor who asks, “Are you gonna cut out that racket or do I have to come down there and SEE that ya do!?” Irritated at the guy’s attitude, Charlie snaps back, “Oh, yeah!? Listen, you repulsive ape! I’ll save ya the trip and come up and see YOU! So say your prayers, chowder head, ‘cause here I come!” before hanging up and telling Porky that the man upstairs wants to see him and has something for him. Unaware of what he’s in for, Porky goes upstairs, expecting something friendly (animated by Vaughan).

While Charlie is viewing slides with some sort of goggles, the inevitable outcome with Porky and the upstairs neighbor occurs offscreen. “Uh, how do you do, sir? I’m your n-n-neighbor from downstairs” “Oh, you are, are ya?” After beating him up, the upstairs neighbor comes down to the apartment with a beat-up Porky and asks Charlie, “Does THIS belong to you?” Weary, Porky finally gives in and allows Charlie to stay for good this time. But Charlie has changed his mind: “I don’t know. I’m not sure I like it here after all. It’s too noisy. What, with you fightin’ with the neighbors all the time. Makin’ all that racket. After all, I do have my health to look after. You understand, buddy. No hard feelings”. He tries to leave, but makes a wild, frightened take upon seeing Porky lose his mind and laugh very fiendishly while walking towards him: “You’re gonna st-st-stay all right! (laughs maniacally) I’m-I’m gettin’ to like you!” and walks toward the camera with a slasher smile and continues laughing maniacally before the scene fades to black (animated by Monroe).

In reversed roles, Charlie is now dressed as the master and Porky is resting at his feet. Charlie tries to sneak away but Porky growling like a dog forces him to come back and stay in the chair (animated by Monroe).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½