Release Date:

May 22, 1954

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig, Sylvester

Summary:

Having entered a ghost town, Porky Pig and Sylvester spend the night at “Dry Gulch Hotel”, with only Sylvester being aware of the murderous mice that inhabit it and trying to save Porky, who only gets increasingly annoyed with Sylvester’s cowardice.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1288 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon is a follow-up to “Scaredy Cat”, reusing the same plot but never having Porky find out that Sylvester was right about the danger like in the original. It’s also more stylized, thanks to the talents of Maurice Noble.

It’s somewhat ironic that this is the cartoon right after “Dr. Jerkyl’s Hide” where Sylvester became a threat (albeit unknowingly), but here, he’s trying to save Porky from the threat.

Like with the other Porky-Sylvester “horror” cartoons, Sylvester is mute and all of the dialogue comes from Porky.

The cartoon features an exclusive “Porky and Sylvester in” card that uses the Porky headshot from 1944-1951 as well as a Sylvester headshot that was never used in any other cartoon.

The title is a pun for the phrase, “cause for alarm”.

The cartoon was used in the 1988 compilation movie, “Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters”.

Favorite Scene:

The entire bit with the moose head.

What Happens in This One:

Out in the west driving his jalopy and with Sylvester sitting next to him, Porky comments, “Eh, w-well, Sylvester. H-here we are. Back in civilization” (animated by Ken Harris). Once into the ghost town, Porky believes, “Eh, th-this looks like a perfectly splendid place to s-spend the night, doesn’t it, Sylvester? I-it’s so quaint and uh, uh, uh, uh, picturesque”. Sylvester shakes in fear knowing very well this is a spooky abandoned town and cowers on Porky’s right side. Porky only thinks, “Eh, m-my! Y-you certainly are an-an affectionate pussycat all of a sudden!” He then comments, “I, eh, l-love the way people go to bed so early in these country towns” before stopping at “Eh, D-D-Dry Gulch Hotel”. Delighted to find a place to stay, Porky says, “How opportune. I-I hope they’re not full up”, oblivious to Sylvester shivering in terror. Porky grabs his suitcases and begins to walk in with Sylvester clinging onto his backside, “Eh, c-c-come on, Sylvester. I-I’m afraid we’ll have to wake somebody up” (animated by Abe Levitow).

Porky is oblivious to numerous pairs of evil eyes watching him and Sylvester walk up the porch (animated by Richard Thompson). Sylvester reacts in fear to one of them and hides in Porky’s hat, with his tail sticking out like a raccoon skin-cap. Porky reacts, “Wh-wh-what the!? Eh, S-S-Sylvester!” Sylvester fearfully points to the crack from Porky’s left where he spotted the evil eyes, but when Porky turns to look he doesn’t see anything. “Oh, eh, d-don’t be ridiculous. Now come on. Get down from there”. Sylvester does and Porky snatches his hat back. “I-I ought to clobber you”. He then takes his suitcase and tells Sylvester, “Eh, c-c-come on, you great, eh, y-y-yellow cat, you”. Sylvester then spots the shadow of a presumably giant spider, which scares him into hiding in Porky’s suitcase without opening it. “Eh, w-w-what now?” Sylvester points to the giant spider shadow, but it turns out that is actually coming from a normal-sized spider. Porky becomes annoyed as he opens up his suitcase, “Brother! Eh, th-th-the things I have to put up with, eh, w-with this idiotic cat”. He finds Sylvester’s tail sticking out of a blue collared and buttoned shirt and assures him, “It’s just a little t-t-t-teeny harmless spider. You shameless craven, you” (animated by Levitow).

“Now, eh, c-c-come on! I’m sleepy!”, Porky demands as he and Sylvester enter the hotel, oblivious to several murderous mice huddling up together to conspire bumping them off. Porky decides, “I’ll just, eh, r-r-ring for the night clerk”, before he rings a bell that has a cobweb on it. Once rung, the cobweb comes off the bell and a small bat-like creature flies out of it. Four pairs of evil eyes appear out of the above moose head’s eyes and nostrils as Porky assumes everyone’s asleep and decides to sign the register before looking up a room for himself and Sylvester. The mice hiding in the moose head attempt to lower a noose out of the moose head’s mouth down around Porky’s neck, only for Sylvester to push him forward out of the way, causing the mice to quickly pull the noose back inside the moose head. Porky gets up and demands to know, “Alright, eh, w-w-what’s the big idea pushing me!?” Sylvester runs out and returns with a rope before pointing up to the moose head, facially imitating it, and lowering the rope he has to imitate the noose dangling from the moose head before pointing and then imitating being hanged (animated by Ben Washam).

Porky doesn’t believe him, “Oh, eh, d-d-don’t be such an idiot. Eh, w-w-what are you, a-a schizophre- a schizoph-phre-phre-, a schizophre-, eh, a-a- man-, a-a, manic depressive or something?” The mice in the moose head are now following him with a rifle sticking out of the moose head’s mouth and point upward to shoot at Porky as he heads up the stairs. Sylvester tackles the moose head before the mice can shoot, as Porky turns around to see Sylvester wrestling the moose head with several gunshots being fired. “S-S-S-Sylvester!” Porky walks back down towards him while scolding, “Eh, w-w-what are you trying to do, eh, wake everybody in the house!?” He then drags Sylvester up the stairs as Sylvester tries to explain by repeatedly pointing to the moose head as Porky continues scolding, “Of all the s-s-screwball ideas! Fighting with stuffed animals!” (animated by Washam)

In Room 13, Porky is heard from his room chuckling, “Uh, weren’t we lucky to find an unoccupied suite, Sylvester?” From inside the room, Porky is in the bed and wearing pajamas as he tells Sylvester, “Now, eh, l-l-let’s go to sleep. Y-Y-You’ll feel a lot better in the morning. Heh” and mutters to himself as he goes to sleep, “S-S-psychopathic old pussycat, you”. Balled up on a chair, Sylvester sees another noose lowering down from an opening in the ceiling around Porky’s neck and quickly takes out a straight razor to cut the rope. However, he ends up holding the piece of rope he cut around Porky’s neck. After struggling to breathe, Porky comes to, and asks Sylvester suspiciously, “Eh, S-Sylvester? Eh, w-w-what are you doing w-w-with that rope? AND eh, that r-razor?” Sylvester sheepishly hides the razor behind his back before spotting a Wile E. Coyote-lookalike of a mouse attempting to swing Tarzan-style towards them with a knife. Sylvester pushes Porky down out of this mouse’s way and ends up getting most of his back fur cut off in the process. Porky has had enough however, “Eh, th-that settles it! Ou-out you go! Out, out, out, out, out, out!”, and kicks Sylvester out the door which now has a “Do Not Disturb” sign on it (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Shaking in the corner with light in the shape of a keyhole around him, Sylvester sees a ghost floating towards him and literally jumps out of his feet in horror, before bursting into the shut door, which creates a Sylvester-shaped hole. Porky is heard exclaiming, “Eh, w-w-what the-!? G-g-get off of me! G-g-get out of here! Eh, w-w-what’s the big idear!?” The “ghost” passes by an open window letting light in, revealing the silhouettes of eleven mice under a bed sheet, standing atop each others’ heads before passing Porky’s room as Porky continues, “Eh, w-w-what are you up to now, Sylvester!?” In the room, Sylvester is seen cowering inside Porky’s nightcap as Porky demands, “Eh, S-S-Sylvester! You come out of there this instant!” Sylvester points to what he thinks is the “ghost” he saw next to the window. It turns out this is actually a chair covered by a bed sheet floating in the wind. “Eh, w-w-w-w-well?”, Porky asks, irritated (animated by Thompson).

Still wearing Porky’s nightcap, Sylvester attempts to explain what he saw outside before pulling the nightcap over himself and flapping his arms. Porky gets back in the bed next to him and takes his nightcap back, “Oh, eh, c-c-cut it out! O-of all the n-n-n-nonsense!” He then decides, “I-I guess the only way you’ll be safe from, eh, B-B-Bogeyman i-is if you sleep here with me, you p-p-poltroon of a chicken cat, you!” (animated by Washam)

Later in the night, as Porky is sound asleep, a rifle barrel comes in through a hole in the wall, aiming directly at Porky. Sylvester looks up in time to see this and after making a horrified take, runs over to plug the barrel up with his finger. A bullet still ends up firing through his tail, and through Porky’s nightcap. Porky only mutters in his sleep about the noise, “Eh, m-m-mice”. Sylvester grabs the rifle out of the wall and shoots from his end into the hole, presumably killing all the mice. This wakes Porky up as he asks, “Uh, tell me, Sylvester? I-is there any i-insanity in your family?” Sylvester is then forced to guard Porky all night by marching back and forth in front of his bed all the while holding the rifle (animated by Harris).

The next morning, a sleep-deprived Sylvester is seen looking at the rising sun with bloodshot eyes. Porky wakes up, well-rested. “Eh, w-w-what a lovely morning. Eh, this really is a restful place”. He gets up from bed to wash up as he decides, “Eh, y-you know, I think we’ll just stay here for a week or-or ten days and get REALLY r-r-rested up!”, much to Sylvester’s horrified shock. Not wanting to stay in this nightmare of a hotel any longer, Sylvester sneaks up on Porky as he’s singing “Home on the Range” and clouts him on the head with the rifle. This gives Porky a red lump on his head and white stars amidst blue backgrounds replacing his pupils as he repeatedly sings, “And the deer and the antelope pl-pl-” over and over again like a broken record. Sylvester puts the suitcase and Porky, still unconsciously singing the same line over and over, in the back seat, as Sylvester takes the wheel and drives away. Upon exiting the ghost town, Sylvester sighs in relief, but is oblivious to the numerous pairs of evil eyes appearing in the dashboard (animated by Thompson).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕