Release Date:

September 3, 1955

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Porky Pig

Summary:

Weary traveler Porky Pig finds only one vacant hotel in town that seemingly charges only 10 cents a day. This hotel, however, is run by Daffy Duck, who swindles Porky by sending numerous rest-disturbing animals to Porky’s room, each of which costs Porky more to get rid of.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1333 and was released as a Looney Tune.

The opening rings incorrectly show the production number as 1133 (which is WAY off for this era as that is the production number for “Bunker Hill Bunny”, which was released five years prior).

The cartoon was restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Daffy Duck Frustrated Fowl DVD set in 2010, but was cropped to widescreen. The corrected full frame version was shown on the Boomerang app in the late 2010’s and then HBO Max in 2020. It is currently not available on disc restored in full frame, but hopefully it will one day.

Charles McKimson co-wrote this cartoon with Sid Marcus, with this one also being the last Warner cartoon to have any involvement from Charles.

This is also the last Warner cartoon to be written by Marcus, until “A Squeak in the Deep” and “Swing Ding Amigo” (both released in 1966 and directed by McKimson).

This is the final McKimson cartoon to have Robert Givens as his official layout artist (though he would occasionally do some layouts for later McKimson cartoons. He also recently did the layouts of “Jumpin’ Jupiter” for Jones).

Since McKimson still had yet to form a new team of animators, he animated this one himself along with Keith Darling. Specifically (confirmed by the animator draft which can be viewed here), McKimson animated the start of the cartoon up to the point where the lion hungrily approaches Porky after scaring the boxer dog out. Darling animated the next shot with Daffy answering the phone while sorting his ill-gotten gains all the way to the end of the cartoon. Since I pointed this out already and in order to avoid redundancy, I will not point out who animated what scene in this cartoon, even though this has more than one animator.

The cartoon was originally titled “The Champ Chump”, a title which has nothing to do with the cartoon whatsoever (not to mention, that is also a similar title to Tex Avery’s 1950 MGM cartoon, “The Chump Champ”, which is a sports-related cartoon, so the title makes sense there).

The title is a pun for “time to retire”.

The total amount that Daffy ends up making Porky pay to remove each animal is rounded up to 779.

Favorite Scene:

The boxer dog that scares the bed-hogging cat away turns out to be a literal boxer who won’t stop throwing punches and acting like a fighter when Daffy pushes one of several buttons on a control panel that rings a bell in a specific room (in Porky’s case, Room 16).

What Happens in This One:

Having driven 200 miles from “Sandridge”, Porky drives past in his old-fashioned car where he’s half a mile away to “Coopdeville”. He remarks, “I’m certainly glad I got to town before, d-d-dark. Now, I can find a room and get a good night’s rest. Boy, am I b-b-b-bushed!” Everywhere in sight is marked with “No Vacancy”. Porky figures, “Eh, th-th-there must be a room SOMEWHERE in this town. There’s just g-g-g-gotta b-Uh-oh”. He stops upon seeing somewhere up ahead advertising “Vacancy”. It’s a hotel offering rooms for only 10 cents per day.

Porky parks up in front of the hotel and is surprised at how little they apparently charge, “Eh, g-g-gosh! Only ten cents a day?” Daffy, as the hotel manager, comes out and confirms, “That’s all it is, sir. One thin dime”. He takes Porky’s bags and walks to Room 16, where Porky is assigned, with them as he continues, “What you need is a good night’s rest. And you came to the right place to get it. Yes, sir”. Porky follows Daffy all the way to Room 16. Daffy removes his green outfit, stripping down to a purple outfit with a carnation on it while he also wears spectacles on the end of his beak, “This room is our super duper deluxe special”. Impressed, Porky comments, “Eh, g-g-g-gosh”. Daffy tells him as he leaves, “Now, make yourself at home. Anything you need just give us a ring. Nighty-nighty”. Porky bids him, “Eh, n-n-n-night” before beginning to remove his clothes so he can put his pajamas on. “Only eh, t-t-ten cents a day for this eh, th-th-this swell room. Eh, g-g-gosh. I wonder how they can afford to rent it so cheap”.

At his desk while scatting to “Ain’t We Got Fun”, Daffy puts a mouse from a cage into a hollow tube and walks up to several numbered chutes that sends the tube going to the specific room it’s placed in. “Here we are. Room 16”. The tube goes all the way into Porky’s room by coming out of an electric wall socket. Shortly, a stalk of celery also enters the room that way. The mouse’s noisy munching on the celery keeps Porky awake, so he goes to the phone. “Hello, eh, hello? Hotel Manager? Eh, th-th-there’s a p-p-pesky old mouse in my room and I DEMAND that you get him out immediate-t-t-immediate-t-t-right away!” From the other end, Daffy is heard answering, “Yes, sir!” before Porky hangs up. Daffy, now wearing a white coat and white hat, immediately appears with a cat he refers to as “mouse exterminator”. Porky begins to drag the cat in while encouraging, “C-c-c-come on, pussycat. Go get the mouse. Eh, g-g-g-go get ‘em! Hurry! Hurry!” Daffy takes him back and informs, “Just a minute, buster. There’s a small pussycat fee. A matter of 5 dollars”. Slightly bewildered, Porky pays the amount in order to get rid of the mouse. The cat is then released and causes the mouse to run back into the waiting cage. Daffy leaves with the mouse and assures, “Your troubles are over, pal. Now, you can relax”.

Porky begins to walk back to bed while saying to himself, “Eh, g-g-good riddance to that old rodent. Now I’ll be able t-t-to- huh?” He finds the cat hogging the bed and tries to gently move him, “D-d-d-down, pussy. D-d-down. O-o-off the bed. C-c-c-come on. Off. Off”. The cat then holds out all limbs across the bed, still being selfish with the bed, much to Porky’s frustration, “Come on. D-d-down. P-p-pussy. G-g-get off the b-b-bed. Come on. D-d-down. C-c-come on”. Porky puts a plank underneath the cat and jumps off a chair onto the other end in an attempt to propel the cat off the bed, but since the cat has his claws dug into the bed where his limbs are placed, Porky ends up flying right up into the ceiling headfirst.

On the phone, Porky explains, “I would, eh, l-l-like to register a complaint. I-it’s that old cat. He keeps-”. From the other end, Daffy replies, “Say no more, chum. I’ll take care of him”. Appearing with a boxer dog, Daffy announces him as “cat eliminator”. Porky demands, “Q-q-quick! Let me have him!”, only to be stopped by Daffy, “Hold it, pal. Fork over 10 bucks and he’s yours”. After handing Daffy that amount, Porky encourages the dog, “N-n-now, go get the pussycat, doggy”. The dog’s barking scares the cat into getting off the bed and running out into the hallway as Porky laughs, “Th-th-that dog sure scared the wits out of that cat”. Daffy replies, “Oh, you’ll like THAT dog. He’s a pedigreed boxer” before leaving. Porky goes back to bed as the dog sleeps peacefully on the floor, “Eh, n-n-nice dogs, these boxers. S-s-so peaceful and quiet”.

Back in his desk area, Daffy, again scatting to “Ain’t We Got Fun”, walks up to several buzzers with one marked for each room. He searches for “Room 16” and upon finding it pushes the buzzer for it, “Here we are”. A boxing ring-type bell is revealed to be hidden in the wall, and once it’s rung, the boxer begins throwing punches and doesn’t stop, despite Porky telling him to, “Hey! S-s-stop it! Cut it out! N-n-now, behave yourself, boxer! St-st-stop it! . Going over to the phone once more, “Ow! He-,hello? Hotel Manager? Ow! Ooh! I-I have a p-p-problem. Ow! Ooh!” Daffy answers, “Yes, sir! Be right up!” Porky opens the door before Daffy arrives, but Daffy knocks on Porky’s head anyway, announcing, “Open up. Dog evictor”. Porky pleads, “Hurry. B-b-bring him in. I’m having no END of trouble with that p-p-punchy boxer dog!” Daffy informs, “I’ll have him out of here in a jiffy, pal, but it’ll cost ya 26 bucks!” and says, “Thank you” when Porky gives him that much. Daffy walks out and reappears with a lion cage where once he opens it, the lion leaps out at the boxer, who runs out through the wall, as does his shadow, creating two respective boxer dog-shaped holes. Spotting no one around, the lion then notices Porky and starts stalking towards him.

Counting his ill-gotten gains at his desk, Daffy hears the phone ring, which he answers with “Room Service!” Porky tells him before he’s revealed to be keeping the lion back with a chair like a lion tamer, “I’m eh, s-s-sorry to bother you like this, but I have another p-p-problem”. Daffy replies, “Service is our motto, pal. I’ll be right up”. Daffy opens the door and announces, “Lion eradicator”. Porky, still fighting the lion off, requests, “Hurry. B-b-bring him in”. Daffy tells him, “It’ll cost you 72 dollars”, so Porky gives it to him, “Here. T-t-take it. N-n-now get him out of here!” Daffy pushes in an elephant, whose enormous size results in the lion being pushed out of the wall.

Resuming counting his money, Daffy gets another call which he answers with a lethargic-sounding “Mmm, yes?” Porky answers, “Th-th-this is Room 16 again. It seems to be a b-b-bit crowded up here”. The camera pans back to reveal the elephant taking up a lot of room. “I was wondering if you would, er, uh, if you would, uh-” Daffy finishes, “Get rid of the elephant? Why, certainly! It’ll cost ya 666 dollars. Uh, just drop the money in that slot next to the phone”. After Daffy hangs up, the 666 dollars come in through a slot into the basket near Daffy’s desk. Daffy switches back to the outfit he wore previously when taking the mouse out of his cage and puts the mouse into the tube again to send him back to Porky’s room, again scatting to “Ain’t We Got Fun” before saying, “Elephant exterminator”. “Here we are. Room 16”. The elephant is heard trumpeting loudly as the entire screen shakes, implying that he has been scared by the mouse and has run out through the wall. The mouse is then seen chomping on the stalk of celery, seemingly about to start the whole cycle again.

Fed up, Porky, who’s back in his traveling clothes, packs his bags and begins to leave. “Th-th-that’s the last straw! I’m getting out of this hotel!” Daffy, again wearing his white hat and white coat, stops him, “Just a minute, buster! You still owe me 10 cents for the room”. Porky refuses, “I w-w-will NOT pay it!”, so Daffy decides, “Oh, a deadbeat, huh? In that case, I’ll have to hold your baggage!”, oblivious that one of the bags is from the “ACME Blasting Powder Co.”, leaking gunpowder and leaving a trail behind Daffy as he walks back inside. “W-w-well, go ahead and hold it then!”, Porky answers before he drives away. The backfiring from his exhaust and ignites the trail of gunpowder, blowing up and leaving the hotel in ruins. Daffy puts out a “Closed for Repairs” sign on the door and groggily requests, “A little traveling music, please”. He then runs out hoo-hooing in pain with his rear tail feathers ablaze.

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org! (go to the 13:50 mark)

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕