Release Date:

December 2, 1950

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig

Summary:

Porky Pig acts friendly towards a very large dog during “Be Kind to Animals Week” and regrets it when this dog proves to be extremely over-affectionate and won’t leave him alone.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1134 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. When it was restored for the Looney Tunes Super Stars Porky and Friends Hilarious Ham DVD set in 2012, the original opening rings were put back in.

This is Porky’s penultimate solo cartoon with his last being Jones’ “The Wearing of the Grin” (1951).

The cartoon uses the 1951 orange rings with the black background.

The dog shares some similarity to Charlie Dog in that they are both dogs who love attention but only annoy their potential owners, with both having gone after Porky. Unlike Charlie, however, this dog is revealed to actually have a home in the end, but it’s somewhat implied that he either doesn’t like his owners or said owners don’t give him much freedom.

This is the last McKimson cartoon to have animation by Manuel Perez.

The title is a pun for “dog collar”.

The cartoon was originally titled “Man’s Pest Friend”, which is a pun for “man’s best friend”.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

The cartoon rarely airs on TV due to a sequence where Porky attempts to escape the dog by donning various ethnic disguises whenever he gets off a vehicle with a few of these being an Indian (in one of the few times we see Porky shirtless!) and a Chinese.

Richard H. Thomas’ name appears on a drug store called “Thomas Cut Rate Drugs”.

“In an 18th Century Drawing Room” plays during the scene with the butler near the end.

What I Like About This One:

Porky walks past a sign advertising “Remember Be Kind to Animals Week”, complete with a picture of a knot tied around a finger and decides, “Gosh. Th-th-that’s a good idea”. He spots a small pussycat and pets him on the head telling him, “Happy Kind to Animals Week, p-p-pussycat”. After Porky walks away (animated by Bill Melendez), the pussycat makes a cuckoo gesture (animated by Charles McKimson). Content and pleased with himself, Porky sighs, “Gosh. B-b-being kind sort of gets you r-r-right here”, pointing to his heart. Walking past the sleeping dog, he pats him on the head, “N-n-nice doggy. N-nice old fellow” (animated by Phil DeLara).

Proving to be very over-affectionate, the dog grows attached to Porky and starts affectionately licking him offscreen (animated by DeLara). The scene then cuts to Porky trying to get the dog to stop before eventually losing his patience and slapping him. He yells, “Y-y-you cut that out! Now b-b-beat it, you-you-y-y-you mongrel!” This hurts the dog’s feelings as Porky already starts to feel guilty as he walks away, “I hated to speak to him m-m-mean in Kind to Animals Week” (animated by Rod Scribner). The dog starts crying while howling (animated by Charles) which causes Porky to briefly form into a “First Class Heel” so he goes back to apologize: “D-d-don’t take it so hard. I-I take it all back. Y-you’re not a mongrel”. Once the dog calms down, Porky gets him to lift his chin up and tells him, “Eh, eh, that’s a good boy” only for the dog to start happily licking him again. Porky again slaps him to get him to stop before running off (animated by Scribner).

Porky takes a turn onto a corner, failing to notice the brick wall in front of him, and runs smack into the wall after seeing the dog approach. Upon finding a plank on the ground, gets the dog to fetch it to distract him, giving him a chance to leave. The plank instead ends up flying under a wooden produce stand, which the dog wrecks by taking one of the planks holding said produce stand (animated by DeLara).

Porky gets into his car and after making a left turn hand signal that causes several vehicles behind him to crash (animated by Manuel Perez), starts driving off while scatting to “In My Merry Oldsmobile” before the dog suddenly appears behind him in the back seat and starts licking him from the back of the head (animated by Charles). The dog then appears next to Porky and starts licking him so hard, he causes Porky to steer onto the wrong side of the road, nearly getting hit by a bus. Porky turns around and raves at the bus, “S-S-Sunday driver!”, but accidentally steers onto the wrong side of the street again, causing him to nearly get hit by another car (animated by Perez).

The dog then puts his hands on Porky’s face and once more licks him which causes Porky to drive like crazy due to him being unable to see with the dog’s paws covering his eyes (animated by Charles). An old geezer with a bandaged leg has started to cross the street but ends up running very fast when Porky and the dog start approaching before ducking into a manhole for safety. The old man then jumps up from the manhole and after ranting in gibberish, continues walking down the street. Eventually, Porky ends up crashing into a “Dead End Street” and after the crash runs away from the dog once more (animated by Perez).

Porky hides in a trash can (animated by Perez with Charles animating the shot of him in the interior) but upon peeking out is greeted by the dog licking him again (animated by Perez). He runs to call a taxi (animated by DeLara) and once in the back seat of the taxi, puts on a beard making him look like an old man (animated by Charles). He then gets on a bus and comes out disguised as a Scotsman, on a trolley and coming out disguised as an Indian before going into the subway (animated by DeLara). Coming out of the subway, he’s dressed as a Chinese man and makes it to his house only to find the dog also disguised as a Chinese man with a trash can lid over his head (animated by Charles).

Getting into his house and locking the door, Porky then shuts the curtain on the door when he sees the dog looking at him through the door’s window. Porky sees the dog’s eye through the keyhole (animated by Charles) and gets licked through there before shutting every other curtain of each window the dog looks through. Relieved to be rid of him, Porky sits down to turn on the television, which comes on to the same dog being on the news as missing and that anyone returning him to 980 Chestnut St will be rewarded with $5,000. Porky exclaims, “A thousand b-b-b-bucks!?” before the broadcast not only corrects him but also imitates his stutter, “No. FIVE thousand b-b-b-bucks” (animated by Melendez).

Porky goes out and begins to look for the dog, calling him several times. A small puppy happily walks up to him at one point, believing Porky is referring to him, only for Porky to dismiss him: “Oh, n-n-not YOU, ya mutt!” In response, the puppy just gives a snooty look and walks off in an equally snooty manner (animated by DeLara).

Eventually, Porky finds the dog about to jump off a bridge into the water and yells at him to stop (animated by Melendez). After the dog does so, he jumps back up to the bridge in reverse (animated by Charles) before Porky runs up to him and gives him another “Happy Kind to Animals Week” greeting while acting glad to see him (animated by Melendez).

Porky has the dog follow him all the way to 980 Chestnut St, which is a mansion. Seeing where Porky has brought him, the dog substitutes himself with a toy dog and hides behind a corner. Unaware of the switch, Porky tells the butler answering the door, “I-I found your dog. Now how about my 5,000 b-b-bucks?” Seeing the toy dog (animated by Scribner), the butler replies, “No. That’s not our dog. Ours was a talking dog” before shutting the door (animated by Charles). Confused, Porky says to himself, “A t-t-talking dog? Huh. Th-th-that’s silly. If he could talk, I’d keep him myself”. Getting in his only line of dialogue, the dog tells Porky, “Well, fat boy, you got yourself a dog!” before affectionately licking him once more (animated by Scribner).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕