Release Date:

June 8, 1946

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig, Sylvester

Summary:

Porky Pig attempts to put his four cats, with Sylvester being one of them, out on a snowy night, but they won’t go out. After Porky tricks them into going outside by means of his shadow puppet dog, Lassie, they fight back by disguising as men from Mars and scaring Porky out of the house.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1-16, the first Looney Tune in the 16th release season.

This is the only cartoon where Sylvester appears with a black nose instead of a red one as well as his only cartoon directed by Clampett.

This is Clampett’s last ever Porky cartoon.

This is the first pairing of Porky and Sylvester. In in a trio of cartoons directed by Jones, “Scaredy Cat” (1948), “Claws for Alarm” (1954), and “Jumpin’ Jupiter” (1955), Porky was Sylvester’s owner, with them getting involved in a spooky situation but only Sylvester (who is mute in these cartoons) is aware of what’s going on, and the oblivious Porky only gets annoyed with Sylvester’s cowardice.

A series of intermissions from “Looney Tunes Cartoons” where Porky attempts to put Sylvester out for the night is based on this cartoon.

The cartoon is in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book.

The other three cats would later appear in the Looney Tunes Cartoons episode “Kitty Krashers” (2023).

This is the first color cartoon released as a Looney Tune to have “That’s all folks!” written out on the end card. Also, this cartoon uses the Merrie Melodies end theme rather than the Looney Tunes one.

The dopey cat (the one with the red nose) drinks an alcoholic beverage called “Arsenic and Old Grapes”, which is a reference to the 1944 film “Arsenic and Old Lace”.

The alien disguises Sylvester and the other cats wear actually became real characters in the Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries episode “Spaced Out”, with one of them also becoming a real character in the Looney Tunes Cartoons episode “A Pane to Wash” (2021).

Presumably, Clampett wrote the cartoon himself as there is no storyman credited.

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “What I Did” over the opening credits.

“9:00, the witching hour when everybody winds the clock and puts out the cat.” (animated by Fred Abranz) At Porky’s house, however, this is somewhat different as Sylvester and the other two are put out but the smallest of the four throws Porky out instead of the other way around (animated by Manny Gould). Heading back into the house, Porky is thrown out by the small cat again (animated by Bill Melendez).

Popping out of the snow, Porky confides in anger, “You know, I’m b-beginning t-t-t-to HATE pussycats!” as he shakes the snow off (animated by Melendez). Banging on the door, the cats all tell him in unison, “Milkman, keep those bottles quiet!” before shutting the door on him. Porky rants, “This is the last straw! I’ll tear them l-l-limb from l-l-l-limb! I’ll show them who’s-” but stutters on “who’s” before the scene fades out (brilliantly animated by Rod Scribner).

Lolling about and yowling out to “Auld Lang Syne” (animated by Gould), the cats are frightened by Porky opening the window with a snarling expression (animated by Melendez). The second smallest cat hides in a ceramic Scotsman mug (animated by Izzy Ellis), Sylvester hides under the bed, which is pulled up when the smallest cat jumps on it and is pulled into the wall (animated by Scribner), while the dopey cat hides in the fishbowl (animated by Ellis), waking up the fish couple who live in it (animated by Melendez).

Spotting Sylvester behind an alarm clock that was under the bed, Porky attempts to grab him, but Sylvester makes a run for it (animated by Gould) into a mouse hole. Porky pulls him out which also causes Sylvester to pull out a family of mice in a tug-of-war (animated by Ellis). Sylvester’s then pokes Porky in the eye with his foot resembling fingers, causing Sylvester and the mice to roll around like balls on a pool table. Sylvester clings onto a moose head, to which Porky tries to pull him off of, resulting in a real moose getting pulled out from the wall! (animated by Melendez)

Flying backward into a cabinet of teacups (animated by Abranz), Porky ends up with one on his head with the spout acting like his mouth as he decides, “I hate p-p-p-p-pussycats!” (animated by Gould)

Pulling the teacup off his head, Porky threatens, “If you c-c-cats don’t leave r-r-rright now, I’ll- uh- I’ll sic my big dog, Lassie on ya!” (animated by Scribner) The cats laugh this off, so Porky shouts out the window, “L-L-Lassie, come home!” The scene fades to “Lassie” barking at the cats scaring them into running out the door (animated by Melendez). Sylvester opens the door but the dopey cat shuts it and runs into the wall. He is then plastered into the door after Sylvester opens it back up to announce, “Come on, fellas! Hurry up!” The second smallest cat uses the dopey cat’s tail as a diving board to go through the keyhole. Thinking this is a great idea, the dopey cat makes a running start (animated by Gould) but the smallest cat pulls the doorknob down so the keyhole is at his height (animated by Melendez) resulting in the dopey cat hitting the door (animated by Gould). So he resorts to exiting down the sink and gargling “Geronimo!” as he goes down the drain! (animated by Ellis) The camera pans to reveal that “Lassie” is actually a shadow puppet made by Porky (animated by Melendez), to which he congratulates for “N-n-nice work, Lassie!” with his fingers licking him like a dog (animated by Ellis).

Cold and miserable, Sylvester suddenly realizes they’ve been tricked (animated by Melendez) and gives a hysterically slobbery speech: “Brother pussycats! We’ve been skidded out, scooted out, backed out, and booted out! But tonight we was scared out! It’s unhospitpitable! And furthermore, it’s un-cats-stitutional! Are we men or are we mice?” (animated by Gould) The smallest cat meekly answers, “I like cheese” to which Sylvester gives him a smack and actually says the word, “Smack!” (animated by Abranz) He then gets an idea, “Ah, I think I’ve got it!” (animated by Melendez) The smallest cat pops up to ask if it’s about the cheese to which Sylvester smacks him again and again says “Smack!” (animated by Gould)

Disguising as colorful men from Mars, one of them imitates a radio announcer frantically announcing the arrival of men from Mars landing on Earth. Although spooked, Porky turns off the radio (animated by Melendez) and one of the disguised cats (colored pink) pops up over the radio to ask, “Hey, what did the man say, mister? Huh, what did the man say?” Porky absentmindendly tells him, “Oh, he says m-m-men from Mars are-are landing on the Earth, b-b-but that’s silly!” He bids him goodnight (animated by Scribner), as well as the other three (colored purple, yellow, and green respectively) who suddenly appear in bed with him and say in unison, “Good night, butterball!” (animated by Gould) Porky then makes a realization and does a wild take as he wakes up: “M-m-m-m-m-m- MEN FROM MARS!” (animated by Ellis)

Racing to a musket (animated by Gould) and talking fast, “All kinds of stuff like that there!”, Porky takes it out of a case marked “Use Only In Case of Invasion From Mars” where the letters fall off after he breaks the glass (animated by Melendez) The cats are now disguised as Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, who all run up the stairs and yell, “CHARGE!” in unison (animated by Ellis). Terrified (animated by Scribner), Porky is chased out the window into the snow (animated by Melendez) as the cats all laugh at this after Porky jumps out (animated by Gould).

Out in the snow in his pajamas and thoroughly embarrassed, Porky asks the audience, “P--P-Pardon me, but d-d-d-does anyone in the audience know somebody who kn-knows somebody that has a-a house to rent?” (animated by Ellis)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕