Release Date:

August 13, 1949

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig, Charlie Dog

Summary:

Charlie Dog’s previous owner abandons him out in the country, so Charlie attempts to get farmer Porky Pig to be his master including among other things, convincing him how scary it is to live in the city.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1096 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. Strangely, when it was reissued, the original title card was replaced with a newer one. This is also the case with two other Jones cartoons, “The Ducksters” (1950) and “Cheese Chasers” (1951), as well as Freleng’s “Tweety’s SOS” (1951), and the “Bugs Bunny in” card in McKimson’s “French Rarebit” (1951). Thankfully, the original credits and title card music are still intact for all of these cartoons. The biggest tell that these are newer title cards are a fade-in from the Blue Ribbon card to the new title card and then a jump cut from the new title card to the original credits (in all of the other reissues with the credits intact, there is a jump cut from the Blue Ribbon card to the credits).

This is the third and final Porky and Charlie cartoon. This is also their only pairing that takes place in a rural setting, as the other two (“Little Orphan Airedale” and “Awful Orphan”) take place in an urban setting.

Porky’s pin-up calendar on his wall reads “Grib’s Garage” which is a reference to Robert Gribbroek.

The animation of Charlie demonstrating the various breeds he apparently is, and acting them out literally would be reused in McKimson’s “Dog Tales” (1958), where he makes an unwanted cameo appearance and with this sequence ending with new animation of him getting pulled offscreen by a hook.

The most memorable scene in this cartoon is Charlie being overdramatic about the dangers of living in the city (as seen in the screenshot in this post), ending with him shouting, “LOOK! IT’S THE TOWERS! THEY’RE FALLING! AAAAHHHH!” before fainting. For a while, people on the Internet had assumed that Charlie was predicting the infamous September 11 attacks that happened 52 years later (personally, I very much prefer living in a rural county than an urban county and those attacks further enforce that).

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “Baby Face” over the opening credits.

After the credits are shown on a billboard, the camera pans to a car driving along the road. Charlie’s latest owner comes out and says this is a swell spot for the picnic they had apparently planned. He then gets Charlie to fetch the stick, and once Charlie goes off to fetch it, this owner quickly packs it up and leaves, which causes Charlie to stare in shock on the side of the road as the stick slowly falls from his mouth (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

It’s then revealed that this is nothing new for Charlie as he sulks, “Oh, brother. Imagine me falling for that old ‘come on, let’s have a picnic’ routine. I lose more darn masters that way. Ah, well. There’s lots of other fish in the ocean”. Seeing another vehicle approaching (animated by Vaughan), Charlie goes into the big, soulful eyes routine as it “gets ‘em every time”. When this vehicle just whizzes past him, he admits, “Well, nearly every time”. He does other tricks to try and get other vehicles’ attention such as walking on his hind legs and jumping back and forth on his hands and feet, to no avail. “This is ridiculous. EVERYBODY wants a dog”, Charlie remarks, puzzled (animated by Phil Monroe).

Charlie hears (animated by Monroe) Porky singing (and also stuttering) “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and upon walking over there, decides, “Well, you can’t ask for a better pigeon than that”. He walks up to him and starts his usual “you ain’t got no pet, I ain’t got no master” bit. “What a pity. What a pity. Such a lovely farm and no dog. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll make you a preposition. You can be my master and I’ll be your dog.” Porky answers no to that but Charlie counters, “Don’t get mizzled, brother. In me, you get all the good rolled into one” (animated by Ben Washam).

He then starts to show off the various breeds he apparently is and imitates them literally: “I am 50% pointer” and starts pointing all over the place and saying, “There it is” each time; “50% boxer” and makes moves like someone in a boxing match; “50% setter” and sits down on a tree stump with a pipe: “Irish Setter”; “50% watchdog” where he pulls out a watch; 50% Spitz and spits like a spittoon (animated by Washam up to here); “50% Doberman Pinscher” where he pinches Porky’s face as Porky loudly reacts in pain; “But mostly I’m all Labrador Retriever”. Porky tells Charlie he is not a Labrador retriever so Charlie replies, “Look. If you doubt my word, get me a Labrador and I’ll retrieve it for ya. That’s fair, isn’t it?” When Porky answers no to both of Charlie’s questions regarding whether he has a Labrador or knows where he can get a Labrador, Charlie snarkily replies, “Then shut up”. This irritates Porky so much, that he kicks Charlie out back onto the road (animated by Monroe).

Porky walks back to his house muttering that he doesn’t need a “Terri-a s-a s-Sett-a Doberm-m-m-a dog”, but when he opens the door, he is greeted by Charlie with a lethargic “Yes?” Porky kicks him out again, this time near his mailbox. Charlie soon returns with a pig under one arm and a hen under the other, asking, “Hey! What do ya say we have some ham and eggs?” This time, Porky yanks him inside and hits him on the head offscreen before carrying him out by the tail and is about to throw him out again before he skids to a stop upon seeing a truck for the Humane Society and the driver staring at him with a “You wouldn’t dare!” look. Porky gives a sheepish smile (animated by Vaughan up to here). and instead walks back to his house rocking Charlie back and forth and singing “Rock a Bye Baby” but with “doggy” appropriately replacing “baby” along with “bow-wow” and “puppy” (animated by Ken Harris).

Porky makes it back to his yard just as the guy from the Humane Society drives away. The second he does, Porky starts screaming at Charlie to leave. Pretending to have his feelings hurt, Charlie starts sobbing (animated by Monroe) about how he’s always dreamed of the day he could live in the country. “I’m not strong! I need lots of fresh air, and milk, and cream… and fresh leafy vegetables! (pronouncing it as “veggie-tables”) Good, clean, wholesome farm living!” As Porky keeps trying to explain, Charlie continues before going overdramatic: “And now- Now that I got a chance to regain my health… you want to send me back to the city. THE CITY. I can see it all now. Its high towers! Cold! Cruel! Ominous! Closin’ down on ya from every side till ya can’t breathe! Closer! Closer! Can’t breathe… The traffic! Ya can’t think! BEE-BEEP! BEE-BEEP! Watch out for that truck! HONK! HONK! Look out for that taxi! BOING! BEE-BEEP! AWOOGAH! HONK! HONK! BEE-BEEP! Hark, what’s that!? IT’S THE TOWERS! THEY’RE FALLING! AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” and faints (animated by Harris).

Porky is seemingly convinced at Charlie’s sob story and allows him to stay (animated by Harris), but he’ll have to sleep in a sleeping bag. Charlie ecstatically chants, “Oh goody! I’m gonna sleep in a sleepin’ bag! I’m gonna have rosey che-eks!” (animated by Monroe). Upon getting into the “sleeping bag”, Charlie has a few demands, “I want a drink of water, and I want a cookie, and I want a story”. Said sleeping bag turns out to actually be a mail sack as Porky ties it up while doing the evil stutter laugh. He has it shipped to Scotland (animated by Washam) where a passing train immediately picks the mail sack up (animated by Monroe).

By the time Porky gets back to his house, however, he finds Charlie dressed as a Scotsman who greets him by playing the bagpipes. Demanding him to stop (animated by Vaughan), Porky seemingly gives in again and slyly tells him that they will go on a nice picnic, which Charlie acts excited about (animated by Washam).

Porky drives up to the desert (animated by Monroe) and sets their picnic up there. He attempts to have Charlie fetch the stick like the master at the start of the cartoon did, but this time, Charlie is wise to the trick so he runs in the other direction and drives away in Porky’s car, leaving Porky stranded! Porky gets so mad that he literally flips his lid, loses his mind, and starts to act like a dog! After being ignored by one vehicle, he gives the soulful eyes routine and pants heavily to another vehicle, which picks him up. It’s revealed to be the dog catcher as Porky barks along with several other captured dogs (animated by Vaughan).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½