Release Date:

January 17, 1942

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig

Summary:

A James Cagney bee shows his timid friend, a hungry fly who is afraid of being swatted, on how steal pastries from Porky Pig’s bakery.

That’s Not All, Folks:

Kent Rogers, who voiced James Cagney in “Hollywood Steps Out” returns to do the Cagney impression here.

In the credits, animator Gerry Chiniquy is credited as “Gerald Chiniquy” although his first name was “Germain”.

The restored print uses the incorrect opening theme.

At one point, when the Cagney bee spins his behind when preparing to attack Porky with his stinger, the same sound effect that would later be used for Taz’s spinning is heard.

What I Like About This One:

Porky’s bakery is called “ Porky’s Sanitary Bakery”.

The Cagney bee’s stinger being powerful enough to fry the doorknob and make it fall off (of course, using his stinger would kill him in real life).

Porky is tossing cherries into the air to land on cupcakes but the Cagney bee catches one of them and boldly eats it. Thinking the Cagney bee is a fly, Porky grabs his swatter and prepares to swat him before realizing the actual insect he’s up against (“ YIPE! A BEE!”).

The Cagney bee taking off the “button” of a gingerbread man, causing the gingerbread man’s “pants” to fall down!

The Cagney bee chiseling out a piece of “marble cake” with his stinger.

Porky attempts to reach for the swatter only for the Cagney bee to zoom up to him and give him a suspicious stare. Not wanting to get stung, Porky sheepishly hands the Cagney bee a cherry atop a cupcake but the Cagney bee slaps said cherry out of Porky’s hand before walking off and THEN coming back to eat the cherry.

The Cagney bee next buzzes his way through several cheesecakes and accidentally starts to eat his way through a “limburger cheesecake”. Since it’s common knowledge that limburger is a disgusting cheese, the Cagney bee spits it out and thinking that Porky put it there as a trap, gets his revenge by squirting eclair creme at Porky by jumping on an eclair.

The Cagney bee giving Porky an electric shock when he applies his stinger to Porky’s swatter.

Under the Cagney bee’s advice, the fly disguises himself as a bee by putting a miniature bee-striped shirt on and attaching a nail to his rear end to resemble a stinger. When Porky catches the fly happily atop a cake, the fly attempts to “sting” Porky, but the fly’s disguise comes off. He ends up getting swatted by Porky a few times before Porky boots him out. “Get out and stay out, you unsanitary old fly, you!”

In the end, the Cagney bee returns to the bakery for a snack, but he ends up getting swatted over and over again. This time, it’s the angry fly who’s doing the swatting! (animated by Richard Bickenbach)

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕 ½