Release Date:

May 6, 1944

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig

Summary:

Porky Pig runs the “Flockheed Eggcraft Factory” where his hens lay eggs for the war effort. But they stop laying to watch a Frank Sinatra rooster perform and they fall head over heels for him. In order to get them back, Porky enlists several crooning roosters to audition but only a Bing Crosby rooster proves satisfactory. A competition between the Crosby and Sinatra roosters soon results in mountains of eggs being laid.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 2-15, the second Looney Tune in the 15th release season. So this cartoon was likely finished early.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. “As Time Goes By” played under the opening credits:

Supervision: Frank Tashlin

Story: Warren Foster

Animation: George Cannata

Musical Direction: Carl W. Stalling

A print with the original titles is rumored to exist at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and screened at the Nitrate Picture Show in May 2019. How no one has let Jerry Beck (who was responsible for several original titles being made available to the public) know about this as of this writing, I will never understand but hopefully they will be unearthed to the public one day.

The cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award and was the only Tashlin cartoon to receive such an honor.

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

A few prints of the cartoon have the original end audio with Porky’s drum ending playing over the reissue end card.

“Powerhouse” plays during the entirety of the hens on the conveyor belt scene as well as the scene where Porky discovers they are absent due to having left to watch the Sinatra rooster.

This is the only Warner cartoon to give a screen credit to animator George Cannata.

Daffy was featured in the intro with the original titles despite not appearing.

A Sinatra and Crosby rivalry would briefly be seen in Robert McKimson’s second cartoon, “Hollywood Canine Canteen”, which features the dogs of Hollywood stars and are caricatured as their owners, while said Crosby-Sinatra rivalry would become the centerpiece of Arthur Davis’ “Catch as Cats Can” (1947) where a Crosby parrot recruits Sylvester (with a dopey voice) to get rid of a Sinatra canary.

Tex Avery would do the ultimate Frank Sinatra parody in his MGM cartoon “Little ‘Tinker” (1948) where a skunk attempts to get himself a girl and eventually resorts to imitating Sinatra.

The Sinatra rooster would make a cameo in the Looney Tunes Show episode “The Foghorn Leghorn Story” (2011) where he is one of the roosters auditioning for the part of Foghorn Leghorn in a movie about Foghorn’s life.

If a cartoon like this was made in the 1960’s, they would no doubt parody the Beatles. Speaking of which, there was a cartoon show of the Beatles that was made in the mid-1960’s where the Fab Four would have misadventures with the episodes sharing a title as one of their songs and said song plays in that episode as well.

What I Like About This One:

One of the hens arriving a few seconds late and reversing the time clock back to punch in on time (animated by Izzy Ellis).

Another hen’s egg looks like it’s about to fall all the way to the ground but a mechanical arm with a catcher’s mitt catches it (animated by Cal Dalton).

When one of the hens fails to lay an egg (animated by Dalton), Porky is alerted about this (animated by Ellis) so he reverses the conveyor belt. This hen tries again and lays several eggs as a result (animated by Dalton).

The next hen who’s laying several eggs has said eggs reverse back up to her when the hens hear the Sinatra rooster singing (animated by Dalton).

The Sinatra rooster’s body being hidden behind his microphone stand which is a can of applesauce on a pole (animated by Ellis).

The hens’ reactions to the Sinatra rooster singing (animated by Ellis).

A close-up of the Sinatra rooster’s Adam’s apple moving as he sings (animated by George Cannata).

Porky discovering his hens are gone via signs in their nests: “Absentee”, “Us Too”, and “Ditto”. Frantic, he searches all around the barnyard including under a water pump which is revealed to have a water cooler underneath it (animated by Cannata).

Porky watching the way the hens react to the Sinatra rooster’s performance (animated by Dalton). Several swoon, one falls with such an impact that her feathers briefly come off her body, another melts into a puddle of goop (animated by Arthur Davis), and another hen jumps up into the air and lands in the ground with her beak sticking into said ground. When she uproots this part of the ground, she just simply says “Frankie” (animated by Ellis).

Most of the roosters Porky auditions give comically bad performances much to his displeasure: a Nelson Eddy rooster sings “Shortnin’ Bread” and sings a high note so long that his tail feathers come off, an Al Jolson rooster sings “September in the Rain”, a Jimmy Durante rooster sings an energetic rendition of “Lullaby of Broadway”, and a Cab Calloway rooster gives out with “Blues in the Night” (animated by Davis).

The Crosby rooster taps Porky on the shoulder and reassures him, “Look a-here, Porky ol’ man. Let the ol’ groaner take a whirl at those slick chicks” (animated by Davis). His performance of “When My Dreamboat Comes Home” (animated by Cannata) gets the attention of the hens (animated by Davis) who watch him in excitement (animated by Cannata). Some of them even lay eggs as a result. Seeing he has competition, the Sinatra rooster sings “I’ll Pray for You” to another hen which makes her lay several eggs (animated by Davis). The Crosby rooster’s rendition of “Trade Winds” gets one hen to lay a huge pile of eggs and a baby chick even lays an egg too! (animated by Ellis)

That night, the Crosby and Sinatra roosters’ competition has resulted in mountains of eggs being laid. Impressed, Porky asks them how they managed to make the hens lay all those eggs. Both roosters reply in unison, “It’s very simple, Porky. Like this” and they croon in his direction. Porky lays a mountain of eggs too! (animated by Dalton)

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½