Release Date:

February 24, 1945

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig

Summary:

Asleep at the lodge “Uncle Tom’s Cabins”, Porky Pig is woken up by two mice making noise. After Porky fails to get rid of them on his own, a cat disposes of them with a Rube Goldberg trap but he becomes an even bigger nuisance when the cat and several friends become a drunk quintet singing.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 9-15, the 9th Looney Tune in the 15th release season.

The cartoon was given a Blue Ribbon reissue. When it was restored for the Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles The Chuck Jones Collection DVD set in 2012, the original titles were put back in.

Speaking of which, the reason why it was put on that set (where the first disc contains every Sniffles cartoon while the second disc contains every Hubie and Bertie cartoon) is because the two mice resemble Hubie and Bertie, and the Internet likes to say it’s them. This is the one instance, however, where I’m willing to let an Internet misconception slide since the cartoon got restored, and with its original titles too, which is always a major plus.

“Powerhouse” plays during the Rube Goldberg trap sequence.

The same Rube Goldberg trap also appeared in the first Tweety and Sylvester cartoon, “Tweetie Pie” (1947).

This is the 450th Warner Bros. cartoon overall.

This is the first Jones cartoon to have animation by Basil Davidovich.

What I Like About This One:

Porky’s snoring being so powerful, it causes the petals from a flower to briefly come off (animated by Basil Davidovich).

Woken up by a crashing noise, Porky zips downstairs to investigate (animated by Davidovich) and finds that the mice are throwing dishes on the ground to crack open walnuts (animated by Lloyd Vaughan).

Porky laying out a large mouse trap with several pieces of cheese, the scent of which hypnotizes one mouse but he manages to grab them all without getting caught. He confides to Porky, “I’m only three and a half years old!” Porky then attempts to stop another mouse dribbling an olive like a basketball by putting his hand in front of him, but the mouse throws it over Porky’s hand (animated by Ken Harris) which the other mouse catches in a net and then writes on a miniature scoreboard: “Us: 2. Him: 0” (animated by Ben Washam).

Seeing he can’t do anything to get rid of the mice, Porky wonders how he’ll do so. As if on cue, the cat knocks on the door with a sign saying, “Does this answer your question?” which also has an arrow pointing toward him. Seeing the cat from their hole, the mice lock up their door with several locks (animated by Washam).

The cat’s Rube Goldberg trap where after one mouse pulls a piece of cheese attached to a toaster, the trap springs into action: the toast ejected from the toaster hits a knife holding an iron in place atop a ladder, the iron slides down each rung on the ladder and stops on the stepping part of a trash can which has a string opening the door that causes the ironing board to come out, the ironing board presses lands on a bellows, which causes sails to blow and pull a string that causes the kettle to whistle and pop out a cork, which flies at the fridge opening it and causing a string attached to a cuckoo clock to speed up to 12:00 where the cuckoo comes out and when it does, it ends up pushing a jumbo olive off its perch down a funnel where it knocks the mouse out cold where the cat takes him outside to dispose of him. In a montage, this is repeated with the other mouse and a few others that weren’t seen previously (animated by Washam).

Just as Porky zooms back to bed, he hears a piano-like noise (animated by Davidovich), and finds out that the cat and four other cats have become a drunken quintet singing “On Moonlight Bay”, stopping at one point to down more alcohol so they can finish the drunken harmony (animated by Robert Cannon).

Porky then attempts to get the “roisterers” to stop but they punch him out of the room and shut the door on him. Then, when Porky pulls on the doorknob, the original cat flings the other end back at him (animated by Davidovich). Walking in and attempting to throw them out, Porky is instead picked up by four of the cats who switch to “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” while carrying him out of the room (animated by Harris) and while throwing him out, hastily finish, “That which nobody can deny” and then switch back to “On Moonlight Bay” before shutting the door on Porky when he tries to come back in (animated by Washam).

Enraged, Porky declares, “Why, you f-f-feline f-f-fiends! I’ll fix you!” (animated by Washam) and runs into the city coming back seconds later with a bulldog with a $20.00 tag who turns the cats’ singing of “Old Oaken Bucket” into incoherent yelps of fear (animated by Vaughan).

Before Porky has even made it all the way back upstairs, he hears the drunken chorus singing “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” (animated by Vaughan), and finds that the bulldog has joined them in becoming a sextet! Giving up, Porky shrugs and joins in the chorus figuring if he can’t beat them, he’ll join them, even though he doesn’t actually say that (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½