Based on his first performance, one could hardly have pegged the fat, jittery and flop-sweating Porky Pig to become Warner Bros. cartoons' first major star. But his labored recitation of The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (which morphs mid-stanza into The Charge of the Light Brigade) is salvaged by Porky's sweet-natured damn-the-torpedoes perseverance, a character trait that has served the little pig well throughout his career.
In a single supporting performance, Porky had arrived.
He was originally teamed with a trouble-making little cat named Beans (Porky and Beans-get it?), but the partnership was discarded when the likes of Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Frank Tashlin began using Porky in their cartoons and fleshing out his personality. Porky was the fledgling studio's Everypig, and audiences responded to him with great affection.
Porky Pig took the stage in Friz Freleng's showcase cartoon I Haven't Got A Hat and instantly distinguished himself from the crowd of characters in that film. In his early years, the lovable stuttering pig (voiced by actual stutterer Joe Dougherty and then Mel Blanc) was typically featured with unknown characters whose one-time appearance helped to boost Porky's own profile and make him Warner Bros. main star.
Rather than utilize Warner Bros. cartoon characters' trademark violence and velocity, Porky's M.O. was always to think things out. In Trap Happy Porky, mice invade Porky's house, so as a fix, he buys cats. Once the cats become a problem, he buys dogs. In Brother Brat, he tries to reason with his babysitting charge (an infant with a homicidal streak named Butch). It doesn't work, but not for lack of Porky's efforts..
But the little pig really came into his own in Bob Clampett's surreal (and extraordinary) Porky in Wackyland, wherein Porky acts as the audience's innocent counterpart in a world (and cartoon) gone hilariously and breathtakingly mad. Porky is the perfect foil for such a journey because his reactions are our reactions, or so we'd like to think.
In fact, Porky's role as straight man worked well enough to foster a Warner Bros. cartoon star who would quickly eclipse him in popularity. In Porky's Duck Hunt, Daffy Duck steals the movie (and the audience) from the first moment he arrives onscreen, and in intermittent teamings Porky and Daffy became perfect comic counterparts, with Daffy overreaching and obnoxious playing off of Porky's temperate and earnest nature.
Lest you walk away thinking Porky nothing more than a bland nimrod, keep in mind that his personality was not limited to passive characters. In Chuck Jones's able hands, Porky became a one-pig Greek chorus to Daffy's shenanigans in Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century, Drip-Along Daffy, Robin Hood Daffy, and Deduce, You Say, as well as a quick-tempered, reluctant master in the Charlie Dog cartoons. It's always Daffy who is the commanding leader and Porky who is the dutiful (but infinitely brighter) assistant.
Jones also paired Porky with Sylvester (as his faithful cat) in a collection of cartoons in which Porky is oblivious to threats from assailants only seen by his kitty, Sylvester. Porky goes on to misinterpret Sylvester's attempts to protect him, as threats all their own. They camp in a desert, where a flying saucer lands in Jumpin' Jupiter, and are terrorized by a pack of bloodthirsty mice in a ghost town hotel in Claws For Alarm.
Overall, though, it's Porky's endearing nature and blushing naiveté that add up to a guileless character whose trademark "That's all Folks!" is as much a cultural icon as the cartoons themselves.
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