CINXE.COM

<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Porky Pig </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=240 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=391 WIDTH=230 ALT="Porky Pig, from a publicity drawing." SRC="porky.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"> <H1>PORKY PIG</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Original Medium:</B> Theatrical animation <BR><B>Released by:</B> Warner Bros. <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1935 <BR><B>Creator:</B> Friz Freleng<FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> In the mid-1930s, <A HREF="warner.htm">Warner Bros.</A> was casting about for new characters to replace the departed <A HREF="bosko.htm">Bosko</A> and the terminally bland <A HREF="buddy.htm">Buddy.</A> In <I>I Haven't Got a Hat</I> (1935), they showcased  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> several — but for some reason, all seemed to be named after paired food items. Of "Ham & Ex" and "Porky & Beans", the only one to achieve stardom was Porky Pig, whose engaging stutter caught the public's fancy right from the start. <P> Porky's second outing, <I>Gold Diggers of '49</I> (1936), was also the first cartoon directed by the immortal <A HREF="avery.htm">Tex Avery.</A> From that point on, there was no stopping the Pig. He appeared in 17 cartoons that year, less than half of which paired him with Beans the Cat, and another 16 in 1937, none of which did. During the late '30s, he was frequently paired with Gabby Goat, another character who never made it on his own. <P> Porky remained the studio's top performer through the rest of the 1930s, but lost ground as <A HREF="daffy.htm">Daffy Duck</A> and <A HREF="bugs.htm">Bugs Bunny</A> rose in public favor. But he stayed on as their supporting character, and was also played off of <A HREF="sylvestr.htm">Sylvester Pussycat</A> or Charlie Dog — as well as continuing to make occasional cartoons without co-stars. Porky's last appearance in a theatrically-released cartoon was <I>Corn on the Cop</I> (1965), in which he played second fiddle to Daffy. <P> Like his Looney Tunes brethren, Porky retained his presence in the public consciousness through television appearances. His old cartoons were rerun in packages sold to local stations, on the nationally broadcast <I>Bugs Bunny</I> show, and even, during ABC's 1964-65 season, in a show of his own. He is also part of the more recent Looney Tunes revival, sparked by the gang's appearance with Michael Jordan in <I>Space Jam</I> (1996). <P> He broke into comic books along with the rest, in <A HREF="dell.htm">Dell Comics'</A> <I>Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics</I> #1, and like Bugs and Daffy, remained with the series until its 1962 demise. His own comic book ran from 1942-62, was revived in '65 by <A HREF="goldkey.htm">Gold Key Comics,</A> and continued until 1984. <P> Porky received only one Oscar nomination — <I>The Swooner Crooner</I> (1944), directed by Frank Tashlin — and although he's been on his share of lunchboxes and T-shirts, was never really a merchandising bonanza. He provided inspiration for one of the <A HREF="tinytoon.htm">Tiny Toons</A> crowd, but <A HREF="hamton.htm">Hamton Pig,</A> isn't one of their superstars. But Porky makes up for his lack of pizzazz with endurance. He's been part of the toon scene all these decades, and shows no sign of going away soon. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><B>Webring:</B> <! Cartoons WebRing><script language=javascript type="text/javascript" src="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=j;y=don_markstein;u=10107712"> </script><noscript><center> <table bgcolor=gray cellspacing=0 border=2><tr> <td><table cellpadding=2 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td align=center> <font face=arial size=-1>This site is a member of WebRing. <br>To browse visit <a href="http://ss.webring.com/navbar?f=l;y=don_markstein;u=10107712"> Here</a>.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table> </center></noscript> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! BEGIN ADLINKS CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADLINKS CODE> <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><! END ADSENSE REFERRAL CODE> <P> <form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="google_window"> <table border="0" bgcolor="#cccccc"> <tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32"> <a href="http://www.google.com/"> <img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25gry.gif" border="0" alt="Google"></img></a> <br/> <input type="hidden" name="domains" value="www.toonopedia.com"></input> <input type="text" name="q" size="23" maxlength="255" value=""></input> </td></tr> <tr> <td nowrap="nowrap"> <table> <tr> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value=""></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">Web</font> </td> <td> <input type="radio" name="sitesearch" value="www.toonopedia.com" checked="checked"></input> <font size="-1" color="#000000">www.toonopedia.com</font> </td> </tr> </table> <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input> <input type="hidden" name="client" value="pub-1498877845272586"></input> <input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input> <input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input> </td></tr></table> </form>  <FONT SIZE=2><P> <A HREF="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?wickedcoolstuff+e2VdY2+looneytunes.html+" TARGET="_blank">Purchase Warner Bros. Cartoon Merchandise Online</A> <P></FONT></TABLE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2><I>Text ©2000-05 Donald D. Markstein. Art © Warner Bros.</I> </BODY></HTML>