PORKEY PIG

CARTOON CHARACTER PORKEY PIG MAKES FIRST APPEARANCE IN SHORT FILM " I HAVEN'T GOT A HAT" MARCH 2, 1935

First presented in theaters then on TV

Performing in cartoons from 1935 to 2015

Appeared in 169 cartoons

In 1964, Porky got his own Saturday morning cartoon, The Porky Pig Show which ran until 1967.

Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts featuring the character. Even after he was supplanted by later characters, Porky continued to be popular with moviegoers and, more importantly, the Warners directors, who recast him in numerous everyman and sidekick roles.

He is known for his signature line at the end of many shorts, "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!" This slogan (without stuttering) had also been used by both Bosko and Buddy and even Beans at the end of Looney Tunes cartoons. In contrast, the Merrie Melodies series used the slogan: So Long, Folks! until the mid 1930s when it was replaced with the same one used on the Looney Tunes series (when Bugs Bunny was the closing character, he would break the pattern by simply saying, in his Brooklynese accent, "And Dat's De End!"). He is the oldest continuing Looney Tunes character.

Porky's most distinctive trait is a severe stutter, for which he sometimes compensates by replacing his words; for example, "What's going on?" might become "What's guh-guh-guh-guh— ... what's happening?" Porky's age varied widely in the series; originally conceived as an innocent seven-year-old piglet (explicitly mentioned as such in Porky's Preview), Porky was more frequently cast as an adult, often being cast as the competent straight man in the series in later years. In the ending of many Looney Tunes cartoons, Porky Pig bursts through a bass drum head, and his attempt to close the show with "The End" becomes "Th-Th-The, Th-Th-The, Th-Th... That's all, folks!" Porky Pig appeared in 153 cartoons in the Golden age of American animation.

Early films

The character was introduced in the short I Haven't Got a Hat (first released on March 2, 1935), directed by Friz Freleng. Studio head Leon Schlesinger suggested that Freleng do a cartoon version of the popular Our Gang films. Porky only has a minor role in the film, but the fat little stuttering pig quickly became popular. Porky's name came from two brothers who were childhood classmates of Freleng, nicknamed "Porky" and "Piggy".

Since Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising had left the studio in 1933, taking the studio's star character Bosko with them, Looney Tunes had been kept afloat by cartoons featuring the bland Buddy. Porky's introduction ushered Buddy out the door and pointed to things to come. Tex Avery was hired to the studio in 1935, and his film Gold Diggers of '49 reused much of the cast from I Haven't Got a Hat, albeit in wildly different roles. Porky transitioned from a shy little boy to an immensely fat adult. Though he was still in a supporting role, Porky got most of the laughs. The directors realized they had a star on their hands.

Porky shared his stutter with the voice actor who originally played him, Joe Dougherty, who was actually a person who stuttered. Because Dougherty could not control his stutter, however, production costs became too high as his recording sessions took hours, and Porky's additional lines were done by Count Cutelli. Mel Blanc replaced Dougherty in 1937. Blanc continued the stutter; however, it was harnessed for a more precise comedic effect (such as stumbling over a simple word only to substitute a longer word without difficulty, or vice versa). This is parodied in A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court, where Bugs Bunny struggles to pronounce the word "porcupine", which Porky pronounces with no trouble.

Porky's Duck Hunt was released in 1937, and Blanc officially became the permanent voice of Porky until his death in 1989. In later interviews, Blanc often said that he intended Porky's stutter to be suggestive of the grunting of actual pigs.

Porky's Duck Hunt was also the first film of another Looney Tunes star, Daffy Duck. Porky Pig is currently voiced by Bob Bergen.

As did the rest of his Looney Tunes co-stars, Porky enjoyed regular rotation in television syndication beginning in the 1960s. In 1964, Porky got his own Saturday morning cartoon, The Porky Pig Show which ran until 1967. In 1971, he would star in another show, Porky Pig and Friends. Both of these programs were collections of old theatrical shorts not seen on the Bugs Bunny / Road Runner anthologies. Another such collection was the 1986 film, Porky Pig in Hollywood, which ran in art and college theaters.

In the 1990s animated series Tiny Toon Adventures, Porky appears as the mentor of Hamton J. Pig.

Porky Pig also appears as the Eager Young Space Cadet in the animated television series Duck Dodgers.

Porky appears in the movie Space Jam (1996) and collaborates with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the other major Looney Tunes characters in challenging the Nerdlucks to a basketball game. He tries to get Michael Jordan's autograph when the basketball star is first recruited to join the team and later plays for the Toon Squad in the game itself, scoring one basket. In the post-credits scene, Porky tries to end the movie with his famous line but is prevented through the combined efforts of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the Nerdlucks.

In the movie Looney Tunes: Back In Action, Porky makes a cameo appearance alongside Speedy Gonzales, where they both lament their politically incorrect status. At the end of the movie, he also fails to deliver his ending quip before the studio closes, and just tells the audience to go home.

Porky is the star of the Super NES video game Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday.

Porky also has a cameo at the end of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), where, paired with Disney's Tinkerbell, has the duty of closing the movie with his famous "That's all Folks!" line.

Porky has a descendant in Loonatics Unleashed (2005–2007) named Pinkster Pig (who was also voiced by Bob Bergen) who started off as an old ally of Danger Duck (Daffy Duck's descendent), but became a villain when he was adopted by Stoney and Bugsy (descendants of Rocky and Mugsy).

Porky also appears as a regular in Cartoon Network's animated sitcom The Looney Tunes Show (2011–2014), voiced here by Bob Bergen. He is still friends with Daffy Duck and often sucked into Daffy's schemes. Porky is also Bugs' nervous, fall-guy buddy, similar to their relationship in classic comic books. It is also revealed in the show that in his high school years he was a jock who bullied Daffy. Porky also appears in the direct-to-video movie Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run (2015).