Porky Pig---An American Icon

Porky Pig burst onto the scene on this date in 1936-in a Warner Brother cartoon called “Gold Diggers of ‘49”. (Wikipedia disputes this, stating that the Porkster made his debut a year earlier…..whatever)

Never was a speech impediment so damn hilari-uh, hilari-uh, hilari-uh,….uh….funny.

The sad truth is that Porky would never leave the drawing board nowadays—as political correctness would insure that Porky’s signature stutter be left out. He’d be a guest star on “Family Guy”, where his insensitivity would be dwarfed by the rest of the script.

The first Porky did not feature the voice of Mel Blanc—who wouldn’t arrive at Warner until the following year. After that, Mel catapulted characters like Porky, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Sylvester into the cartoon stratosphere.

Created by Fritz Freleng and designed by animator Bob Clampett, the “Looney Tunes” star was an instant hit-but Clampett would eventually morph the Porky the Pig of those earlier episodes into the hog that most of us are more familiar with.

Warner created a funny Porky “blooper” for the 50th Anniversary TV Show-here it is:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI4otTziYjk

And here’s a more traditional episode-Porky the Pig at his best:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8KYEhws_QQ

In a too-serious world, it’s sometimes a good idea to switch attention to those who make us laugh.

Porky the Pig has entertained millions for generations—stutter or no stutter. And as Porky himself would say:

“Tha-Tha-Tha-That’s all, folks!”

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