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Porky's Badtime Story is a 1937 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones.

Title[]

The title is a play on a "bedtime story."

Plot[]

Porky and Gabby are busy sleeping away when the alarm clock begins to ring at six o'clock in the morning. Porky turns away from the clock, and they resume sleeping until four hours later when Porky realizes how late they are. They quickly dress and get into their car before zooming to work. Upon arrival, Gabby and Porky run into the building, only to slow down and tip-toe inside the room. They manage to clock in around quarter past eleven, just in time to be caught by the boss after Gabby yanks on the lever belonging to the device. He starts to speak to them in a calm manner, but soon angrily warns them that if they show up late again, they will be fired.

The following night, Porky and Gabby prepare for bed around eight that night. Gabby isn't very happy about this but Porky reminds him that they can't show up late again or else they're out of jobs. After he turns out the light, Porky goes to bed. At first all is calm... until a cat begins to make too much noise.

Porky gets up and throws a shoe outside the window, then thinking he hit the cat, he turns away and prepares to get back into bed - only to be hit with the shoe in the process. And so he tries again, this time closing the window so that the first mistake isn't repeated. But Porky didn't count on the shoe flying in through the other window.

Porky tries a third time, but to outsmart the cat, he pretends to throw the shoe and dives underneath his window. He waits a moment, then peeks outside, just in time to be hit by a random shoe as he walks away. Then he was hit by multiple shoes, scaring him back to bed. Back in bed, Porky yawns tiredly and is about to attempt sleep once more when a bug flies into the room. He begins to swing his pillow at it until Gabby angrily tells him to quiet down, since he can't sleep. Which earns him a pillow to the head, effectively getting the bug too. Almost!

Not even ten minutes later, the both of them are almost asleep when the clouds part to reveal the moon and the window shade begins to rise, causing moonlight to shine into the room. Porky shields his eyes before getting out of bed to close the shade. He gets back into the bed as the moon goes to the other side of the house and he is forced to get up and shut that shade as well, but it seemingly develops a mind of its own. Multiple times it threatens to rise, only to instantly shut when Porky catches it in the act. This tricks Porky into believing it is shut and he returns to bed. However, the shade resumes raising, then shutting as he looks at it. This continues for a couple of minutes until Porky has finally had it and he yanks the shade to hang under his bed. But when the uncooperative shade snaps away, it pulls the bed springs out with it from Porky's bed, causing his bed to fly against the wall and Porky to fall out of the frame in a daze!

Even later that night, a horrible thunderstorm occurs. He gets up to shut the window and gets into bed with Gabby, as his bed is still ruined. A puddle on the roof leaks onto the bed and Gabby investigates it. And just for a moment, thinks Porky wet the bed until rain drips onto his face. He angrily yells and opens an umbrella. Porky warns him its bad luck but Gabby stubbornly brushes him off.

Just then lightning strikes the umbrella. Gabby unhappily continues to talk and ends up accidentally makes things worse when the small puddle on the ceiling opens and causes a massive wave of water to rain down on the two of them, causing the entire bed to break and fall to the floor.

As a result, Porky and Gabby spend the rest of the night inside drawers of their dresser when the alarm suddenly rings to inform them it is time to get up. At first, upon seeing it, Porky goes back to sleep but seconds later he wakes up Gabby, and they quickly rush to get to work again. Unfortunately as they arrive, Gabby and Porky see that their workplace is closed on Sundays and they quickly rush back home to return to bed. As soon as the alarm resumes ringing, Porky smashes it with a hammer.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Goofs[]

  • As the boss is preparing to yell at Porky and Gabby, the cuff of his jacket turns blue.
  • As Porky hides under the window, his leg flashes black/vanishes for a couple seconds.
  • As Gabby blows feathers out of his mouth, his top flashes a dark color.

Notes[]

  • The original title to this short was "It Happened All Night" (a pun on the 1934 screwball comedy It Happened One Night), but was changed due to the Hays Office finding it too risque.[3]
  • This film was remade in color in 1944 as "Tick Tock Tuckered", with Daffy Duck replacing Gabby Goat as Porky's co-star.
  • This was the first cartoon to use the short-lived closing cue based on The Porky Signature. It is also the first Looney Tunes cartoon to use the zooming sound effect for the Warner Bros. shield at the beginning of the cartoon.
  • This is the directing debut of Bob Clampett.
  • This is the first time Chuck Jones is an assistant director solely, although he was uncredited like the other shorts that he was ever an assistant director, he would eventually become an official director in 1938 after Frank Tashlin's departure.
    • Since his two previous shorts that he was an assistant director, Bob Clampett was also a co-assistant director (with Ub Iwerks being the main director of those two previous shorts).
  • Vitaphone release number: 7797

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]

Porky Pig Cartoons
1935 I Haven't Got a HatGold Diggers of '49
1936 Plane DippyAlpine AnticsThe Phantom ShipBoom BoomThe Blow OutWestward WhoaFish TalesShanghaied ShipmatesPorky's PetPorky the Rain-MakerPorky's Poultry PlantPorky's Moving DayMilk and MoneyLittle Beau PorkyThe Village SmithyPorky in the North WoodsBoulevardier from the Bronx
1937 Porky the WrestlerPorky's Road RacePicador PorkyPorky's RomancePorky's Duck HuntPorky and GabbyPorky's BuildingPorky's Super ServicePorky's Badtime StoryPorky's RailroadGet Rich Quick PorkyPorky's GardenRover's RivalThe Case of the Stuttering PigPorky's Double TroublePorky's Hero Agency
1938 Porky's PoppaPorky at the CrocaderoWhat Price PorkyPorky's Phoney ExpressPorky's Five & TenPorky's Hare HuntInjun TroublePorky the FiremanPorky's PartyPorky's Spring PlantingPorky & DaffyWholly SmokePorky in WackylandPorky's Naughty NephewPorky in EgyptThe Daffy DocPorky the Gob
1939 The Lone Stranger and PorkyIt's an Ill WindPorky's Tire TroublePorky's Movie MysteryChicken JittersPorky and TeabiscuitKristopher Kolumbus Jr.Polar PalsScalp TroubleOld GloryPorky's PicnicWise QuacksPorky's HotelJeepers CreepersNaughty NeighborsPied Piper PorkyPorky the Giant KillerThe Film Fan
1940 Porky's Last StandAfrica SqueaksAli-Baba BoundPilgrim PorkySlap Happy PappyPorky's Poor FishYou Ought to Be in PicturesThe Chewin' BruinPorky's Baseball BroadcastPatient PorkyCalling Dr. PorkyPrehistoric PorkyThe Sour PussPorky's Hired HandThe Timid Toreador
1941 Porky's Snooze ReelPorky's Bear FactsPorky's PreviewPorky's AntA Coy DecoyPorky's Prize PonyMeet John DoughboyWe, the Animals - Squeak!The Henpecked DuckNotes to YouRobinson Crusoe Jr.Porky's Midnight MatineePorky's Pooch
1942 Porky's Pastry PiratesWho's Who in the ZooPorky's CafeAny Bonds Today?My Favorite Duck
1943 Confusions of a Nutzy SpyYankee Doodle DaffyPorky Pig's FeatA Corny Concerto
1944 Tom Turk and DaffyTick Tock TuckeredSwooner CroonerDuck Soup to NutsSlightly DaffyBrother Brat
1945 Trap Happy PorkyWagon Heels
1946 Baby BottleneckDaffy DoodlesKitty KorneredThe Great Piggy Bank RobberyMouse Menace
1947 One Meat BrawlLittle Orphan Airedale
1948 Daffy Duck Slept HereNothing but the ToothThe Pest That Came to DinnerRiff Raffy DaffyScaredy Cat
1949 Awful OrphanPorky ChopsPaying the PiperDaffy Duck HuntCurtain RazorOften an OrphanDough for the Do-DoBye, Bye Bluebeard
1950 Boobs in the WoodsThe Scarlet PumpernickelAn Egg ScrambleGolden YeggsThe DuckstersDog Collared
1951 The Wearing of the GrinDrip-Along DaffyThe Prize Pest
1952 Thumb FunCracked QuackFool Coverage
1953 Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century
1954 Claws for AlarmMy Little Duckaroo
1955 Jumpin' JupiterDime to Retire
1956 Rocket SquadDeduce, You Say
1957 Boston Quackie
1958 Robin Hood Daffy
1959 China Jones
1961 Daffy's Inn Trouble
1965 Corn on the Cop
1966 Mucho Locos
1980 Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
1996 Superior Duck
2004 My Generation G...G... Gap
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