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

Plot[]

Porky is reading the story of the gorgon, a Greek myth about a woman who turned everyone she looked at into stone. His mother tells him it's time to go to bed. While he's asleep, he dreams of being a Greek hero known as Porkykarkus. In this version, the Gorgon runs a photo studio, and Porky is able to save by sneaking in and grabbing her life-restoring needle just before he wakes up.

Caricatures[]

  • Bill Comstock - The Gorgon is a parody of his character Lizzie Tish on Al Pearce's radio show.
  • Al Pearce's salesman character Elmer Blurt is a statue used as a doorstop
  • The Three Stooges make a cameo. When turned to stone, they resemble the famous "three wise monkeys" sculpture.
  • Dick Powell - as the Dick A. Powello statue

Availability[]

Censorship[]

  • Versions shown on Cartoon Network (barring The Bob Clampett Show), Boomerang, and, most recently, MeTV, cut all the scenes featuring the Gorgon's bodyguard (the guard pulling Porky in and forcing him in line and the guard telling Porky that he is next, with Porky fearfully picturing himself as a piggy bank) due to fears that the guard either looks like he is in blackface or is a stereotypical depiction of a black person. Unusually, these scenes were not cut when the short aired on Nickelodeon.[4] The short aired only once on MeTV, on the 10 December 2022 installment of Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Notes[]

  • This is one of the few times Porky is depicted as a child.
  • The name "Porkykarkus" is a parody of Parkyakarkus, a Greek stereotype who was the stage personna of comedian Harry Einstein.
  • The Emperor Jones is a 1920 Eugene O'Neill play and its 1933 film adaptation.
  • The Emperor's "fireside chat" is a nod to Franklin D. Roosevelt's weekly radio addresses.
  • The "bring-em-back-alive" needle is a pun on hunter Frank Buck's best-selling novel Bring 'Em Back Alive.
  • Bob Clampett and members of his animation unit (Chuck Jones, Lu Guarnier, Robert "Bobe" Cannon, John Carey and Ernest Gee), appear as statues placed together to form a human picket fence.
  • Porky gives the broken Venus de Milo statue a set of Popeye arms. The first few bars of Popeye's theme song are heard on the soundtrack.
  • Porky brings to life a Greek temple labeled "Shirley", a reference to child star Shirley Temple.
  • Carl Stalling's name is misspelled as Carl W. Stallings in the opening.
  • MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of the cartoon on Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Gallery[]

References[]

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 Woods
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
1964 Dumb Patrol
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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