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Swooner Crooner is a 1944 Looney Tunes short directed by Frank Tashlin.

Plot[]

Porky Pig is the supervisor of the "Flockheed Eggcraft Factory", where dozens of hens lay eggs for the war effort (specifically, for World War II). The hens suddenly get distracted from their egg-laying when a handsome rooster named Frankie (who sings like Frank Sinatra) is heard singing outside. Frankie's renditions of "It Can't Be Wrong" by Dick Haymes and "As Time Goes By" cause all the hens to swoon.

Porky rushes to investigate. Soon, he's auditioning for a new crooner; those showing up are caricatures of Nelson Eddy ("Shortnin' Bread"), Al Jolson ("September in the Rain"), Jimmy Durante ("Lullaby of Broadway"), Cab Calloway ("Minnie the Moocher", "Blues in the Night"), and Bing Crosby ("When My Dream Boat Comes Home").[5]

Porky asks the Bing Crosby rooster, who introduced himself as "The Old Groaner", to be the crooner, provoking a competition with Frankie. Between the two of them, the overexcited hens' egg production is increased to a level beyond what Porky can handle, including a just-hatched hen chick laying an egg many times her own size.

Surveying literal hills and mountains of eggs all over his farm, Porky was impressed and asked the two roosters, "How did you ever m-m-make 'em lay all those eggs?" The roosters demonstrate their technique by crooning at Porky, who lays a mountain of eggs himself as a result.

Caricatures[]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

  • Versions of this cartoon shown on most American TV channels (particularly Cartoon Network, Boomerang, TNT, TBS, and some local syndicated affiliates) cut the part where the Al Jolson rooster auditions in blackface with "September in the Rain", going from the Nelson Eddy rooster tiring himself out while singing "Shortnin' Bread" to the Jimmy Durante rooster singing "Lullaby of Broadway".[6] MeTV initially ran the cartoon with the Al Jolson audition edited, but, as of 19 May 2022, the scene runs uncut.

Notes[]

  • The cartoon was nominated for the 1945 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), which it lost to the Tom and Jerry cartoon "'Mouse Trouble".[7]
  • On Porkyā€™s farm, "Flockheed Eggcraft Factory 100% War Work" (with eggs in a "V" shape, for victory), eggs fall out of the nests through bomb bay doors. This is a reference to Lockheed Aircraft Corp.ā€™s Vega assembly plant, located in Burbank, CA. They produced fighter and bomber aircraft throughout World War II.
  • This is the first Looney Tunes short to be re-released under the Blue Ribbon program and the only Looney Tunes short to be re-released under "IN TECHNICOLOR" before Warner Bros. changed to "Color By TECHNICOLOR".
  • Part of the cartoon's basic premise was reused in the 2004 short "Cock-a-Doodle Duel" with Foghorn Leghorn. In it, Foghorn competes with a genetically-engineered rooster to make hens lay eggs.
  • Pre-1995 prints are known to keep the original ending music with Porky Pig's "T-t-t-t-that's all folks!" However, both the European and American Turner dubbed prints change the ending music audio to the 1941-55 MM rendition.[8][9] The DVD and Blu-ray releases use the USA 1995 dubbed version's soundtrack.[9]
  • The Frank Sinatra rooster had a cameo in The Looney Tunes Show episode "The Foghorn Leghorn Story" as one of the roosters who auditioned for the part of Foghorn Leghorn.
  • This cartoon was shown in theatres with The Adventures of Mark Twain during its original release.
  • An original print exists at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and was screened at the Nitrate Picture Show on 3 May 2019.[10]
  • Vitaphone release number: 1225[11]

Gallery[]

References[]

External Links[]

Porky Pig Cartoons
1935 I Haven't Got a Hat ā€¢ Gold Diggers of '49
1936 Plane Dippy ā€¢ Alpine Antics ā€¢ The Phantom Ship ā€¢ Boom Boom ā€¢ The Blow Out ā€¢ Westward Whoa ā€¢ Fish Tales ā€¢ Shanghaied Shipmates ā€¢ Porky's Pet ā€¢ Porky the Rain-Maker ā€¢ Porky's Poultry Plant ā€¢ Porky's Moving Day ā€¢ Milk and Money ā€¢ Little Beau Porky ā€¢ The Village Smithy ā€¢ Porky in the North Woods ā€¢ Boulevardier from the Bronx
1937 Porky the Wrestler ā€¢ Porky's Road Race ā€¢ Picador Porky ā€¢ Porky's Romance ā€¢ Porky's Duck Hunt ā€¢ Porky and Gabby ā€¢ Porky's Building ā€¢ Porky's Super Service ā€¢ Porky's Badtime Story ā€¢ Porky's Railroad ā€¢ Get Rich Quick Porky ā€¢ Porky's Garden ā€¢ Rover's Rival ā€¢ The Case of the Stuttering Pig ā€¢ Porky's Double Trouble ā€¢ Porky's Hero Agency
1938 Porky's Poppa ā€¢ Porky at the Crocadero ā€¢ What Price Porky ā€¢ Porky's Phoney Express ā€¢ Porky's Five & Ten ā€¢ Porky's Hare Hunt ā€¢ Injun Trouble ā€¢ Porky the Fireman ā€¢ Porky's Party ā€¢ Porky's Spring Planting ā€¢ Porky & Daffy ā€¢ Wholly Smoke ā€¢ Porky in Wackyland ā€¢ Porky's Naughty Nephew ā€¢ Porky in Egypt ā€¢ The Daffy Doc ā€¢ Porky the Gob
1939 The Lone Stranger and Porky ā€¢ It's an Ill Wind ā€¢ Porky's Tire Trouble ā€¢ Porky's Movie Mystery ā€¢ Chicken Jitters ā€¢ Porky and Teabiscuit ā€¢ Kristopher Kolumbus Jr. ā€¢ Polar Pals ā€¢ Scalp Trouble ā€¢ Old Glory ā€¢ Porky's Picnic ā€¢ Wise Quacks ā€¢ Porky's Hotel ā€¢ Jeepers Creepers ā€¢ Naughty Neighbors ā€¢ Pied Piper Porky ā€¢ Porky the Giant Killer ā€¢ The Film Fan
1940 Porky's Last Stand ā€¢ Africa Squeaks ā€¢ Ali-Baba Bound ā€¢ Pilgrim Porky ā€¢ Slap Happy Pappy ā€¢ Porky's Poor Fish ā€¢ You Ought to Be in Pictures ā€¢ The Chewin' Bruin ā€¢ Porky's Baseball Broadcast ā€¢ Patient Porky ā€¢ Calling Dr. Porky ā€¢ Prehistoric Porky ā€¢ The Sour Puss ā€¢ Porky's Hired Hand ā€¢ The Timid Toreador
1941 Porky's Snooze Reel ā€¢ Porky's Bear Facts ā€¢ Porky's Preview ā€¢ Porky's Ant ā€¢ A Coy Decoy ā€¢ Porky's Prize Pony ā€¢ Meet John Doughboy ā€¢ We, the Animals - Squeak! ā€¢ The Henpecked Duck ā€¢ Notes to You ā€¢ Robinson Crusoe Jr. ā€¢ Porky's Midnight Matinee ā€¢ Porky's Pooch
1942 Porky's Pastry Pirates ā€¢ Who's Who in the Zoo ā€¢ Porky's Cafe ā€¢ Any Bonds Today? ā€¢ My Favorite Duck
1943 Confusions of a Nutzy Spy ā€¢ Yankee Doodle Daffy ā€¢ Porky Pig's Feat ā€¢ A Corny Concerto
1944 Tom Turk and Daffy ā€¢ Tick Tock Tuckered ā€¢ Swooner Crooner ā€¢ Duck Soup to Nuts ā€¢ Slightly Daffy ā€¢ Brother Brat
1945 Trap Happy Porky ā€¢ Wagon Heels
1946 Baby Bottleneck ā€¢ Daffy Doodles ā€¢ Kitty Kornered ā€¢ The Great Piggy Bank Robbery ā€¢ Mouse Menace
1947 One Meat Brawl ā€¢ Little Orphan Airedale
1948 Daffy Duck Slept Here ā€¢ Nothing but the Tooth ā€¢ The Pest That Came to Dinner ā€¢ Riff Raffy Daffy ā€¢ Scaredy Cat
1949 Awful Orphan ā€¢ Porky Chops ā€¢ Paying the Piper ā€¢ Daffy Duck Hunt ā€¢ Curtain Razor ā€¢ Often an Orphan ā€¢ Dough for the Do-Do ā€¢ Bye, Bye Bluebeard
1950 Boobs in the Woods ā€¢ The Scarlet Pumpernickel ā€¢ An Egg Scramble ā€¢ Golden Yeggs ā€¢ The Ducksters ā€¢ Dog Collared
1951 The Wearing of the Grin ā€¢ Drip-Along Daffy ā€¢ The Prize Pest
1952 Thumb Fun ā€¢ Cracked Quack ā€¢ Fool Coverage
1953 Duck Dodgers in the 24Ā½th Century
1954 Claws for Alarm ā€¢ My Little Duckaroo
1955 Jumpin' Jupiter ā€¢ Dime to Retire
1956 Rocket Squad ā€¢ Deduce, 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 24Ā½th Century
1996 Superior Duck
2004 My Generation G...G... Gap
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