The Timid Toreador is a 1940 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert Clampett and Norman McCabe.
Plot[]
In a Mexican town, there are happy townspeople all around. Inside the bar, there are three Mexican singers. An old lady is washing some underwear at a nearby fountain. She beats it up, but the underwear beats her back and dives into the water.
Then along comes Porky with a box of hot tamales. He's making his rounds and took a brief break. While taking a break, a chicken who was pecking nearby, eyes the box of tamales, opens it up and partakes in one. The chicken swallows it up whole. Unfortunately, the tamale is so hot, that it turns her into a roast chicken. Naturally, Porky is not pleased with what happened, so he takes back the box, and continues on his way.
Later, a bull fight is starting. A spectator is angry over a sombrero of an upfront spectator abstracting his view. So he takes a pin, pokes the sombrero, and it deflates, allowing the angry spectator to enjoy the bull fight. It begins with the introduction of a matador named Ponchi Pancho, and a bull named Slapsie Maxie Rosenbull. When the bell sounds, the matador flaps his cape and Slapsie charges into the matador. At first, he admires Ponchi's cape, but then he takes it from him. Ponchi screams and runs away with Slapsie giving chase. As the bull fight announcer announces whats going on, Ponchi makes it to a bullseye fence and Slapsie hits it. He hits it so hard, that a spectator in the ring laughs and laughs and laughs. Naturally, Slapsie is not happy with the spectator sense of humor, so he chalks up his horn and charges into him. The spectator had since become a centaur.
Later, Porky accidentally arrives in the ring. Slapsie is still chasing Ponchi, but somehow stops chasing him and guns for Porky instead. Porky at first thought the mad bull is his next customer, but has quickly got the message and runs to a nearby sword. But the sword droops and Porky runs for his life. They chase around the ring. Porky reaches the middle and when he sees the bull, Porky digs into the ground, out of harm's way. Porky emerges from the hole and tries to escape, but Slapsie blocks his exit. Slapsie is about to do Porky harm, when he sniffs the tamales. So he takes the box away from Porky, admires them, and eats nearly the whole box. But the tamales are so hot that Slapsie holds his mouth, coughs and runs like heck. He charges himself out of the ring, possibly never to be seen again. Meanwhile, Porky is worshiped for defeating the bull. The spectators lavish Porky with hats, and when a small derby lands on his head, he imitates Oliver Hardy.
Caricatures[]
- Max Rosenbloom - as Slapsie Maxie Rosenbull
- Oliver Hardy
Availability[]
Streaming[]
Goofs[]
- Some prints of the cartoon, including the version aired on MeTV, use the 1937-38 variant of "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" instead of the correct 1938-41 version.
- The 2020 restored version has a botched opening sequence, with the "Warner Bros. Present" being present at the start of the opening sequence instead of fading in, and the Looney Tunes title card appearing too early.
Notes[]
- This was the first cartoon to be directed by Norman McCabe, although it was also directed by Bob Clampett.
- Since Bob Clampett was briefly sick, leaving two Porky Pig cartoons, "The Timid Toreador" and "Porky's Snooze Reel", unfinished, Leon Schlesinger told Norman McCabe to complete the directorial duties, hence the co-director credit under their main titles.
- This is the second cartoon in which Porky bullfights, the first being "Picador Porky".
- The shot of the crowd throwing their sombreros in the air is recycled from "Little Pancho Vanilla". In addition, Porky's Oliver Hardy impression is recycled from footage of an unrelated character in "The CooCoo Nut Grove".
- The hat-shaped "The Brown Sombrero" cantina is a reference to the original Brown Derby restaurant, also hat-shaped, located on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles, CA.
- The "Contented Cows" cheering section is a reference to the ad slogan “from contented cows”, used by Carnation Evaporated Milk.
- This cartoon entered the public domain in 1968 as Warner Bros.-Seven Arts did not renew the copyright.
- MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of this cartoon on Saturday Morning Cartoons and Toon In With Me.
Gallery[]
References[]