Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . to the American Political Scene than right now, in 2016. As the Nazi Party's Overture for World War Two was winding up, Warner Bros. issued PORKY IN WACKYLAND as their long-term forecast for America's Future if the U.S. Id, historically referred to as the "Confederate States," but more inclusively dubbed as Today's "Red States," ever gained the Upper Hand in a Presidential Election Year (as Adolph the Looney Tuner had in the Deutschland of 1934). Warnologist's will note Porky's descent here into a drab Black & White World, cluttered with Racist Nonsense (such as the one-man band) and sexual confusion (embodied by the She-Male Goon). This week, USA Today ran an editorial cartoon depicting one of North Carolina's new "Who-Who" Inspectors athwart the entrance to a Public Ladies' Powder Room there (though the spelling of the NC Gestapo chick's title may have been slightly different in the cartoon). For thousands of years, Civilization had no problems with Birth, Death, Love, Sex, Marriage, and Going to the Bathroom. But the ever-clairvoyant Warner Bros. sniffed out a day when a third of America would be totally Looney Tunes in Wackyland!
Hitchcoc
As Porky searches for the Do Do, he encounters creatures defying reality and situations that are unexplainable. This doesn't matter because what happens is a portrayal of craziness from the surreal. Porky is nonplussed along the way, never really reacting but, rather, introducing us to the whole array of absurdity. Some of these characters show up in other cartoons, but they had their birthplace here. Once again, we have an animator whose random concepts and dream world's, along with some really interesting sound, set the table for the future. Nice work. Porky eventually morphs into what we are familiar with but provide a little stability to this madness.
Rikichi
Wow! Over sixty years later, this cartoon short stands out as one of the greatest achievements in this medium. Bob Clampett, given the complete freedom that producer Leon Schlesinger let him have, spun out some of the weirdest and wackiest ever made.We start out with a typical beginning for that era, Porky Pig is flying to Darkest Africa to find the last Do-Do, worth billions. But what follows is a mind bending journey, where no one evidently studied the laws of physics. Some of the humor are stock Bob Clampett jokes that are repeated in others of his cartoons, but he was always best with visual humor, when he let the animation be the star of the show.
clem-5
This cartoon is an early pinnacle of animation insanity, the prototypical Warner Brothers short. A blitzkrieg of jokes, puns, and free-wheeling mayhem, WB-style cartoons sometimes equaled, but never surpassed, "Porky in Wackyland". Every square inch of every frame is packed with information that flows in several directions at once. Carl Stalling's score is as integral to this cartoon as any of the visual elements (and more so than the "script"). For these, and many other, reasons, "Porky in Wackyland" is the blueprint for the best of WB cartoons, as well as a signpost to various late-20th Century highbrow/lowbrow aesthetics.
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