Porky's Preview

Title Card

Porky's Preview

Short Information

Notes:

1) Jolson blackface caricature cut from many prints.
2) This is the last Porky Pig cartoon Tex Avery directed, alongside his last black-and-white Looney Tunes cartoon he directed.
3) The title card music of this cartoon would later be re-used in the Warner Bros. Pictures opening logo used for the Looney Tunes compilation feature film "Daffy Duck's Quackbusters" (1988) 47 years later ^[1].
4) A poorly-drawn caricature of Henry Binder appears in some of Porky’s drawings.

Series:

Looney Tunes

Production No.:

9808

MPAA No.:

6743

Preceded by

Toy Trouble

Followed by

The Trial of Mr. Wolf

Porky's Preview is a 1941 Looney Tunes short directed by Tex Avery.

Plot[]

An audience enters a movie theater run by Porky Pig. There are a series of short sight gags, including a firefly acting out as an usher, a kangaroo that is taking tickets and putting them in her pouch, and a chicken buying child tickets for her eggs. A skunk meanwhile attempts to buy a ticket that only costs a nickel, only to find he has a scent. He attempts to find a way in.

At the same time, Porky is introducing the show, which is some crudely-drawn cartoons featuring stick figures;

The first cartoon is a circus parade featuring drummers, a lion, elephants, a giraffe, and a sweeper.
The second one features a "choo-choo" train that rides off the tracks and onto the background, to the tune of "California Here I Come".
The third one features soldiers marching.
The fourth one depicts a horse race where Bing Crosby's horse is slowly strolling along to the tune of "The Old Gray Mare" (a reference to horses Bing Crosby bet on coming in late).
The fifth segment is a compilation of different kinds of dances: Hawaiian, Mexican, a samba, and a ballet.
The grand finale is a performance of "September in the Rain" by a caricature of Al Jolson.

By the end, the audience has deserted the theater all because of the fact that the skunk was able to sneak inside. Porky is surprised to learn about this, but the skunk enthusiastically applauds Porky's film, having enjoyed it because it too "stinks."

Caricatures[]

Al Jolson

September in the Rain Lyrics[]

The leaves of brown
Came tumbling down, remember?
All those leaves, they're falling on me
That's what they're doing
In the rain

And the sun went out,
Just like a dying ember
That's what is was
It was in September
That's when it was, yes
In the rain

Aw, look at those little clouds up there
Up there on the hill
Aw, and the little raindrops, they're falling on me
That's what they're doing
Mammy, aw look up there at the sun
It's shining on your little sonny boy
Come on, play it for me

Spring is here and it's September. That's what it is
Build it up, play it, that September
In the rain

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

The finale of Porky's crudely-drawn cartoons featuring a stick-figure Al Jolson singing "September in the Rain" was cut from all television airings in the United States, including on Nickelodeon and the Ted Turner-owned networks (TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang).^[2]