Porky's Badtime Story

Porky's Badtime Story is a 1937 Looney Tunes short planned by Ub Iwerks and finished by Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a play on a "bedtime story."
== Plot ==
Porky and Gabby are busy sleeping away when the alarm clock begins to ring at six o'clock in the morning. Porky turns away from the clock, and they resume sleeping until four hours later when Porky realizes how late they are. They quickly dress and get into their car before zooming to work. Upon arrival, Gabby and Porky run into the building, only to slow down and tip-toe inside the room. They manage to clock in around quarter past eleven, just in time to be caught by the boss after Gabby yanks on the lever belonging to the device. He starts to speak to them in a calm manner, but soon angrily warns them that if they show up late again, they will be fired.
The following night, Porky and Gabby prepare for bed around eight that night. Gabby isn't very happy about this but Porky reminds him that they can't show up late again or else they're out of jobs. After he turns out the light, Porky goes to bed. At first all is calm... until a cat begins to make too much noise.
Porky gets up and throws a shoe outside the window, then thinking he hit the cat, he turns away and prepares to get back into bed - only to be hit with the shoe in the process. And so he tries again, this time closing the window so that the first mistake isn't repeated. But Porky didn't count on the shoe flying in through the other window.
Porky tries a third time, but to outsmart the cat, he pretends to throw the shoe and dives underneath his window. He waits a moment, then peeks outside, just in time to be hit by a random shoe as he walks away. Then he was hit by multiple shoes, scaring him back to bed. Back in bed, Porky yawns tiredly and is about to attempt sleep once more when a bug flies into the room. He begins to swing his pillow at it until Gabby angrily tells him to quiet down, since he can't sleep. Which earns him a pillow to the head, effectively getting the bug too. Almost!
Not even ten minutes later, the both of them are almost asleep when the clouds part to reveal the moon and the window shade begins to rise, causing moonlight to shine into the room. Porky shields his eyes before getting out of bed to close the shade. He gets back into the bed as the moon goes to the other side of the house and he is forced to get up and shut that shade as well, but it seemingly develops a mind of its own. Multiple times it threatens to rise, only to instantly shut when Porky catches it in the act. This tricks Porky into believing it is shut and he returns to bed. However, the shade resumes raising, then shutting as he looks at it. This continues for a couple of minutes until Porky has finally had it and he yanks the shade to hang under his bed. But when the uncooperative shade snaps away, it pulls the bed springs out with it from Porky's bed, causing his bed to fly against the wall and Porky to fall out of the frame in a daze!
Even later that night, a horrible thunderstorm occurs. He gets up to shut the window and gets into bed with Gabby, as his bed is still ruined. A puddle on the roof leaks onto the bed and Gabby investigates it. And just for a moment, thinks Porky wet the bed until rain drips onto his face. He angrily yells and opens an umbrella. Porky warns him its bad luck but Gabby stubbornly brushes him off.
Just then lightning strikes the umbrella. Gabby unhappily continues to talk and ends up accidentally makes things worse when the small puddle on the ceiling opens and causes a massive wave of water to rain down on the two of them, causing the entire bed to break and fall to the floor.
As a result, Porky and Gabby spend the rest of the night inside drawers of their dresser when the alarm suddenly rings to inform them it is time to get up. At first, upon seeing it, Porky goes back to sleep, but seconds later he wakes up Gabby, remembering what their boss warned them of if they are tardy again, and they quickly rush to get to work again, on time, before their boss can fire them. Unfortunately as they arrive, Gabby and Porky see that their workplace is closed on Sundays and they quickly rush back home to return to bed. As soon as the alarm resumes ringing, Porky smashes it with a hammer.
== Availability ==
Porky Pig 101 DVD Cover.png|(2017) DVD Porky Pig 101, Disc 2
=== Streaming ===
Lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang (2017 - ) (computer colorized)
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - 2024) (restored)
== Goofs ==
* As the boss is preparing to yell at Porky and Gabby, the cuff of his jacket turns blue.
* As Porky hides under the window, his leg flashes black/vanishes for a couple seconds.
* As Gabby blows feathers out of his mouth, his top flashes a dark color.
== Notes ==
* The original title to this short was "It Happened All Night" (a pun on the 1934 screwball comedy It Happened One Night), but was changed due to the Hays Office finding it too risque.
* This film was remade in color in 1944 as "Tick Tock Tuckered", with Daffy Duck replacing Gabby Goat as Porky's co-star.
* This was the first cartoon to use the short-lived closing cue based on The Porky Signature. It is also the first Looney Tunes cartoon to use the zooming sound effect for the Warner Bros. shield at the beginning of the cartoon.
* This is the first cartoon directed by Bob Clampett.
** Ub Iwerks was originally assigned to direct the cartoon, but Iwerks left the studio in the middle of production. Clampett took over Iwerks' directing role, completing the cartoon with Iwerks' layouts.
* This is the first time Chuck Jones is an assistant director solely, although he was uncredited like the other shorts that he was ever an assistant director, he would eventually become an official director in 1938 after Frank Tashlin's departure.
** Since his two previous shorts that he was an assistant director, Bob Clampett was also a co-assistant director (with Ub Iwerks being the main director of those two previous shorts).
== Gallery ==
Extra7.jpg|Lobby card
Extra8.jpg|Lobby card
6dc7f83c-4ea3-4a06-b681-7d8701412bea (17).jpg|Lobby card
It-Happened-All-Night-small-pic.jpg
Badtime-Story-Mike-Jeanne-Glad-600.jpg|Cel production
Badtime-1.jpg
Badtime-drawing2-600.jpg
Porkys-Badtime-Story-draft1-600.jpg
Porkys-Badtime-Story-draft-2-600.jpg
Porky's Badtime Story draft animation 1937 full.png
== References ==
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Shorts
Category:1937
Category:Black-and-white cartoons
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Post-1935 Black & White Looney Tunes
Category:Cartoons animated by Chuck Jones
Category:Cartoons animated by Lu Guarnier
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons in the Sunset Productions package