You Ought to Be in Pictures

You Ought to Be in Pictures is a 1940 Looney Tunes short directed by I. Freleng.
== Title ==
The title comes from the popular 1934 song "You Oughta Be in Pictures" by Dana Suesse and Edward Heyman.
== Plot ==
Daffy wants to be the top star in the studio. To this end, he persuades Porky to resign from the Schlesinger studios to pursue a career in feature films as Bette Davis' leading man. Porky goes to Leon Schlesinger and asks to have his contract torn up. Schlesinger reluctantly agrees, and wishes Porky the best of luck. "He'll be back!" chuckles Schlesinger after Porky is out of earshot.
Porky spends the rest of the film trying to get into the lots and sets of an unnamed studio, with little success. After several failures, from convincing the security guard to let him in to dressing up as Oliver Hardy to gain access, until the guard gave chase, and inadvertently interrupting the shooting of a ballet film, he decides to see if Schlesinger will take him back. He returns to Schlesinger's office after frantically dodging his cartooned car in and out of "actual" Los Angeles traffic, only to see Daffy doing a wild audition to become the new star of Warner Bros. cartoons, openly disparaging Porky. Porky then takes Daffy with him to another room, where he beats Daffy up. After this, he hurriedly runs into Schlesinger's office to beg for his job back. Schlesinger, laughing heartily and saying "I knew you'd be back!", reveals that he didn't really rip up Porky's contract, and happily tells him to get back to work. Porky gladly thanks him and runs back into the animation paper that he was in when the short started. Daffy, still not quite having learned his lesson after being beaten by Porky, again attempts to persuade Porky to resign and work with Greta Garbo, only to get splattered with a tomato.
== Caricatures ==
* Oliver Hardy
== Availability ==
Lt ppsc.jpg|(1985) VHS Looney Tunes Golden Jubilee: Porky Pig's Screwball Comedies (original black and white, time compressed)
Lt ppsc beta.jpg|(1985) Beta Porky Pig's Screwball Comedies
Gdsfhfdasghgfasgdhbbcxv.jpg|(1993) LaserDisc Ham on Wry: The Porky Pig Laser Collection
lt carrotblanca vhs.jpg|(1996) VHS Carrotblanca (1995 Computer Colorized Version with 1997 Dubbed Version disclaimer)
Bumper08.jpg|(1998) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 8)
lt vcdc1.jpg|(1998) VCD Looney Tunes VCD Compilation 1
LTCE VOL 9 A LOONEY LIFE.jpg|(2000) VHS Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 9: A Looney Life
Golden Collection box 2.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2, Disc Four
Large.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 2 Disc 2
lt cas3.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Collection All Stars Volume 3
LTPC VOL 2 DVD.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 1
LTPC VOL 2 Blu Ray.jpg|(2012) Blu-ray Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 2, Disc 1
lt spotlight df.jpg|(2014) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 2-3 Repack
Porky Pig 101 DVD Cover.png|(2017) DVD Porky Pig 101, Disc 4
lt spotlight v1-3.jpg|(2018) DVD Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 1-3 Repack
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023)
lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - 2024)
Lt itunes.jpg|iTunes ( - ) (restored)
== Goofs ==
* A shadow of a camera appears on the wall while Porky Pig is beating up Daffy Duck for revenge, off-screen, just after returning to the Warner Bros' animation studio and asks Leon Schlesinger for his contract.
* Only in the computer-colorized version: An animator originally draws Porky Pig in black-and-white. In the next scene after the Termite Terrace employees rush out of the studio for lunch, Porky appears in color, resulting in a plot-hole as to who among the crew colored him at the last minute or how Porky got colorized.
== Notes ==
* In a real-life parallel of the storyline, the short was Friz Freleng's first since returning to Schlesinger after a stint as a director at MGM's cartoon division. In fact, the cartoon homages Freleng's experience in moving to MGM.
** This is also the first Looney Tunes short directed by Freleng since "Buddy's Trolley Troubles" in 1934.
* Many staff members have cameos in this short:
** Leon Schlesinger — appears as himself
** Chuck Jones — one of the crowd rushing out during the lunch break
** Michael Maltese — the studio security guard
** Bob Clampett — another one of the Termite Terrace employees rushing frantically off to lunch
** Gerry Chiniquy — studio director calling for quiet
** Henry Binder & Paul Marin stagehands also calling for quiet. Binder is also the stagehand throwing Porky off the set
* To keep the short on-budget, relatively few special effects were used to marry the animation and live action. Where possible, the crew simply took still pictures of the office background and had them enlarged and placed directly on the animation stand.
* Because the animation unit did not have access to location sound recording equipment, all of the live-action footage was shot silent. The voices had to be dubbed in later (which is why most of them were dubbed by Mel Blanc, except Leon Schlesinger who dubbed his own voice).
* Porky breaks the fourth wall by saying he has a good job being in cartoons.
* Clocking in at a total run-time of 9 minutes 45 seconds, this is one of the longest-running Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts ever produced. When this cartoon was released on the short-lived Golden Jubilee video collection "Porky Pig's Screwball Comedies", due to the 1 hour VHS space restrictions at the time, this cartoon was time-compressed (sped-up) to be twice as fast as normal, and two other Porky Pig shorts in this tape which clock at the usual run-time of 6–7 minutes, "The Wearing of the Grin" and "Dough for the Do-Do", were also time-compressed the same way to fit in the VHS tape's space restrictions for this reason.
* As it was made in black-and-white, the short appeared only occasionally on television. In 1995, the film was computer-colorized and became a regular part of the Cartoon Network rotation.
* It was shown in black and white on Cartoon Network's installment show "Late Night Black and White" and on Nickelodeon's "Nick At Nite" version of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon.
** When this cartoon was shown in black and white on Cartoon Network's installment show "Late Night Black and White", the time-compressed Golden Jubilee VHS print was used.https://archive.org/details/BugsAndDaffyPT.2
* Some non-US televised and video prints (i.e.: released on the Carrotblanca VHShttps://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4dgygm) of the cartoon have the "DUBBED VERSION (C) 1997 WARNER BROS." disclaimer on the computer-colorized print of the cartoon at the beginning, due to a foreign-language dub track produced.
* This is the first Daffy Duck cartoon to be directed by Friz Freleng.
* In 1994, it was voted #34 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.Beck, Jerry (ed.) (1994). The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals. Atlanta: Turner Publishing.
* On the Sunset Productions/Guild Films print, the Leon Schlesinger Productions building sign is cut due to involvement with Warner Bros. This cut was made because Warner Bros. did not want to be associated with television back in 1955, when this cartoon was sold for television distribution. This scene has been restored in the computer-colorized version and on home video releases.
== Gallery ==
You Ought to Be in Pictures 1940.jpg
Outtabe.jpg
You-ought-to-be-02.png
You-ought-to-be-03.png
You Ought to be in Pictures (14).jpg
You Ought to be in Pictures (15).jpg
675 a.jpg|Porky Pig now leaving the Warner Bros. Studios
Pig12.8959.jpg
You Ought to Be in Pictures (screenshot).jpg
Screen Shot 2013-07-20 at 01.02.29.png|Live-action crew for YOU OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES (1940). 1st row, kneeling: Michael Maltese (still in security guard uniform), Friz Freleng, Paul Collier, Paul Marron, Smokey Garner. 2nd row, standing: Jack Miller, Harold Soldinger, Johnny Burton, Henry Binder.
258709568ce109b2da9630aec1d06897.png|Lobby card
Daffy Duck-1940.jpg|Layout drawings
I KNOW RIGHT SO COOL.jpg|Layout drawings
== References ==
fr:Vous devriez faire du cinéma
ru:Тебе надо сниматься в кино
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Friz Freleng
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons
Category:1940
Category:Shorts
Category:Post-1935 Black & White Looney Tunes
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Caricatures of real people
Category:Cartoons in the Sunset Productions package
Category:Cartoons with camera by John W. Burton