Porky's Hero Agency

Porky's Hero Agency is a 1937 Looney Tunes short directed by Bob Clampett and Chuck Jones.
== Plot ==
Porky is reading the story of the gorgon, a Greek myth about a woman who turned everyone she looked at into stone. His mother tells him it's time to go to bed. While he's asleep, he dreams of being a Greek hero known as Porkykarkus. In this version, the Gorgon runs a photo studio, and Porky is able to save by sneaking in and grabbing her life-restoring needle just before he wakes up.
== Caricatures ==
* Bill Comstock - The Gorgon is a parody of his character Lizzie Tish on Al Pearce's radio show.
* Al Pearce's salesman character Elmer Blurt is a statue used as a doorstop
* The Three Stooges make a cameo. When turned to stone, they resemble the famous "three wise monkeys" sculpture.
* Dick Powell - as the Dick A. Powello statue
== Availability ==
PORKY PIG THE DAYS OF SWINE AND ROSES.jpg|(1992) VHS Porky Pig: Days of Swine and Roses (computer colorized)
lt wince.jpg|(1994) LaserDisc Wince upon a Time: Foolhardy Fairy Tales and Looney Legends
lt sbc9a.jpg|(2001) VHS Looney Tunes Special Bumper Collection Volume 9
lt marked woman.jpg|(2006) DVD Marked Woman
Porky Pig 101 DVD Cover.png|(2017) DVD Porky Pig 101, Disc 2
== Censorship ==
* Versions shown on Cartoon Network (barring The Bob Clampett Show), Boomerang, and, most recently, MeTV, cut all the scenes featuring the Gorgon's bodyguard (the guard pulling Porky in and forcing him in line and the guard telling Porky that he is next, with Porky fearfully picturing himself as a piggy bank) due to fears that the guard either looks like he is in blackface or is a stereotypical depiction of a black person. Unusually, these scenes were not cut when the short aired on Nickelodeon.http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-p.aspx
== Notes ==
* This is one of the few times Porky is depicted as a child.
*The name "Porkykarkus" is a parody of Parkyakarkus, a Greek stereotype who was the stage personna of comedian Harry Einstein.
* The Emperor Jones is a 1920 Eugene O'Neill play and its 1933 film adaptation.
* The Emperor's "fireside chat" is a nod to Franklin D. Roosevelt's weekly radio addresses.
* The "bring-em-back-alive" needle is a pun on hunter Frank Buck's best-selling novel Bring 'Em Back Alive.
* Bob Clampett and members of his animation unit (Chuck Jones, Lu Guarnier, Robert "Bobe" Cannon, John Carey and Ernest Gee), appear as statues placed together to form a human picket fence.
* Porky gives the broken Venus de Milo statue a set of Popeye arms. The first few bars of Popeye's theme song are heard on the soundtrack.
* Porky brings to life a Greek temple labeled "Shirley", a reference to child star Shirley Temple.
* Carl Stalling's name is misspelled as Carl W. Stallings in the opening.
* MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of the cartoon on Saturday Morning Cartoons.
== Gallery ==
PH1.png
PorkysHeroAgencyLobbyCard.jpg|Lobby card
PH2.png
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PH6.png
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Porkyandjerry2.jpg|Jerry Beck in 2009 with Porky statue from title card
Porkystatueturnaround.jpg
Porky's Hero Agency (1937) - 2022 restoration - Intro and Outro + 52-seconds clip
Screen Shot 2022-12-21 at 6.59.21 PM.png|Screenshot of 2022 restoration from MeTV
== References ==
fr:L'Agent des héros
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett
Category:Black-and-white cartoons
Category:1937
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Post-1935 Black & White Looney Tunes
Category:Cartoons animated by Chuck Jones
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Cartoons written by Ernest Gee
Category:Cartoons animated by Lu Guarnier
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Elmer Plummer‏
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Caricatures of real people
Category:Cartoons in the Sunset Productions package