The Wearing of the Grin

The Wearing of the Grin is a 1951 Looney Tunes short directed by Charles M. Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a play on "The Wearing of the Green", a traditional Irish street ballad dating back to the year 1798.
== Plot ==
While traveling through rural Ireland on his way to Dublin, Porky Pig is caught in a storm and asks for lodgings at a nearby castle, but the caretaker of ol' Clarey Castle, Seamus O'Toole, tells him that no one inhabits the place but himself and the leprechauns. Porky dismisses the remark, but then a mace accidentally falls and hits his head and he loses consciousness. "Seamus O'Toole" is revealed to be a pair of leprechauns disguised as a human being. O'Pat, the first one, is very calm while O'Mike, the second one, is frantic that Porky is after their pot of gold. O'Pat, being the "Chief Leprechaun", convinces his partner that he knows how to deal with the pig.
When Porky wakes, he is helped to a room by a "reunited" O'Toole who, during the short trip to the room, gets accidentally divided in two again. As Porky notices, he mentions to the top half of O'Toole that he has lost his lower half, and seeing that "O'Toole" is actually two leprechauns, is terrified and runs and hides in his bed, which happens to be a trap door leading to a shaft where Porky drops until he falls into the witness chair in a courtroom. The Leprechauns charge him with trying to steal the pot of gold and sentence him to the wearing of the Green Shoes.
At first Porky appreciates them as some nice shoes, but soon he realizes that they are cursed, as his feet begin a frantic Irish jig. The shoes will not stop dancing, and even when he removes them, they chase him and return themselves to his feet, and he is "danced" through a nightmarish landscape filled with Irish icons until he falls in a boiling pot of gold.
Porky wakes to find himself in a puddle of water still standing where he fell after being hit by the mace, realizing that it was all a bad dream. Panicked and disoriented, Porky flees from the castle, searching for a psychiatrist despite O'Toole trying to convince him that he is actually a nice guy and is not the mean old leprechaun who's sentenced him to wear the Green Shoes, like Porky described in his dream, and his best attempts at being hospitable by offering Porky a place to spend the night in the castle. 
O'Toole watches him run, shaking hands with himself, actually O'Mike, the other leprechaun hiding inside O'Toole's coat, with a mischievous smile.
== Availability ==
Lt ppsc.jpg|(1985) VHS Porky Pig's Screwball Comedies (Time-compressed)
Lt ppsc beta.jpg|(1985) Beta Porky Pig's Screwball Comedies
LOONEY TUNES AFTER DARK.jpg|(1993) LaserDisc Looney Tunes After Dark
Lt collection porky pig.jpg|(1996) VHS Looney Tunes Collection - Porky Pig
LT Golden Collection 1.jpg|(2003) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, Disc Two (1998 THIS VERSION, without dubbed notice)
lt cbdp.jpg|(2004) DVD Looney Tunes Collection Best of Daffy and Porky
lt cbdp vcd.jpg|(2004) VCD Looney Tunes Collection Best of Daffy and Porky
lt bbot dd.jpg|(2011) DVD Daffy Duck
lt 3fcbo.jpg|(2012) DVD Looney Tunes 3 Feature Collection Best Of
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App ( - )
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2024 - ) (restored)
== Notes ==
* This cartoon is notable for being the first post-1948 Looney Tunes short to be shown on Cartoon Network, following parent company Turner Entertainment's purchase by Time Warner. It appeared on the 12 March 1997 episode of ToonHeads.
* This cartoon lacks a visible MPAA number on the credits card; the MPAA number would later be found on a certificate.http://web.archive.org/web/20131222103007/http://www.davemackey.com/animation/wb/index.html
* O'Pat and O'Mike would later appear in the bleachers during the basketball playoff against the Monstars and the Tune Squad in Space Jam.
* This is Porky Pig's final solo cartoon until "My Generation G...G... Gap" (2004). Porky, who had starred in many solo cartoons from the mid-1930s to the early-1940s, had starred in fewer solo cartoons since the mid-1940s due to more popular characters, like Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, surpassing his popularity. After this cartoon, all of Porky's cartoons had him paired with other characters, mostly Daffy, although "Dumb Patrol" (1964) had Porky in a small role before Bugs took over. 
** This is also the last cartoon to have the Porky mugshot that has been used for his cartoons since "Brother Brat" (1944).
* The cartoon's title is one of the titles on the fake marquee from the Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Up Doc?" released the previous year.
* This is the first time Eugene Poddany worked with Chuck Jones' unit. He would work with them 12 years later at MGM Animation/Visual Arts, composing music for several Tom and Jerry shorts.
== Gallery ==
WearingOfTheGrinCredits1.png
WearingOfTheGrinCredits2.png
51avwwgJaeL. SX385 .jpg|Lobby card
625-LCS1.png|Lobby card sketch
WearingoftheGrinRestored.jpg|Cropped screenshot of 2020 re-restoration
The Wearing of the Grin (1951) - Knocked Out.jpg
The Wearing of the Grin (1951) - Court Chair.jpg
625-PB1.png|Production background
Tumblr njshd65fNl1s92nono1 1280.jpg|Production background
The Wearing of the Grin (1951) Background Artwork.jpg|Production background
Wearin-Grin-BG.jpg|Production background
=== TV Title Cards ===
Screenshot 2021-03-11 at 2.31.22 PM.png|The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show
== References ==
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:1951
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Blue Ribbon reissues
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Featured Media
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons written by Michael Maltese
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Robert Gribbroek
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Eugene Poddany
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Re-released cartoons whose original titles are known to exist