Porky's Pet

Porky's Pet is a 1936 Looney Tunes short directed by Jack King.
== Plot ==
The mailman rides up to Porky Pig's house on his bicycle and delivers a telegram to Porky. When Porky reads the telegram, he sees it is an offer from a big shot producer in Broadway, New York City, who wants Porky and his pet ostrich, Lulu, in his show, with the promise of $75 a day. This is too good for Porky, so he goes and tells Lulu the good news. Porky gets Lulu out of her cage, but Lulu chooses to slide down the stairs and jerks Porky down with her leash. Then, Porky shuts the front door on Lulu.
At the train station, the duo see a passenger train coming, but it doesn't stop for them. When Porky tells Lulu this and hears another passenger train coming, he sets the signal to stop, making the train screech to a halt at the station. Porky and Lulu get on board, but the conductor kicks them off, on account of a "no pets" rule. Porky then tells Lulu to go down to the tracks so he can pick her up when the train passes by. Porky gets on board and the train departs. When it passes by Lulu, Porky grabs her and pulls her in.
Realizing what will happen if the conductor finds out, Porky shoves Lulu under his seat, but Lulu insists on poking her head out. She even swallows a bald passenger's wig, and when a boy tosses his toy airplane in the air, she swallows it and the plane sends her neck on a ride. Finally, she swallows another passenger's accordion.
Just then, the conductor appears asking the passengers for tickets. Porky sees him, shoves the noisy accordion down Lulu's throat to her stomach, takes a passenger's guitar case, removes the guitar, shoves Lulu into the case, and takes another passenger's sewing scissors so he can cut off Lulu's tail. When the conductor comes up to Porky, Lulu blows her cover by squawking, pushing her legs out, and taking the conductor on a wild ride to the other side of the coach. Angered, the conductor throws Lulu out and kicks Porky off the train from the observation car.
Thinking they're in a rut, Porky spots a handcar in a siding and a cow grazing. He and Lulu hop on the handcar, and Porky grabs the cow's tail. The cow happily takes them down the track, and even outruns the train, much to the conductor's surprise.
== Availability ==
Porky Pig 101 DVD Cover.png|(2017) DVD Porky Pig 101, Disc 1
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2018 - )
== Notes ==
* This is the first time Porky Pig gets a job offer and the first time he travels by train.
* This cartoon marks the first appearance of Porky's pet ostrich, Lulu.
* This cartoon may have inspired the Walt Disney Studios to create the 1940 Mickey Mouse cartoon "Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip".
** The plot and premise, a railway station and a greedy ostrich who swallows a concertina, were also used in a picture Disney made three years earlier, "Donald's Ostrich", directed by the same director of this short, Jack King.
* MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of the cartoon on Toon In With Me.
* In the opening scene, a billboard for "Burton's Burpo Cola" is shown, presumably a reference to assistant animator Johnny Burton. Also shown in the same scene is an ad for the Bijou featuring "Millar's Minstrels with Tambo Armstrong," referring to gag writer Melvin Millar and the then-head of the story department, Tom Armstrong.https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2023/05/todays-inside-jokes.html
* A poster that reads "When in Portis, stop at Millar Manor" is shown at the train station, a reference to Melvin Millar and his hometown.
== Gallery ==
Porky's Pet - computer-colorized title.png|Computer-colorized title
== References ==
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:1936
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Black-and-white cartoons
Category:Shorts
Category:Post-1935 Black & White Looney Tunes
Category:Cartoons in the Sunset Productions package
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons animated by Sandy Walker
Category:Cartoons animated by Norman McCabe
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Bernard B. Brown
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Norman Spencer