| Swooner Crooner | |
|---|---|
 Blue Ribbon reissue title card | |
| Directed by | Frank Tashlin |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Produced by | Leon Schlesinger |
| Starring | Mel Blanc (unc.) Richard Bickenbach (unc.) Sam Glasser (unc.) Sara Berner (unc.) Bea Benaderet (unc.) |
| Music by | Carl W. Stalling |
| Animation by | George Cannata[1] Uncredited animators: I. Ellis Cal Dalton Arthur Davis |
| Backgrounds by | Richard H. Thomas (unc.) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7:21 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Swooner Crooner is a 1944Warner Bros.Looney Tunes cartoon directed byFrank Tashlin.[2] The short was released on May 6, 1944, and starsPorky Pig.[3]
The cartoon was nominated for the 1944 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), but lost to theTom and Jerry cartoonMouse Trouble.[4]
Porky Pig is the supervisor of the Flockheed Eggcraft Factory, where dozens of hens lay eggs for the war effort (in this case,World War II). The hens suddenly get distracted from their egg laying when a handsome rooster (who resembles and sings likeFrank Sinatra) is heard singing outside. Frankie's renditions of "It Can't Be Wrong" byDick Haymes and "As Time Goes By" (fromCasablanca, 1942) causes all the hens to refuse to lay eggs because they are too busy swooning.
When egg production comes to a halt, Porky rushes to investigate and finds all the roosts empty; all the hens have gone to listen to Frankie. Soon, he is auditioning for a crooner of his own to start production up again; showing up are rooster caricatures ofVaughn Monroe[5] ("Shortnin' Bread"),Al Jolson ("September in the Rain"),Jimmy Durante ("Lullaby of Broadway") andCab Calloway ("Blues in the Night"), none of whom apparently work out.
Porky is on the point of despair when aBing Crosby rooster (who introduces himself as "The Old Groaner") shows up and provokes a competition with Frankie ("When My Dream Boat Comes Home", "I'll Pray for You", "Trade Winds", "Always in My Heart", "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby").[5] Between the two of them, the overexcited hens' egg production shoots to a level beyond what Porky can handle, including a just-hatched hen chick laying an egg many times her own size.[6]
Surveying literal hills and mountains of eggs all over his farm, Porky is impressed and asks the two roosters, "How did you ever m-m-make 'em lay all those eggs?" The roosters demonstrate their technique, crooning at Porky who, as a result lays a mountain of eggs.