Petunia Pig is a fictionalcartoon character in theLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies series of cartoons fromWarner Bros. She looks much like her significant other,Porky Pig, except that she wears a dress and (since 1939) has pigtailed black hair.[15]
Bob Clampett was the only other Warner director to utilize Petunia after Tashlin left the studio in 1938. He first featured her inPorky's Picnic, a 1939 film that sees Porky tormented by his nephew Pinky. Pinky and Porky's encounters are always out of sight of Petunia, of course, so she blames Porky for everything that goes wrong as a result of Pinky's activity. Petunia's largest role came in Clampett's 1939 shortNaughty Neighbors.[17] The film borrows elements from both the famous feud between theHatfields and McCoys as well asRomeo and Juliet as Porky and Petunia's love for each other is stymied by their respectivehillbilly families' mutual hatred.
By the early 1940s, Porky's popularity had been eclipsed by the brasher characters ofDaffy Duck andBugs Bunny. Porky was relegated to a supporting player orstraight man to Daffy in most of theLooney Tunes andMerrie Melodies shorts of this era. Petunia, already a bit player to Porky's lead, fared much worse; her tenure as a major Warner Bros. character was effectively over.
Although Petunia made only a handful of appearances in Warner Bros. cartoons, she continued to appear frequently in Warner'smerchandising, with a major presence incomic books for the entire 1941–1984 run ofWestern Publishing (Dell, Gold Key and Whitman Comics)Looney Tunes andMerrie Melodies comics,Porky Pig,Bugs Bunny and various other titles. Often featured in Porky's stories, she sometimes co-starred with Bugs Bunny and occasionally had a story of her own. Pinky, renamed "Cicero" for the comic books, was depicted as being Petunia's young cousin as well as Porky's nephew. Petunia was portrayed in the comics as a determined, bossy, and occasionally pretentious character, similar to the early Tashlin depiction, though with a genuine affection towards Porky. In early years, she was often rivals with Bugs, who enjoyed pranking and humbling her.
Petunia made a cameo appearance in the 1979 shortBugs Bunny's Christmas Carol as Mrs. Cratchit, wife ofBob Cratchit (played by Porky Pig), though she had no speaking lines.
Petunia was intended to make a cameo appearance with Porky in the 1988 filmWho Framed Roger Rabbit in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral".[18]
Petunia made a cameo appearance as an audience member inBugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster, where she shoos a fly off with her binoculars.
The regular adult Petunia is an occasional guest star in DC'sLooney Tunes comic book and appeared frequently in 2001-2005 webtoons on the officialLooney Tunes website.
^Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989).Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 55.ISBN0-8050-0894-2.
^Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989).Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 93.ISBN0-8050-0894-2.
