Swooner Crooner

Swooner Crooner
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; Uncredited animators:; I. Ellis; Cal Dalton; Arthur Davis
Backgrounds by	Richard H. Thomas (unc.)
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Leon Schlesinger Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	May 6, 1944;
Running time	7:21
Country	United States
Language	English

Swooner Crooner is a 1944 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Frank Tashlin.^[2] The short was released on May 6, 1944, and stars Porky Pig.^[3]

The cartoon was nominated for the 1944 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), but lost to the Tom and Jerry cartoon Mouse Trouble.^[4]

Plot

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 like Frank Sinatra) is heard singing outside. Frankie's renditions of "It Can't Be Wrong" by Dick Haymes and "As Time Goes By" (from Casablanca, 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 of Vaughn Monroe^[5] ("Shortnin' Bread"), Al Jolson ("September in the Rain"), Jimmy Durante ("Lullaby of Broadway") and Cab Calloway ("Blues in the Night"), none of whom apparently work out.

Porky is on the point of despair when a Bing 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.

Cast

Mel Blanc - Porky Pig
Richard Bickenbach - Frankie, Bing
Sam Glasser - Al Jolson rooster, Jimmy Durante rooster, Cab Calloway rooster, Vaughn Monroe rooster
Sara Berner and Bea Benaderet - Hens

Home media

VHS - Bugs & Daffy: The Wartime Cartoons
VHS - Cartoon Festival Featuring "Nothing But The Tooth"
VHS - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 9
LaserDisc - The Golden Age of Looney Tunes, Volume 1, Side 9
DVD - Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc 2
DVD - Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection, Disc 2
DVD/Blu-ray - Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3, Disc 2

Production notes

"Swooner Crooner" is the first Looney Tunes entry to be re-released into the Blue Ribbon program. It was re-released on February 12, 1949 with the original opening, credits, and closing titles replaced.
This is the only Blue Ribbon re-release as a Looney Tunes short to keep the original Porky Pig drum ending music. The original ending music was later replaced with the 1995 Turner print, which changed it to the 1941-55 rendition of Merrily We Roll Along, which the DVD sets use as the source of the soundtrack. Later Looney Tunes re-releases that originally had the Porky Pig drum ending would have their ending music changed to the 1941-55 rendition of Merrily We Roll Along by default.
This is also the only Blue Ribbon Looney Tunes short that was re-released with the byline "IN TECHNICOLOR". The rest of the Looney Tunes re-released were re-released with the byline "Color by TECHNICOLOR".

References

^ "The WB Production Number Project | What About Thad?".
^ Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 150. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 124–126. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
^ "The 17th Academy Awards | 1945".
^ ^a ^b IMDb soundtrack listing
^ Schneider, Steve (1988). That's All, Folks! : The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt and Co. p. 86. ISBN 0-8050-0889-6.

External links

Swooner Crooner at IMDb

[1] "The WB Production Number Project | What About Thad?".

[Beck-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. 150. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.

[3] Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 124–126. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.

[4] "The 17th Academy Awards | 1945".

[IMDb-5] IMDb soundtrack listing

[6] Schneider, Steve (1988). That's All, Folks! : The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt and Co. p. 86. ISBN 0-8050-0889-6.

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