Charming Porky Pig, Stuttering and Swine Flu

With the Influenza Spreading, Someone Has to Make Pigs Lovable Again

Jun 14, 2009

Porky Pig was a cute Looney Tunes character with a lovable stutter who gave the world a completely new view of pigs, one that would never be associated with swine flu.

Porky Pig made his animation debut in 1935 in a feature titled "I Haven’t Got a Hat" and forever changed the way children view hogs. In the middle of the 20th Century, the cute, studdering little pig appeared in 152 cartoons and kids were no more inclined to eat him than they later were to eat a dolphin named flipper. Children grew up with pictures of rosy cheek pigs instead of ugly fat hogs wallowing in mud.

If Porky was still as popular in 2009, he might be able to again change the way people view ham and pork. This time the clean and healthy Looney Tunes character might be able to take their minds off of animals globally associated with "swine flu."

National Pork Producers Council

In the real world where perception rules, a few well televised Porky cartoons could even be more persuasive than the various official statements on the influenza, including:

It’s H5N1, Not Swine Flu

Despite those statements and reminders that the official name of the epidemic is H5N1 Avian Influenza, the media, including the Associated Press and Britian's BBC continued to refer to it as "swine flu." That probably left many worldwide consumers believing the sometimes fatal influenza was being spread by pork.

Voice Actor Joe Daughtery produced Porky’s first voice and incorporated his own personal stutter into the character. According to IMBd, the Internet Movie Database, he provided the voice for about 20 Porky features in the mid Thirties.

Mel Blanc The Cartoon Voice

Mel Blanc took over Porky’s voice in 1938 and continued it until his death in 1989. He became the world’s most famous cartoon voice, doing several other Looney Tune characters, including Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, and later Woody Woodpecker.

Blanc expanded Porky’s stutter and sometimes suddenly ended the stutter by switching to a more difficult word to pronounce.

Porky became the closing voice for many Looney Toon cartoons, ending them with his signature stutter: "Th-th-th-tha-that's all, folks!"

Porky was something of a hero during World War II, joining the other Looney Tune characters in promoting war bonds and stamps for the U.S. Treasury Department. However, he was no hero to speech specialists who said his "hard-core stuttering" was upsetting to people who do stutter.

Gerald F. Johnson of the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point said that a clinical study of Porky Pig cartoons indicated that the pig’s stuttering "was bizarre enough to cause pain and suffering to some members of his audience."

Johnson quoted one person saying "Porky Pig is embarrassing, humiliating and certainly not funny." He added that some parents would not let their children see a Porky cartoon because of the stuttering.

Porky carries a mixed message for pork producers and marketers. He is too lovable to eat, but does disassociate pigs from ugly fat hogs wallowing in mud with swine flu. Copies of his 20th Century cartoons are available on numerous Internet sites.

"A Clinical Study of Porky Pig Cartoons," by Gerald F. Johnson, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 1987

The copyright of the article Charming Porky Pig, Stuttering and Swine Flu in Animated Films is owned by Carroll Trosclair. Permission to republish Charming Porky Pig, Stuttering and Swine Flu in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.