Today, in our series on fishing cartoons, we look at an early animated short film from the Leon Schlesinger Studio and Warner Bros. Productions. It stars Porky Pig in Fish Tales, a nearly 7-minute silly romp that turns the tables on our porcine angler protagonist. Films about sport fishing were a scarce or even non-existent quantity arguably before Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea was turned into a movie in 1958. Most often fishing was a subtext or the occupation of a character in major motion pictures, but in a six or seven minute animated cartoon sport fishing could take center stage and offer enough scenarios to assume the entire film. To my mind, these cartoons are a definite part of the history of fishing and its role in the evolution of American culture.
Fish Tales was first released in 1936, just six years after Leon Schlesinger started producing Looney Tunes and before he sold his company in full to Warner Bros. in 1944. The film shows an early iteration of Porky Pig, who went through several changes in design and character before he became the cute, likable, stuttering character most of us know him as. In this phase Porky is much more pig-like, and has only one line of dialogue in the entire film, except for his whistling as he strolls to his boat.
Directed by prolific animated film director James “Jack” King, the film shows Porky heading to his boat, carrying a pole and an open soup can for worms. Along the way two worms see Porky pass by and slither after him, until they reach the boat, where Porky notices them and beckons them to hop into the soup can. The male worm hops in and the female worm breaks into a Mae West pantomime and struts toward the open can. This little scenario kind of sets the stage for the rest of the film, which is a mix of nonsensical, absurd and fantastic scenes. At one point while on the water fishing, Porky takes a nap and enters into a dreamscape that is truly more nightmarish than benign. I’ll let you watch the film to get the gist of the action, but this is a cartoon that I’m not sure I’d let small children watch.
Famed animator Bob McKimson is credited as the lead animator. McKimson animated, wrote and directed many classic Warner Bros. Looney Tunes films. He also created characters Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil and Speedy Gonzales. Joe Dougherty voiced Porky in an uncredited role, and squeals Porky’s single line: “Let me outta here!” as Porky feels the heat in a fish’s oven. Dougherty did the voice of Porky in at least a dozen of the early films, until that job was assumed by the great Mel Blanc.
Fish Tales was released in black and white, and that’s the one we’re sharing here, but was colorized in 1968 (hand-painted) and then again in 1992 (using a computer). You can easily find the colorized versions online. Following Fish Tales I’ve included a clip from 1950’s Boobs in the Woods, starring Daffy Duck and the Porky Pig we’ve all come to know and love. This clip involves fishing too!
Here then, is Fish Tales!
And here, below, is the clip from Boobs in the Woods, starring Porky Pig setting a bank line only to be punked repeatedly by Daffy Duck.
See also, Disney’s How to Fish – Fishing Cartoons, Part 1 and Tex Avery’s Field and Scream – Fishing Cartoons, Part 2.
