Edgar Allan Pooh . . . in Warner Bros.' not-so-subtle warning to America regarding September 11th. The Looney Tunes animated short PORKY THE FIREMAN even features an Osama Bin Laden cameo as the white-robed, white-bearded geezer trying to fool Porky by yelling, "Don't worry about me--save Grandpa!" Of course, the quartet of adult black cats impeding the firemen represent the quartet of airliners hijacked on 9-11. The doomed firefighters' serpentine hoses prove no match here for the anthropomorphic flames consuming "Mrs. Twerp's Theatrical Boarding House," which contains ALL the letters of "World Trade Center" and "Pentagon." Besides the Osama stand-in, many other civilians are forced to jump from the upper stories of the flaming Highrise, including the 14 "Flying Leroys." Another notable leaper is transformed mid-fall from a representative White banker to the iconic Resigned Black Chef featured in so many magazines and picture books churned out after New York City's Darkest Hour. When the walls of the flame-engulfed building finally pancake onto the doomed firemen near the close of PORKY THE FIREMAN (that is, the 5:22 mark), Warner throws in an unusual recap of key scenes (apparently to "pad out" the running time to a specific number of seconds demanded by their Nostradamus-like Muse), followed by a strange passage in which the Triumphant Terrorist Flame literally machine-guns the firemen, then beats its "chest" while unleashing a Tarzan yell. This short clocks in at 374 seconds--exactly one second for each of the New York City firefighters, policemen, and EMTs killed on 9-11. (In a rare glitch, Looney Tune's Cassandra-like prognosticators may not have accounted for the 37 New Jersey Port Authority fatalities.)

slymusic "Porky the Fireman" is a self-explanatory Frank Tashlin-directed Porky Pig cartoon. Porky and his crew dash off to extinguish the roaring blazes at a theatrical boarding house, where plenty of funny gags arise.For me, the major highlight of "Porky the Fireman" is the lackadaisical pipe-chomping dog on Porky's crew. He follows the curvature of a fire hose as he nonchalantly strolls towards Porky and calmly asks him, "What did you say?" "I said turn on the water!!" "Oh." The dog then strolls back to the hydrant. Another time, he slowly climbs a ladder and asks Mabel the Fat Lady, "What did you say?" She responds by frantically coaxing him to save her from the burning building and put her on the street. "Oh." He grabs her and tosses her out the window!The only remaining question I have regarding "Porky the Fireman" is: What happened to all the firemen at the very end?

Robert Reynolds This is an extremely funny short most effectively done in black and white and directed by Frank Tashlin. Because I want to cover some of the gags in this, here's a spoiler warning: Porky and company are called out to fight a fire at a boarding house for performers. While the fire is a problem, Porky has at least as much trouble with one of his fellow firemen, a slow moving, slow talking dog whose ideas on firefighting are eccentric, to say the least! The gags come fairly fast and furious here, mostly having to do with fighting the fire, such as Porky running toward the fire with a water bucket, only to have the fire take the bucket away from him and throw the water on Porky.Among those in the boarding house who come out are an old man with his leg in a cast who says he's okay, but that they need to save Grandpa! He then jumps and uses his beard as a parachute and an acrobatic troupe which jumps out of the building and land in formation.As for the dog, he has his own theme music which fits his movements and he causes no end of trouble. He goes up to a window where a woman is screaming for help and, when she tells him to "put me on the street", he picks her up, holds her out and then drops her! He also plays a trick on Porky involving a fire hydrant and a seltzer bottle.There's a really nice montage of repeated action toward the end which showcases a lot of the funniest gags. The ending is very good, so I won't spoil it here. This short is available on Looney Tunes, Volume 4 and is well worth viewing. Recommended.

boblipton In 1935, Disney's MICKEY'S FIRE BRIGADE was a great cartoon. Three years later, under the direction of Frank Tashlin, PORKY THE FIREMAN took the same subject and did it forty times as well. Clocking in at 40 gags per minute, a sensible plot and excellent animation, this movie marked the end of Disney's domination of animation. Three years later, the Clampett satire of FANTASIA, A CORNY CONCERTO, would seal the issue.