I Haven't Got a Hat

Miss Cud is the school teacher. The students include Beans the Cat, Porky Pig, Oliver Owl, Ham and Ex. The students are performing in a Musical and Recital.

Warner Brothers was trying to copy Our Gang's success with a bunch of characters as kids. Beans became an early minor Looney Tunes star, but it is Porky Pig who is the big longtime breakout. Both made their first appearance here. By itself, this is mostly an introduction to a bunch of characters. There isn't much to the story. It is basic and a passable six. But that is only if there is nothing else. This is a rookie card. Those are worth way more.

Yes, this is Porky Pig's debut, although it certainly is not an attractive first look at the stuttering porker. Porky and a couple of other "kids" are all part of school musical and recital and Porky's bit leads off the show.

He recites a rendition of Longfellow's "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere," or at least starts to but it quickly becomes Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade." Mostly he just sweats while trying to remember his lines. I liked the sound effects help Porky received from offstage and the fact that even though his classmates unleashed the dogs on him, they did give him good applause!

"Ham and Ex," two little singing dogs, get my vote for "best in show," which also featured "Miss Kitty" reciting "Mary Had A Little Lamb," and the piano playing "Oliver Owl," whose tune is greatly enhanced by a fighting dog and cat inserted into the piano by a mischief-making fellow student.

This one really isn't much for laughs but overall, it's "cute" and it's in color, which is pretty good considering it's made in 1935. In fact, the graphics and the color restoration are excellent for 1935 and it's a collector's piece of sorts being that it's Porky's debut. It is the lead-off cartoon on Disc 3 of Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 3.

This Two-Strip Technicolor cartoon certainly is not one most folks would care about one way or the the other. So why is it an important film? First, and most importantly, it's the debut of Porky Pig. Back in the day, Porky was NOT cute but a bit grotesque...though in the first one he's a bit less gigantic and ugly. All he does in this one is recite a poem in class....the film really isn't his starring vehicle. Second, while not a major innovation, it is interesting to see this Looney Tunes short in color--albeit a more primitive version than the Three-Strip Technicolor used by Walt Disney. Why was Disney using it in 1935 and no one else? They bought exclusive rights to its use...and gave the Disney films real color...not the orangy-green you see in the two color processes.

The film consists of some animal children in school putting on some sort of pageant where they recite, sing and dance. It's not the most interesting idea for a short, that's for sure. But it was 1935 and this was still well before the studio became the best at producing entertaining shorts. Instead of humor, the older cartoons by Looney Tunes/Warner Brothers tended to be more cute and had a lot of singing.

So is it any good? Well, compared to the average film of the day, it was better than usual--with slightly better animation than most of the competition. Humor-wise, it had a few moments though none of the great laughs you'd later expect with a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Friz Freleng's 'I Haven't Got a Hat' is sort of an audition piece for new characters. With neither Bosko nor Buddy proving particularly inspiring, Warner cartoons needed a new star player and they hedged their bets by introducing a host of new creations based on the 'Our Gang' series. A range of young animals and their school teacher Miss Cud are introduced with captions at the beginning of 'I Haven't Got a Hat'. Not unreasonably, the studio assumed that the real winner was Beans the naughty little cat and they went on to make a handful of cartoons in which he was the lead. However, the character the audience found most interesting was Porky Pig who would go on to be the studio's first real star. In 'I Haven't Got a Hat', Porky performs a recital of 'The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere' but he is so nervous that he sweats profusely and stutters in the extreme. This stutter would ultimately become the character's defining feature, although it would later be portrayed as merely a speech impediment and not the result of extreme nerves. Porky's age was also altered from cartoon to cartoon at this stage. Often he would maintain the characteristics of a child while at other times he would assume the adult role which finally became the constant. As early as his second appearance in Tex Avery's 'Gold Diggers of '49', Porky was already playing a grown-up, the father of one of his classmates in this cartoon, no-less! All of which tells you very little about 'I Haven't Got a Hat', for which I apologise! A very early colour Merrie Melody, 'I Haven't Got a Hat' is cutesy but enjoyable. Set at a school talent show, we get to watch various acts starting with Porky's jumbled poetry. We hear Little Kitty (the most self-consciously cute character who is noticeably absent from the opening introductions) recite 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' with a little help from Miss Cud, then the twin dogs Ham and Ex (the weakest creations of this batch of new characters) perform the jaunty song that gives the cartoon its title. All of this is fairly enjoyable but the best antics come courtesy of Oliver Owl and Beans, who are engaged in an off-stage war over sweets which spills over into Oliver's act. I always enjoy 'I Haven't Got a Hat' despite its absence of big laughs. It's interesting to see Porky's debut but this amounts to barely a cameo really. What makes 'I Haven't Got a Hat' so enjoyable is its gentle warmth and bright, colourful animation. While my ribs remain largely untickled during these seven minutes, my lips remain in a upturned position and, every now and then, my foot taps to the tunes on offer. A small treat for cartoon enthusiasts.

The cartoon series, Merrie Melodies, was posing a problem for its producers because of its lack of popular characters, unlike its competitor, Walt Disney, who had a bevy of lovable personalities. The makers of the Looney Tunes episodes set about correcting that gap in March 1935's "I Haven't Got a Hat" by introducing a new set of animated characters they hoped would rejuvenate the series. One figure introduced in the cartoon especially stood out, and has remained as a mainstay to the Warner Brothers-affiliated series, Porky Pig.

Producer Leon Schlesinger had been selling his Looney Tunes to Warner Brothers in the early 1930s, and complemented those cartoons by originating his new 'Merrie Melodies' in 1931 as an answer to Walt Disney's "Silly Symphonies." The public became enamored with the 'Merrie Melodies,' with its musical-based themes. What it was lacking, however, was a nondescript cast. Director Friz Freleng, motivated by a suggestion from Schlessinger, gathered his artists to produce five new personalities in "I Haven't Got a Hat": Little Kitty, Oliver Owl, Ham and Ex, and Porky Pig. In addition, Beans the Cat shifted over to 'Merrie Melodies' from the Looney Tunes to replace the boy Buddy. All the newbies in the cartoon were each introduced in Miss Cud's schoolroom by the teacher. Porky is the first student to go in front of the class, reciting the poem 'Paul Revere's Ride,' talking with a stutter and seen without his pants.

Schlessinger's long range plan was to create a consistent line of characters similar to the 'Our Gang' series. His idea lasted a mere two years. Except for Porky, all the characters whom were introduced in "I Haven't Got a Hat," including potential super star Beans the Cat, dropped off the screen. Porky was a fan favorite immediately after his debut. The pig was voiced by Joe Dougherty, a stutterer himself. Trouble was Dougherty hadn't been able to control his stutter in the narration booth, taking an inordinate amount of time to finally nail Porky's lines. Dougherty was eventually replaced by Mel Blanc, who stepped in for Porky in 1937.