The Lone Stranger and Porky (Mirror Shot)

 

Director(s): Bob Clampett (credited as “Robert Clampett”)

Summary: In this spoof of the Western serial, The Lone Ranger, Porky’s stagecoach is hijacked and only the titular Lone Stranger and his American Indian guide, Pronto, can come to his rescue.

Fun Facts:

- Despite the title, Porky Pig has no real role in this short. He’s only there as the dude in distress (opposite of the damsel in distress), though I do applaud Bob Clampett using Porky as the one who needs to be rescued, even if it was out of contractual obligation to have Porky in the cartoons (remember: this was when Termite Terrace was still trying to hammer out the kinks in creating the characters and shorts we all know and love today. Daffy was still being underused, Porky was being overused and his novelty was fast wearing off, Bugs Bunny wasn’t created yet, Chuck Jones was trying to be like Disney, and Tex Avery and Bob Clampett were like Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo during Saturday Night Live’s shaky years between 1980 and 1984: the only ones actually coming up with funny stuff, even if it didn’t always land). It would have been so easy to make this a one-shot parody of The Lone Ranger and have a female character (human or otherwise) be the damsel in distress (or a spoof of one), but executive meddling actually came through with a good idea for a change. However, I think it would have been better to have Porky be the partner to the Lone Stranger or just make this a one-shot with no established characters.

- This cartoon is a spoof of the only theatrical Lone Ranger cartoon ever made, in which the Lone Ranger and Tonto foil a stagecoach robbery. I…couldn’t find that specific one (I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but fandom wikis aren’t always accurate), but I did find a silent animated theatrical short version of The Lone Ranger (and some animated, Saturday morning adaptations that aired on television).

The Channel(s): FOX (Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends) and Nickelodeon (Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon)

Part(s) Edited: A classic case of selective censorship:

The FOX version cut the scene of The Lone Stranger talking to Pronto in the mirror (in yet another sign that Bob Clampett spoofed Disney’s works in his own, particularly the 1937 animated version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves).

Nickelodeon’s version left in the Pronto mirror scene, but cut the bad guy shooting the off-screen narrator after the narrator calls him a “plug shot” for unloading his six-shooters at The Lone Strangers and missing him completely.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit(s): Not the edits themselves, surprisingly, though I don’t understand why FOX cut The Lone Stranger talking to Pronto in the mirror when they probably showed him on look-out and using his television broadcast machine (it’s not the television we know now. That came post-World War II) to alert The Lone Stranger that Porky is being robbed. What grinds my gears about this is the fact that both channels didn’t cut both problematic scenes. FOX and Nickelodeon did have a history of editing gun violence and outdated American Indian stereotypes  from their respective Warner Bros shorts libraries (though Nickelodeon wasn’t as tight on censoring those as, say, censoring African-American and East Asian stereotypes, which is why I remember seeing “The Oily American” on that channel as a child and why “The Daffy Duckaroo” was one of the shorts that aired during the final installment of Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon). Then, there’s the fact that Cartoon Network and Boomerang didn’t edit this at all (barring The Bob Clampett Show, of course). Yeah, it may have not aired as frequently, but I distinctly remember seeing this uncut on Cartoon Network during daylight hours.

Video Comparison:

Availability Uncut: Pickin’s are mighty slim this go-around. There’s a computer-colorized version of this short available as a special feature on the Blu-ray version of the 1939 live-action adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (no, Disney didn’t do this, younger millennials and Gen-Zers. Please watch older stuff [as in between 1920 to 1979], even if it’s problematic or in black and white. I know that bores and/or scares you, but trust me. It’s worth it). If you want the original black and white version, it’s on the Porky Pig 101 DVD, but there’s a music error. You see, the DVD version incorrectly uses the opening theme from “Porky’s Tire Trouble” over the opening titles rather than the popular use of The William Tell Overture finale that’s used as the theme music to “The Lone Ranger” serials. If mistakes like that don’t matter to you, then have at it. Otherwise, you might want to skip that version.

Is/Was It on Streaming or Digital Download: As I said: “Pickin’s are mighty slim this go-around.” Because of the appearance of Pronto, there’s no chance this will be available on digital download or streaming, which is a shame, because it really does need the opening music fixed.

‘Til next time, Stay Looney, and Be Merrie.