Petunia Pig is an

animated cartoon Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

character in the ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' and ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'' series of cartoons from

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

She looks much like her significant other,

Porky Pig Porky Pig is a cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created man ...

, except that she wears a dress and has pigtailed black hair.

Biography

Petunia was introduced by

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator and filmmaker. He was best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' ...

in the 1937 short '' Porky's Romance''. The film is arguably a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

of '' Mickey's Nightmare'', a 1932

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

cartoon; whereas

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

dreams of a marriage made difficult by dozens of annoying kids, Porky's nightmare-marriage also involves a scornful Petunia treating him badly. Tashlin adopted Petunia as a regular member of Porky's entourage and featured her in two more cartoons: '' The Case of the Stuttering Pig'' and '' Porky's Double Trouble'', both in 1937.

Bob Clampett Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, film director, director, film producer, producer and puppeteer best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the te ...

was the only other Warner director to utilize Petunia after Tashlin left the studio in 1938. He first featured her in '' Porky's Picnic'', a 1939 film that sees Porky tormented by his nephew Pinkie. Pinkie and Porky's encounters are always out of sight of Petunia, of course, so she blames Porky for everything that goes wrong as a result of Pinkie's activity. Petunia's largest role came in Clampett's 1939 short '' Naughty Neighbors''. The film borrows elements from both the famous feud between the Hatfields and McCoys as well as ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' as Porky and Petunia's love for each other is stymied by their respective

hillbilly ''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural area, rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, ...

families' mutual hatred. By the early 1940s, Porky's popularity had been eclipsed by the brasher characters of

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett for Leon Schlesinger Productions. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Me ...

and

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

. Porky was relegated to a supporting player or

straight man The straight man (or straight woman in the case of female characters), also known as a "comedic foil", is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically ...

to Daffy in most of the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts of this era. Petunia, already a bit player to Porky's lead, fared much worse; her tenure as a major Warner Bros. character was effectively over. Although Petunia made only a handful of appearances in Warner Bros. cartoons, she continued to appear frequently in Warner's

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

, with a major presence in

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

for the entire 1941–1984 run of

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was an American company founded in 1907 in Racine, Wisconsin, best known for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also ...

(

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

, Gold Key and Whitman Comics) ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' comics, ''Porky Pig'', ''Bugs Bunny'' and various other titles. Often featured in Porky's stories, she sometimes co-starred with Bugs Bunny and occasionally had a story of her own. Pinkie, renamed "Cicero" for the comic books, was depicted as being Petunia's young cousin as well as Porky's nephew. Petunia was portrayed in the comics as a determined, bossy, and occasionally pretentious character, similar to the early Tashlin depiction, though with a genuine affection towards Porky. In early years, she was often rivals with Bugs, who enjoyed pranking and humbling her.

Later appearances

Nevertheless, in modern years Petunia has appeared in multiple new roles: * Petunia has a co-starring role in

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company founded by Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland and Norm Prescott in 1962, before closing by Group W Productions on February 3, 1989. Located in Reseda, California, Filmation produced animated ...

's lone ''Looney Tunes''-related production, '' Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies'', in 1972. She is voiced by Jay Scheimer, the wife of Filmation co-founder Lou Scheimer. * Petunia made a cameo appearance in the 1979 short '' Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol'' as Mrs. Cratchit, wife of

Bob Cratchit Robert "Bob" Cratchit is a fictional character in the Charles Dickens 1843 novel ''A Christmas Carol''. The overworked, underpaid clerk of Ebenezer Scrooge, Cratchit has come to symbolise the poor working conditions, especially long working hou ...

(played by Porky Pig), though she had no speaking lines. * Petunia was intended to appear as a cameo with Porky in the film ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...

'' in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral". * Petunia made a cameo appearance in ''

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It originally aired from September 14, 1990 to December 6, 1992, airing in syndication before eventually settling a ...

'' in the episode " It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special". * An infant version of Petunia was a recurring character in the '' Baby Looney Tunes''

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, where she was voiced by

Chiara Zanni Chiara Zanni () is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Amy Ryan on The N series '' About a Girl'' and Maggie Buckman on the CBC series '' Edgemont''. She is also known for her voice-work as Hahli in '' Bionicle: Mask of Light'' ...

. * The regular adult Petunia is an occasional guest star in DC's ''

'' comic book and appeared frequently in 2001-2005 webtoons on the official ''Looney Tunes'' website. * She also turned up in '' Duck Dodgers'', playing the role of Princess Incense (voiced by

Jodi Benson Jodi Benson (née Marzorati; born October 10, 1961) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for providing the voice of Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Ariel in The Walt Disney Company, Disney's ''The Little Mermaid (1989 film), The Litt ...

). * Petunia appeared on ''

The Looney Tunes Show ''The Looney Tunes Show'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and aired on Cartoon Network for two seasons from May 3, 2011, to November 2, 2013. The series featured characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Me ...

'' in the episodes "Here Comes the Pig" and "Mr. Wiener", voiced by Katy Mixon in the latter episode. * Petunia is a playable character in the mobile game "Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem", along with Farmer, Lunar, and Athena variants of herself. * Petunia appears in several '' New Looney Tunes'' segments, voiced by Jessica DiCicco. * Petunia also appears in '' Looney Tunes Cartoons'', voiced by

Lara Jill Miller Lara Jill Miller (born April 20, 1967) is an American actress and lawyer. She has played Samantha "Sam" Kanisky in the 1980s sitcom '' Gimme a Break!'' and Kathy on '' The Amanda Show''. She voices the title characters in '' Clifford's Puppy Da ...

, which for the first time she has a solo appearance. In this portrayal, she has a Brooklyn accent similar to

. * Petunia appears in '' Bugs Bunny Builders'', voiced by Alex Cazares. * Petunia appears in '' The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie'', voiced by

Candi Milo Candyce Anne Rose Milo (born January 9, 1961) Timestamps: (00:27:12-00:27:45) Milo states that she is "firmly 51". (00:06:40-00:06:47) Milo states that she was born in Palm Springs. (00:16:23-00:16:25) She says her birthday is in January. (00:48 ...

, as a flavor scientist working for a gum factory who helps Porky Pig and Daffy Duck against an alien invasion.

References

External links

League of Comic Geeks pageBehind the Voice Actors
{{Petunia Pig in animation Pig, Petunia Film characters introduced in 1937 Female characters in animation Anthropomorphic pigs Animated characters introduced in 1937 Porky Pig Characters created by Frank Tashlin