. . . is about more than propagating enormous piles of chicken eggs, Warner Bros. makes clear. The sign at the beginning of SWOONER CROONER indicates that Porky Pig is managing the "Flockheed Eggcraft Factory--100% War Work." But is this facility REALLY populated by farmyard fowl? Heck no! When one hen is temporarily Defeathered about four minutes into this animated short, it's revealed that underneath her fluffy white quills she's sporting a matching lingerie set comprised of a lacy pink brassiere and panties! Furthermore, whenever the Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby roosters croon love songs, they send this female flock's egg ducts into overdrive, upping their output from a single white orb to dozens of eggs popped out per hen at a single sitting. Clearly, SWOONER CROONER constitutes a U.S. War Department-sanctioned effort to get America's Rosies riveting overtime. Why all the love songs at a "100% War Work factory?" (After all, these are not the "Make love, not war" 1960s!) Mainly this bullets & bombers by candlelight campaign was implemented due to Hitler's threat to spearhead a "Thousand Year Reich" or Ten-Century Reign of Nazi Terror. This, of course, raised the specter of a multi-generational conflict. That made it the DUTY of every American woman to become pregnant at every opportunity, preferably with twins, at least, since the Babes of Today became Tomorrow's Grunts. (And if Rosie could not be with the one she loved--or to whom she was wed--her marching orders were to love the one she was with!) That way, Rosie could make tanks, and have her baby, too. In hindsight, this proved to be Overbirth, leading to the Baby Boom, but who wants to be a Monday morning quarterback?

Although Porky Pig appeared in almost 200 shorts and films, "Swooner Crooner" marks the only occasion where the pig got nominated for an Academy Award...and it lost.Porky is operating a weird egg production factory filled with hens. However, when a crooner chicken (meant to be a parody of Frank Sinatra) shows up and sings, the hens stop working and jeopardize the farm. Considering it's during WWII and Porky is helping feed America and the troops, it's imperative that he gets the hens back to work instead of swooning as Frankie sings. So, Porky advertises to get is own crooner--and tries out some who are meant to parody Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Durante and Cab Calloway. While the impersonations are clever, they aren't all that funny nor would many viewers recognize the singers. I do because I am an old movie freak! As for the ending, however, it's VERY funny as well as incredibly creepy! Of all the Oscar nominated animated shorts, this is probably the weakest that year. Worth seeing but I can understand why this one didn't win.

I have loved Looney Tunes cartoons for as long as I can remember, and I could watch them all day if I wanted to. Swooner Crooner is just wonderful, and one of Porky's best for me. Porky is great value here, he can be bland when he is partnered with stronger characters but he is always endearing regardless. The animation is beautiful to watch, very crisp and vibrant in colour, while the music has so much character and nostalgic value. The songs are a treasure trove of old favourites, and are just a joy to the ear. Maybe the story is not the strongest one in the world, though it is an original one, but that doesn't matter in the slightest to me as there is never a dull moment and the whole of Swooner Crooner is relentlessly entertaining. The dialogue has freshness and wit, the gags are clever and imaginatively timed- the auditions especially are an absolute riot- and the caricatures of Frank Sinatra(the best one for me), Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Durante, Nelson Eddy and Al Jolson are really fun to spot. Mel Blanc's vocal characterisations never disappoint, always a large part of why Looney Tunes cartoons work so well as a majority whole, and Swooner Crooner is no exception. All in all, wonderful and recommended with no hesitation. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This wartime cartoon features Porky Pig as manager of the "Flockheed Eggcraft Factory." Yes, nobody loves plays-on-words more than the writers of these cartoons.The hens clock in for their wartime assembly-line duties. The assembly is clever and funny, how they picture the eggs being dumped out of a bombardier, caught below with catcher's mitt, etc.The caricature of Frank Sinatra had me laughing out loud. If you've seen pictures of Frank when he was really young and the girls were screaming over him, you saw a real skinny guy with a bow-tie. The artists here had fun with that, and portraying the different ways in which all the hens "swoon."Later, we see other famous singers "audition" but no one makes the grade until "Bing" shows up....and the swooning starts all over again. The the two stars both sing and the egg production goes sky high!I grew up a decade later but I can still appreciate this fantastic cartoon, which was part of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Three.