Retro Cocks-of-the-Walk: Swooner Crooner, a Looney Tunes short by Frank Tashlin (1944)

A very cute WWII cartoon starring Porky Pig, who is running a very industrialized egg operation (“Flockheed”). When a Frank Sinatra inspired rooster’s singing causes his hens to swoon, Porky holds auditions to find a crooner who will goose production. Feathered caricatures of Nelson Eddy (or possibly Vaughn Monroe), Al Jolson, Jimmy Durante, Cab Calloway and Bing Crosby appear.

The Bing Crosby rooster (“The Old Groaner”) was voiced by animator Dick Bickenbach, who also imitated the singer in the shorts Hollywood Canine Canteen, The Mouse-Merized Cat, Catch as Cats Can and What’s Up Doc? The Frank Sinatra rooster was most likely voiced by a member of The Kings Men.

Swooner Crooner is the only Porky Pig cartoon to have been nominated for an Academy Award—it lost out to Mouse Trouble (MGM, Fred Quimby).

I Love To Singa - a Merrie Melodies short by Tex Avery (1936)

A send-up of Al Jolson’s film The Jazz Singer featuring a little owl who just wants to SWING! Also I lol’d at “Jack Bunny”. Owl Jolson is voiced by none other than Little Rascals’ Tommy Bond, who you might recognize from this popular clip.