''Gold Diggers of '49'' is a 1935

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 ...

theatrical

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

short 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 ...

'' series.

Plot

In July 1849, in the middle of the dilapidated town Goldville, Little Kitty observes near a gathering, a poster announcing a young prospector

Beans A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...

about to hunt for gold in Red Gulch. Little Kitty takes the poster and shows it to

Porky Porky may refer to: As a nickname * Frank Biscan (1920–1959), Major League Baseball pitcher * Gordon Brown (Canadian football) (born 1927), Canadian Football League retired player * Porky Chedwick, Pittsburgh radio disk jockey of the 1950s and 1 ...

. Meanwhile, Beans strikes gold from a mountain slot machine, rides off to Goldville and puts the word out, making all the locals leave in pursuit of the gold source. Beans and Porky followed by Ham and Ex head off to the gold source and get digging. Suddenly Beans uncovers a trunk containing a book on how to find gold. Then a greedy bandit spies Beans' bag of gold and snitches it with a lasso fired from his rifle. Beans pursues the bandit on Porky's request hoping to get Little Kitty's hand in marriage. After a wild gunfight, Beans supercharges his car dragging the bandit, the bag of gold and Porky along and back to Goldville. Porky reveals that what the bandit stole was in fact his lunch bag.

Production notes

''Gold Diggers of '49'' is the first Warner Bros. animated cartoon directed by

Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (; February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of America ...

, and the second to feature

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 ...

. The star is Beans the Cat, with Porky Pig as the father of Beans' fiancée, Little Kitty. Looking for suitable characters from the Warners stable to embellish, Avery took two child characters from the previous short '' I Haven't Got a Hat'', turned them into adults, and, as Steve Schneider writes, "set the studio on track to making adult cartoons." The short's title alludes to the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

as well as to the popular

Busby Berkeley Berkeley William Enos, (November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) known professionally as Busby Berkeley, was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geo ...

musicals ''

Gold Diggers of 1933 ''Gold Diggers of 1933'' is an American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and Al Dubin (lyrics). The film's numbers were staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It starr ...

'' and ''

Gold Diggers of 1935 ''Gold Diggers of 1935'' is an American Warner Bros. musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley, his directorial debut. It stars Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, and Alice Brady, and features Hugh Herbert, Gle ...

'' (also released by Warner Bros).

Home media

DVD: *'' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 5'' *'' Porky Pig 101''

References

External links

* 1935 films Animated films about cats Films about the California Gold Rush Films scored by Bernard B. Brown Films scored by Norman Spencer (composer) Films directed by Tex Avery Beans the Cat films Porky Pig films Films set in 1849 Looney Tunes shorts Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films 1930s Warner Bros. animated short films Animated films set in the 1840s American animated black-and-white films 1935 animated short films {{looney-tunes-stub