An Egg Scramble

'An Egg Scramble', as with all Looney Tunes cartoons, is filled with talent, from its undervalued director Robert McKimson, the voices of Mel Blanc and Bea Benaderet and its composer Carl Stalling.

While not one of the best Looney Tunes cartoons there are, and McKimson as well as Porky have been better, 'An Egg Scramble' is very enjoyable stuff. It's ever so slightly pedestrian to begin with, all the juicy stuff comes later. A bigger issue is Porky, a good and amusing character but works better in support or with characters with stronger personalities, here he does feel too secondary and is somewhat bland with his material not being much to write home about.

Everything else works however. 'An Egg Scramble', as is the case with most Looney Tunes cartoons, is beautifully animated. The colours are indeed gorgeous to look at, very luscious and vibrant, there are some lovingly detailed backgrounds and it's clear that a lot of care and effort went into the designs and drawing. Carl Stalling as ever provides an outstanding contribution to the music, love the beauty and cleverness of the orchestration, the constant energy and character and how well it fits and adds to the action. Another thing that Stalling excelled at was his use of pre-existing material and putting his own spin on it, especially good was the use of Liszt's "Symphonic Poem no. 3" in the shootout, giving the scene a tension.

The dialogue has the usual wit and freshness, getting increasingly wild (with Prissy having all the best and funniest lines), while the gags, mostly centring around Prissy and the egg, are just as effective with a climax that's both fun and tense. It's a very funny cartoon, and the story while not the most interesting in hindsight is still paced mostly very well. 'An Egg Scramble' is a case of the supporting characters making more of an impression than Porky, with a riotous Prissy stealing the show. Pretty Boy Bagel is also a juicy character.

Mel Blanc voices multiple characters as ever, being particularly good here as Pretty Boy Bagel, and he voices with his usual unparalleled virtuosity and ability to make his characters individual and different from one another. Bea Benaderet does a fine job as Prissy too.

In conclusion, very enjoyable and particularly worth seeing for Prissy. Anybody wanting to see it for Porky might want to see another cartoon of his however. 8/10 Bethany Cox

'An Egg Scramble (1950)' is a 'Looney Tunes' short about an old hen who finally produces an egg (or so she thinks) and decides that she isn't going to hand it over to farmer Porky Pig. After he forcibly takes it from her, she soon finds herself on a citywide adventure to recover her baby and keep it safe. The short is a little on the light side when it comes to humour. As you'd expect, there are some nice sight gags here and there, but it generally feels rather tame in terms of wacky antics or clever visuals. The designs of its human characters are a little unsettling, too (especially a housewife who tries to boil the protagonist's precious egg). Still, it's ultimately an enjoyable, easy-to-watch experience that provides ample light entertainment in a brisk package. It's not the best in its series, but it's definitely not the worst.

While I've usually seen Prissy cast as Foghorn Leghorn's love interest, here she gets a lead role. As one of the hens on Porky Pig's Hammond Eggs farm, she can never lay an egg. So, another hen sticks an egg under her and Prissy believes that she has finally laid one. Her elation melts, however, when Porky sends the egg off to get sold. Even after Prissy finds her egg, she ends up hiding out with a criminal! Will this woman ever find true happiness?! So maybe Prissy can't quite carry a cartoon like Bugs or Daffy can, but I would say that "An Egg Scramble" shows her to be more assertive than I've seen in her appearances as Foghorn Leghorn's love interest. Maybe she needed to be alone in the world to show her true strength. As for Porky, it seems like they actually could have cast a non-star as the farmer, as I like to see the porker's roles developed more so that he can really turn into his reactive self.

But overall, it's worth seeing, if only once.

Egg farmer Porky Pig names all his hens. Prissy the hen refuses to lay an egg or can't lay one. The other hens play a trick by planting an egg on her. She is overjoyed. Porky sends the egg away, but she retrieves it after an exhaustive search. Porky tries to find his missing hen, but the police are more interested in tracking down fugitive Pretty Boy Bagle.

I really like Prissy in this. That is the key to this short. One has to feel for her plight and enjoy the character. She may not be a main franchise lead. She is fun at being obsessive and a bit dumb. Porky Pig is the big name and he does well.

Porky Pig's farm, home of "Hammond Eggs,: looks nice and prosperous to the point where our Pig is prancing around singing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm."

Each of the hens has a name and Porky collects their eggs each morning, talk to them individually. One hen, "Prissy," is "too embarrassed" to lay an egg so Porky threatens her to produce or else! ("Just bluffing," he tells us). Anyway, the other hens make fun of "square britches." They play a joke on her by planting an egg in her nest. We she discovers it, she goes wild celebrating, handing out cigars to everyone. The poor old girl thinks she finally laid an egg.

This is pretty funny stuff! Prissy is a hoot. However, the story turns dramatic when Prissy doesn't want to give up that egg, and follows it when Porky gives it to the trunk-driving delivering man. Prissy races into town to get that egg back

This cartoon really gets wild at that point, with two crime stories going on at once: a minor one with Prissy and a major one with "Pretty Boy Bagle." The two wind up both holed up in the same place with "the coppers" firing at them. A lot of crazy things happen, making this an outstanding Looney Tunes effort. (Porky winds up being a bit player in this story.)

"Prissy," by the way, was voiced by Bea Benaderet, who went on to become quite famous in television on "The George Burns Show," Green Acres," "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Petticoat Junction."

It is highly recommend and can be seen on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Three.