Dime to Retire is a 1955 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert McKimson.
Title[]
The title is a pun on "time to retire."
Plot[]
Porky Pig is driving into town' he is tired and is looking for a place to spend the night. He finds one with a ten-cent fee. Although the room rate is just ten cents, greedy Daffy Duck sends a mouse into the room by pneumatic tube, then offers Porky increasing expensive extermination services:
- $5 for a cat to exterminate the mouse
- $10 for a pedigree boxer dog to exterminate the cat
- $26 for a lion to exterminate the pedigree boxer dog
- $72 for an elephant to exterminate the lion
- $666 for a mouse to exterminate the elephant
- Total extra costs: $779
- Total cost including room fee: $779.10
Porky has had it and decides to leave the hotel without bothering to pay for the room due to the lousy service. Porky has the last laugh by blowing up Daffy's hotel after Daffy takes Porky's baggage filled with explosive powder, since Porky refused to pay for his room. Daffy runs out of the ruins, shouting in pain as his tail feathers are on fire.
Availability[]
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- When this cartoon aired on The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show on ABC, the ending was cut short to remove the final scene of Daffy running out of the hotel yelping in pain with his rear-end on fire. The ABC censored version ended the short after Daffy puts up the "Closed for Repairs" sign.
Notes[]
- This is one of the few cartoons where Porky Pig wears pants.
- Although Porky no longer has any solo cartoons and is less popular than Daffy Duck at the time, this is the first cartoon since "Porky Pig's Feat" (1943) to bill Porky's name above Daffy's name in the titles.
- Director Robert McKimson animated most of the cartoon himself (although Keith Darling animated certain scenes of the film at points). McKimson also did most of the animation work for two other cartoons: "The Hole Idea" and "Too Hop to Handle" (with the former cartoon entirely animated by McKimson himself without any involvement by Darling).
- In real life, lions are known to prey on wild pigs, so it actually makes sense for the lion to attempt to devour Porky (even though Porky is a human-like anthropomorphic domestic pig).
- For some reason, the production number shown on the opening rings is sourced from Bunker Hill Bunny (#1133) by mistake, instead of showing #1333.
Television[]
- This short appeared on The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show on 7 February 1998.[1]