Porkopolis

[Originally published in the Porkopolis Notebook in 2006.]

“I have myself a poetical enthusiasm for pigs, and the paradise of my fancy is one where pigs have wings. But it is only men, especially wise men, who discuss whether pigs can fly; we have no particular proof that pigs ever discuss it.”

— G.K. Chesterton

The first historically recorded flight of a pig took place on British soil, at Leysdown in Kent in 1909. The pig was carried aloft by J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon, later the First Lord Brabazon of Tara, in his personal French-built Voisin aero plane.

The pig was placed into a wicker basket, which was in turn strapped to a wing strut of the aero plane. A hand-lettered sign attached to the basket read: ‘I am the first pig to fly.’ Brabazon purposefully carried the pig aloft, thereby disproving the long help opinion that ‘pigs can not fly.’

Brabazon learned to fly in France, where he purchased and brought back to England, his standard model Voisin aero plane in 1909. Once in England with his Voisin, he secured the second pilots license issued to a British subject on March 8, 1909 (the first was issued to Henry Farman, noted British aero plane pilot, designer and builder).

And then in May of 1909, Brabazon made a flight of 500 yards in his Voisin at Leysdown in Kent - officially recognized as the first flight by a British pilot in Britain. Once the operability of the Voisin was assured, Brabazon set a number of early flying records, including his personal ambition to prove that pigs really could fly.

Brabazon went on to a distinguished and eccentric career in British sport and Government. After further flying exploits and keeping company with the Wright Brothers and Charles Rolls (of Rolls Royce fame), he was Minister of Transport, and later Minister of Aircraft Production under Winston Churchill, and eventually elevated to the House of Lords where he took a seat as Lord Brabazon of Tara.

After the war, Brabazon was given the job of planning for post-war civil aviation in Britain. He chaired a British Cabinet committee that oversaw the building of a prototype aircraft - the Bristol 167 Brabazon - the largest plane ever built in Britain. The 167 performed poorly in initial trials, and lost economical feasibility as more efficient designs were concurrently developed. It never went into production. Afterward Brabazon, entered into private life and continued to distinguish himself as a racer of Belgian cars, an avid golfer, and, at the age of 70, he rode the fearsome Cresta bobsled run at St. Moritz.

[Originally published in the Porkopolis Notebook in 2002.]

“The nomination of the boar hog Pigasus for President of the United States by the Yippies had been the most transcendentally lucid political act of the twentieth century…”

- Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminatus! Trilogy

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, the Yippies (Youth International Party) nominated a pig for president, with the campaign pledge: “They nominate a president and he eats the people. We nominate a president and the people eat him.” This porcine political maneuver was the brainchild of sixties activists Abbie Hoffman (below left) and Jerry Rubin (below right).

Of course, the fact that for nearly two centuries, western political cartoonists had pictured corrupt politicians and police in the guise of pigs might have influenced the activists, too. But for a generation brought up on the Three Little Pigs and Charlotte’s Web, the easy acceptance of the idea that a pig might resemble a political candidate helped galvanized protestors through six days of riots, violence and bloodshed.

The Yippies had come to Chicago to protest four years of an escalating war in Vietnam, the failure of racial integration and to call for a break from the two war parties, the Republicans and Democrats. What better way to bring home their point than to offer a real pig as an alternative candidate, clearly dramatizing the unwholesome offerings of the likely Democratic nominee, Hubert H. Humphrey, and his Republican opponent, Richard M. Nixon. Pigasus, the Immortal - Yippie Presidential candidate - was born.

“We want to give you a chance to talk to our candidate and to restate our demand that Pigasus be given Secret Service protection and be brought to the White House for his foreign policy briefing.”

- Jerry Rubin

Unfortunately, Pigasus’ candidacy was short-lived. Barely had Jerry Rubin begun the official introductions at Pigasus’ first press conference (at right), when Rubin, Pigasus, folk-singer Phil Ochs, Stew Albert and several others were arrested on the morning of August 23rd, at the Chicago Civic Center. The humans were bailed out later in the day, but Pigasus’ ultimate end remains unknown. He may have been taken to the Humane Society, or he may have ended up as dinner at the home of some Chicago police officer’s home.

The Yippies original idea was to run a pig, have some fun and games, and show people how ineffectual the government could be. Hoffman and Rubin staged the event as guerrilla street theater, designed mainly to attract media attention to their cause. The point was to draw the TV cameras so that Americans would finally see what they’d been refusing to see, or hadn’t been allowed to see: that the country was profoundly polarized, that antagonism and confrontation were the order of the day, and that violence was endemic.

Chicago was under siege on the eve of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. When members of the anti-war movement from all over the country arrived to protest the war in Vietnam, twelve thousand police, 7,500 Army troops and 6,000 National Guardsmen were on hand to greet them. The scene degenerated into such chaos that many Americans watching on television believed they were witnessing the end of the political process as they had known it.

Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, along with David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Tom Hayden, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale were arrested for conspiring to incite violence and crossing state lines with the intent to riot. The group became known as the Chicago Eight until Seale was removed from the proceedings and sentenced to four years in prison for contempt, the group was then known as the Chicago Seven. After a protracted trial and appeals, all charges were dismissed.

[Originally published in the Porkopolis Notebook in 2001.]

A feature issue for the U.S. Postal Service in 2001

“When I was a kid, I had two playmates — a little fat kid called Piggy and his younger brother, who was called Porky. I always wanted to do a comic strip with two kids with those names. But in animation, everything is animals, so when I had this classroom cartoon, I thought of Porky.”

- Isador “Friz” Freleng (1905-1995), Looney Tunes animator and creator of Porky Pig

The fifth and final stamp in the USPS’ Looney Tunes series pictured cartoondom’s stuttering swine, Porky Pig, as a mail carrier wearing a leather U.S. mailbag and standing near a weathered wooden mailbox. The Looney Tunes Porky Pig stamp, issued on October 1, 2001, was part of the USPS’ 2001 National Stamp Collecting Month kickoff. The U.S. Postal Service issued the 34¢ “That’s All Folks!” commemorative stamp in Beverly Hills, California. The stamp, designed and illustrated by Ed Wleczyk of Los Angeles, California, went on sale nationwide October 2, 2001.

“That’s all Folks!” is depicted at the top of the design, which seems appropriate as the five year series of Looney Tunes stamps runs its course, ending with Porky’s famous phrase that also ended hundreds of Looney Tunes cartoons.

The stamp was produced in souvenir sheets of 10 self-adhesive stamps, the souvenir sheet could not be split and the stamps could not be sold individually. Besides the standard pane of 10, there was a special die-cut pane of 10, two half press sheets (top or bottom half) of 60 stamps and stamped 21¢ postcards in booklet of 10. The pane of 10 was formatted to resemble the previous four issues in the series, but the large selvage panel, instead of reproducing the Porky design, pictured Porky in a montage with the previous Warner Brothers cartoon stamp subjects: Bugs Bunny, Tweety & Sylvester, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner.

Porky Pig is popular with audiences of all ages and has appeared in more than 160 cartoons. The first true star of the Looney Tunes cartoon series, Porky premiered in I Haven’t Got A Hat directed by Fritz Frelang and released by Warner Brothers in 1935. It featured Porky, as part of an “Our Gang” style group of animals, stuttering through a rendition of the Longfellow Poem The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.

Porky Pig experienced several changes in his early years appearing as child, father, and young suitor in succeeding cartoons. Later, he became a more consistent personality with a gentle stammer, wide-eyed innocence and a boyish nature. Eventually, Porky Pig was redesigned as a more adult–looking character and cast as a wry foil for the silly Daffy Duck. Porky Pig, already a famous star, was guaranteed immortality when he was chosen to deliver his famous phrase “That’s all Folks!” at the end of the Looney Tunes cartoons.

[Originally published in the Porkopolis Notebook in 2000.]

Cincinnati Gateway at Bicentennial Commons,
Sawyer Point Park, Cincinnati, Ohio

“[the winged swine represent] the angelic spirits of all the pigs that were slaughtered and were building blocks of Cincinnati’s prosperity. So they’re up there paying one last tribute — singing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ — to all their [dead] brethren who flowed into the river…”

- Andrew Leicester (b. 1948)

Cincinnati Gateway is the official entrance to Bicentennial Commons Park. Commissioned to celebrate the city’s 200th birthday, this sculpture depicts various aspects of Cincinnati’s history from prehistoric times to the period of early settlement and economic growth. The central elements are flying pigs atop riverboat stacks.

The whimsical winged pigs atop the four steamboat stacks recall a time when Cincinnati was nicknamed “Porkopolis” and meat packing and soap manufacturing dominated the local economy.

The park is the design of Andrew Leicester in collaboration with Meyer, Scherer and Rockcastle Architects of Minneapolis. The park was dedicated in 1988 and was the winner of the Top Honor Award at the International Waterfront World Conference in Washington. DC in 1999.