Piggy is an animated cartoon character in the Merrie Melodies series of films distributed by Warner Bros. The character is a fat, black pig who wears a pair of shorts with buttons on the front. His coloration and dress are identical to those of the Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse before the advent of color film.
Animator Rudolf Ising introduced Piggy to replace his previous Mickey derivative, Foxy, as the star of the Merrie Melodies series Ising was directing for producer Leon Schlesinger. Nonetheless, Ising had only made two Piggy shorts in 1931 before he left Warner Bros. with partner Hugh Harman. The animators who took over the Merrie Melodies cartoons dropped the Piggy character (as well as his girlfriend Fluffy) and turned the series into a string of one-shots.
Despite their hackneyed lead character, Ising's two Piggy shorts are well received by some critics. The first is the 1931 short "You Don't Know What You're Doin'!". Here, Piggy visits a surreal night club where he heckles and plays with the club's jazz band. This was followed by "Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land ", also in 1931. Here, Piggy plays a steamboat captain who must rescue a drowning Uncle Tom. Due to its stereotypical portrayal of the Uncle Tom character, the cartoon is included among the so-called "Censored 11", Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts that are withheld from circulation due to allegedly offensive content. Unlike his fellow early Merrie Melodies alumni Foxy, Roxy and Goopy Geer, Piggy was conspicuously absent from the "Two-Tone Town " episode of the animated series Tiny Toon Adventures in 1992.
Usage in other conditions
The word piggy can also refer to a small pig.