Gabby Goat is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes series of cartoons. Ub Iwerks, who briefly joined Looney Tunes, created Gabby to be a sidekick for Porky Pig in the 1937 short Porky and Gabby. The cartoon focuses on the title characters' camping trip, which is foiled by car trouble. Storyboard artist Cal Howard supplies Gabby's voice. Gabby looks like Porky with a beard, horns, and scowl. The goat's chief characteristics are his irritability and short temper, traits that make him a natural foil for the shy, easy-going Porky. The concept didn't play out as well as the animators would have liked, however; audiences felt that the goat's behavior was too offensive to be funny. Gabby only appeared in two more cartoons. The first was Porky's Badtime Story (Clampett's first cartoon as director), where roommates Porky and Gabby are almost fired from their jobs for sleeping in and showing up late. They vow to get to sleep early that night, but various problems keep them awake all night. The cartoon was later remade in 1944 as Tick Tock Tuckered, featuring Daffy Duck in Gabby's role as Porky's costar. The third and final appearance of the character was in Get Rich Quick Porky, where Porky and Gabby dig for oil. Both Porky's Badtime Story and Get Rich Quick Porky were produced in 1937. Recently uncovered storyboards show that the character was supposed to appear in the 1938 short Porky's Party. That role, however, was later filled by an unknown penguin character with a similar personality.
Advertisement