First published in The American Magazine, “Pigs is Pigs” is a short story written by Ellis Parker Butler. The story was adapted on screen several times, one of which being the 1954 Walt Disney cartoon version. Set at a railway station in 1905, Pigs is Pigs features rule-following Flannery, who is on a mission to keep his station in pristine condition. One day, however, Flannery is perplexed by a delivery of two guinea pigs—they certainly didn’t look like pigs, but the label on their box said otherwise. How could this be? When the owner of the guinea pigs, McMorehouse, visits the station to retrieve them, Flannery informs him that he will have to pay the pig rate of 48 cents—4 cents more than the rate for pets. McMorehouse tries to no avail to convince Flannery that guinea pigs are pets, not pigs, and eventually leaves them in Flannery’s care. But before long, the two guinea pigs multiply with unimaginable speed. After alerting the supervisor of this terrible conundrum, a memo goes out to everyone stating once and for all that guinea pigs can be classified as pets. Released May 21, 1954, this Jack Kinney-directed special cartoon received an Academy Award® nomination for Animated Short Film.
