Bob Clampett was the only other Warner director to utilize Petunia after Tashlin left the studio in 1938. He first featured her in Porky's Picnic, a 1939 film that sees Porky tormented by his nephew Pinkie. Pinkie and Porky's encounters are always out of sight of Petunia, of course, so she blames Porky for everything that goes wrong as a result of Pinkie's activity. Petunia's largest role came in Clampett's 1939 short Naughty Neighbors.[13] The film borrows elements from both the famous feud between the Hatfields and McCoys as well as Romeo and Juliet as Porky and Petunia's love for each other is stymied by their respective hillbilly families' mutual hatred.
By the early 1940s, Porky's popularity had been eclipsed by the brasher characters of Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny. Porky was relegated to a supporting player or straight man to Daffy in most of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts of this era. Petunia, already a bit player to Porky's lead, fared much worse; her tenure as a major Warner Bros. character was effectively over.
Although Petunia made only a handful of appearances in Warner Bros. cartoons, she continued to appear frequently in Warner's merchandising, with a major presence in comic books for the entire 1941-1984 run of Western Publishing (Dell, Gold Key and Whitman Comics) Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies comics, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny and various other titles. Often featured in Porky's stories, she sometimes co-starred with Bugs Bunny and occasionally had a story of her own. Pinkie, renamed "Cicero" for the comic books, was depicted as being Petunia's young cousin as well as Porky's nephew. Petunia was portrayed in the comics as a determined, bossy, and occasionally pretentious character, similar to the early Tashlin depiction, though with a genuine affection towards Porky. In early years, she was often rivals with Bugs, who enjoyed pranking and humbling her.
Later appearances
Nevertheless, in modern years Petunia has appeared in multiple new roles:
Petunia made a cameo appearance in the 1979 short Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol as Mrs. Cratchit, wife of Bob Cratchit (played by Porky Pig), though she had no speaking lines.
Petunia was intended to appear as a cameo with Porky in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral".[14]
The regular adult Petunia is an occasional guest star in DC's Looney Tunes comic book and appeared frequently in 2001-2005 webtoons on the official Looney Tunes website.
^Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 55. ISBN0-8050-0894-2.
^Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 93. ISBN0-8050-0894-2.
