Petunia was introduced by
animator Frank Tashlin in the 1937 short ''
Porky's Romance. The film is arguably a parody of Mickey's Nightmare'', a 1932
Walt Disney cartoon; whereas
Mickey Mouse dreams of a marriage made difficult by dozens of annoying kids, Porky's nightmare-marriage also involves a scornful Petunia treating him badly. Tashlin adopted Petunia as a regular member of Porky's entourage and featured her in two more cartoons:
The Case of the Stuttering Pig and ''
Porky's Double Trouble'', both in 1937.
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 Pinky. Pinky 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 Pinky's activity. Petunia's largest role came in Clampett's 1939 short
Naughty Neighbors. 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. Pinky, 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==