''Three Little Pigs'' is a 1933 American
animated short film
A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
released by
United Artists, produced by
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
and directed by
Burt Gillett.
Based on the
fable of the same name, the ''
Silly Symphony'' won the 1934
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
for
Best Animated Short Film. The short cost $22,000 and grossed $250,000.
In 1994, it was voted #11 of the
50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. In 2007, ''Three Little Pigs'' was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
''Three Little Pigs'' premiered at the
Radio City Music Hall as a short subject to Radio City's release of the
First National Pictures film ''
Elmer, the Great'' on May 25, 1933, in New York City.
Plot
Fifer Pig, Fiddler Pig and Practical Pig are three brothers who build their own houses. All three of them play a different kind of
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...
– Fifer the
flute
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
, Fiddler the
violin
The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
and Practical is initially seen as working without rest. Fifer and Fiddler build their straw and stick houses with much ease and have fun all day. Practical, on the other hand, "has no chance to sing and dance 'cause work and play don't mix", focusing on building his strong brick house. Fifer and Fiddler poke fun at him, but Practical warns them when
the Wolf comes, they won't be able to escape. Fifer and Fiddler ignore him and continue to play, singing the now famous song "
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
As they are singing, the Big Bad Wolf really comes by, at which point Fifer and Fiddler reveal that they are in fact very afraid of the wolf, so the two pigs each retreat to their respective houses. The Wolf first blows Fifer's house down (except for the roof) with little resistance and Fifer manages to escape and hides at Fiddler's house. The wolf pretends to give up and go home, but returns disguised as an innocent sheep. The pigs see through the disguise, whereupon the Wolf blows Fiddler's house down (except for the door). The two pigs manage to escape and hide at Practical's house, who willingly gives his brothers refuge; in Practical's house, it is revealed that his musical instrument is the
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
. The Wolf arrives disguised as a door-to-door
Fuller Brush salesman to trick the pigs into letting him in, but fails. The Wolf then tries to blow down the strong brick house (losing his clothing in the process), but is unable, all while a confident Practical plays melodramatic piano music. Finally, he attempts to enter the house through the chimney, but smart Practical Pig takes off the lid of a boiling pot filled with water (to which he adds
turpentine
Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...
) under the chimney, and the Wolf falls right into it. Shrieking in pain, the Wolf runs away frantically, while the pigs sing "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" again. Practical then plays a trick by knocking on his piano, causing his brothers to think the Wolf has returned and hide under Practical's bed.
Voice cast
*
Billy Bletcher as the
Big Bad Wolf
*
Pinto Colvig as Practical Pig and the Big Bad Wolf's Jewish peddler impression (the latter was
removed in later re-releases)
*
Dorothy Compton as Fifer Pig
*
Mary Moder as Fiddler Pig
Reaction and legacy
The cartoon premiered on May 25, 1933 at
Radio City Music Hall in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
The cartoon was phenomenally successful with audiences of the day, so much that theaters ran the cartoon for months after its debut, to great financial response. The cartoon is still considered to be the most successful animated short ever made, and remained on top of animation until
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
was able to boost
Mickey's popularity further by making him a top merchandise icon by the end of 1934.
Animator
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, painter, voice actor and filmmaker, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He ...
observed: "That was the first time that anybody ever brought characters to life
n an animated cartoon They were
three characters who ''looked'' alike and ''acted'' differently." Other animation historians, particularly admirers of
Winsor McCay, would dispute the word "first", but Jones was not referring to personality as such but to characterization through posture and movement. Fifer and Fiddler Pig are frivolous and care-free; Practical Pig is cautious and earnest. The reason for why the film's story and characters were so well developed was that Disney had already realized the success of animated films depended upon telling emotionally gripping stories that would grab the audience and not let go. This realization led to an important innovation around the time ''Pigs'' was in development: a "story department", separate from the animators, with
storyboard artist
A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions.
Work
A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and mar ...
s who would be dedicated to working on a "story development" phase of the production pipeline. Reputedly, Walt Disney is said to have used
Broadway producer
Jed Harris as his basis for the
Big Bad Wolf characterization.
The moderate (but not blockbuster) success of
the further "Three Pigs" cartoons was seen as a factor in Walt Disney's decision not to rest on his laurels, but instead to continue to move forward with risk-taking projects, such as the
multiplane camera and the first feature-length animated film. Disney's slogan, often repeated over the years, was "You can't top pigs with pigs."
Controversy and censorship
The cartoon features a scene in which the Big Bad Wolf disguises himself as a
peddler
A peddler (American English) or pedlar (British English) is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of good (economics), goods. In 19th-century United States the word "drummer" was often used to refer to a peddler or traveling salesman; as exem ...
for
Fuller brushes in an attempt to trick Practical Pig into allowing him to enter his brick house. In the original 1933 release, the peddler disguise is that of a
stereotypical Jewish man, complete with a hat, a coat, a fake
Jewish nose, glasses, and a fake beard; also,
Yiddish music plays as the wolf disguises his voice with a strong
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
accent while saying "I'm the Fuller Brush man. I'm giving a free sample."
Shortly after the film's release, Rabbi J.X. Cohen (the director of the
American Jewish Congress) wrote angrily to Walt Disney, calling the scene "vile, revolting and unnecessary as to constitute as direct affront on Jews" and demanded the scene to be removed.
Roy O. Disney, speaking on Walt's behalf, responded to Cohen by saying: "We have a great many Jewish business associates and friends, and certainly would avoid purposely demeaning the Jews or any other race or nationality. … It seems to us that this character is no more
ffensivethan
owmany well-known Jewish comedians portray themselves in vaudeville, stage, and screen characterizations."
When the short was
reissued in September 1948, the scene was re-animated with the Wolf's disguise now only including a different pair of glasses, along with the same aforementioned hat and coat. His disguised voice no longer has a thick Yiddish accent and the line is changed to "I'm the
Fuller Brush man. I'm working my way through college."
Jack Hannah and his unit handled these changes; he told historian Jim Korkis that Walt Disney requested him to make these changes (despite there being no outside pressure for him to do so) simply because he felt the scene was not funny anymore and potentially hurtful after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Song
The original song composed by
Frank Churchill for the cartoon, "
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", was a best-selling
single, mirroring the people's resolve against the "big bad wolf" of
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank an ...
; the song actually became something of an anthem of the Great Depression. When the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
began expanding the boundaries of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
in the years preceding
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the song was used to represent the complacency of the Western world in allowing
Führer Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
to make considerable acquisitions of territory without going to war; it was also notably used in Disney animations for the Canadian war effort.
The song was further used as the inspiration for the title of the 1963 play ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' and its
1966 film adaptation, though neither the play nor the film have any further relation to the song or the cartoon.
Home media
In the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the short was first released on
VHS,
Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, and stylized as the Greek letter Beta, β in its logo) is a discontinued consumer analog Videotape, video cassette recording format developed by Sony. It was one of the main competitors in the videotape format war ag ...
, and
Laserdisc
LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. It was developed by Philips, Pioneer Corporation, Pioneer, and the movie studio MCA Inc., MCA. The format was initially marketed in the United State ...
in 1984 as part of its Cartoon Classics home video series. It came out on VHS again in the US as part of the Favorite Stories collection in 1995 and in the UK in the spring of 1996 as part of the Disney Storybook Favourites series, the latter with (possibly in error) the Jewish peddler animation restored, albeit with the reworked dialogue. It was released on December 4, 2001 (along with its sequels) as part of the ''
Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies'' DVD, with the PAL release again retaining the Jewish peddler animation along with the reworked dialogue.
[ The ]Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
release of the short, however, uses the altered animation in all regions.
It was later included in ''Walt Disney's Timeless Tales, Vol. 1'', released on August 16, 2005 (featuring the edited version in the US '' Silly Symphonies'' set), which also featured '' The Pied Piper'' (1933), '' The Grasshopper and the Ants'' (1934), '' The Tortoise and the Hare'' (1935) and '' The Prince and the Pauper'' (1990).
Sequels and later appearances
* Disney produced several sequels to ''Three Little Pigs'', though none were nearly as successful as the original:
** The first of them was '' The Big Bad Wolf'', also directed by Burt Gillett and first released on April 14, 1934.
** In 1936, a second cartoon starring the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf followed, with a story based on '' The Boy Who Cried Wolf''. This short was entitled '' Three Little Wolves'' and introduced the Big Bad Wolf's three pup sons, all of whom just as eager for a taste of the pigs as their father.
** A third cartoon, '' The Practical Pig'', was released in 1939 as the second-to-last ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon (two months before the final short in the series, '' The Ugly Duckling''). In this short, Fifer and Piper (again despite Practical's warning), go swimming but are captured by the Big Bad Wolf, who then goes after Practical only to be caught in Practical's newly built Lie Detector machine.
** In 1941, a fourth cartoon, '' The Thrifty Pig'', was distributed by the National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
. In this cartoon, which consists largely of reused footage from the original cartoon, Practical Pig builds his house out of Canadian war bonds, and the Big Bad Wolf representing Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
is unable to blow his house down.
* Fiddler Pig, Fifer Pig and the Big Bad Wolf make cameo appearances in the 1988 film ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...
''.
* Characters from the short also appeared in the television series '' House of Mouse'' and its direct-to-video films '' Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse'' (2001) and '' Mickey's House of Villains'' (2002). In the second episode of the series ("Big Bad Wolf Daddy"), the Wolf is portrayed as a popular jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
trumpeter with the stage name "Big Bad Wolf Daddy" and the pigs play as his backup band. This possibly may have been an attempt to parody the Warner Bros. cartoon '' Three Little Bops''. The episode "Pete's House of Villains" also includes a short starring the Big Bad Wolf teaching his son how to hunt the pigs.
* The four characters of the short appear along with other Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that produces animated feature films and short films for the Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a s ...
characters in the short film '' Once Upon a Studio''.
* The pigs and the Big Bad Wolf appear as playable characters in the video game ''Disney Magic Kingdoms
''Disney Magic Kingdoms'' is a 2016 city-building game developed and published by Gameloft for iOS, Android, and Windows. It is themed off the Disney Parks. The game was officially launched on March 17, 2016.
Gameplay and story
The game ta ...
'', as well as an attraction based on the pigs' houses.
Comic adaptations
The '' Silly Symphony'' Sunday comic strip ran a seven-month-long continuation of ''Three Little Pigs'' called "The Further Adventures of the Three Little Pigs" from January 18 to August 23, 1936. This was followed by another storyline called "The Practical Pig" from May 1 to August 7, 1938.
The anthology comic book ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'', sometimes abbreviated ''WDC&S'', is an American Comics anthology, anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Micke ...
'' introduced a new character, Lil Bad Wolf (the son of the Big Bad Wolf), in issue #52 (January 1945). He was a constant vexation to his father (the Big Bad Wolf) because the little son was not actually bad. His favorite playmates, in fact, were the Three Pigs. New stories about Lil Bad Wolf appeared regularly in ''WDC&S'' for seven years, with the last one appearing in issue #259 (April 1962).
See also
* List of Disney animated films based on fairy tales
* '' Blitz Wolf''
* '' The Windblown Hare''
References
External links
*
*
Three Little Pigs
' at the TCM Movie Database
*
*
Three Little Pigs
' in the Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
{{Authority control
1930s English-language films
1930s color films
1933 musical comedy films
American animated musical films
1930s Disney animated short films
Best Animated Short Academy Award winners
Animated films based on fairy tales
Films about music and musicians
Animated films about pigs
Animated films about wolves
Silly Symphonies
United States National Film Registry films
1933 American animated short films
Films directed by Burt Gillett
Films produced by Walt Disney
Films based on The Three Little Pigs
Films scored by Frank Churchill
Disney controversies
Ethnic humour
Censored films
American comedy short films
American musical comedy films
Stereotypes of Jewish people
Race-related controversies in animation
Antisemitism in the United States
Disney animated films based on fairy tales
English-language comedy short films
English-language musical comedy films
American musical short films
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