Release Date:

August 27, 1949

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny

Summary:

The Three Little Pigs are jerks who sell their straw and stick houses to Bugs Bunny, so they can all live in the brick house. The wolf follows the rules strictly by the book. After heckling him for a while, Bugs realizes that the Pigs are the real antagonists and teams up with the wolf to teach them a lesson.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1094 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is the first of two McKimson cartoons where the Three Little Pigs are cast as very rude and bullying jerks. The other is “The Turn Tale Wolf” (1952), which features a different wolf and different Pigs (while they have the same design, the Pigs in that cartoon have different colored clothes than the Pigs in this one).

Each of the Pigs are distinguished by the color of the shirts they wear: one wears red, one wears yellow, and one wears green. Other than that, they are indistinguishable.

The cartoon is similar to the equally superb “Little Red Riding Rabbit” in that Bugs gets involved in a familiar fairy tale and heckles the wolf of both stories, and in the end, teams up with the wolf upon realizing that Red or the Pigs are far more obnoxious.

While this wasn’t the last Warner cartoon he animated on, this is the last Warner cartoon to credit Manny Gould as one of the animators.

This is the second McKimson cartoon where Bugs says “Of course, you know, this means war!”, with the first being in “Easter Yeggs”.

You can find out who animated what scene here.

The green-shirted pig borrows one of Bugs’ catchphrases at one point: “What a maroon!” Cecil Turtle did this previously with “Ain’t I a stinker?” in “Rabbit Transit”.

The cartoon’s plot would be somewhat reworked for the Yogi Bear episode “Oinks and Boinks” (1961).

What I Like About This One:

The rendition of “Trade Winds” over the opening credits along with a whistling noise used to signify wind blowing and the image on the title card with trees being blown at in a strong wind.

We open with the Pigs in the middle of reading their very story from a collection of “Children’s Stories”: “And then the Big Bad Wolf blew the house down”. The red-shirted pig tells his brothers, “Well, there it is in black and white. The wolf is gonna blow both your houses down” (animated by Phil DeLara). After the yellow-shirted pig reminds them, “Hey, we better sell our house before the wolf comes” (animated by Charles McKimson), the red-shirted pig decides they can all live in his brick house before they all say in unison, “All for one and one for all!” before laughing as if they’re mocking somebody (animated by DeLara).

Several signs for an open house tour of the straw house are shown as Bugs walks along, deciding, “Hmm. I could use a house. It’d be better than that hole in the ground I’m living in” (animated by Charles). The Pigs believe that “this dumb bunny will be a push-over”, clearly unaware that Bugs is the exact opposite of dumb (animated by John Carey). Spotting the yellow-shirted pig, Bugs asks him, “Eh, hey, lard. Whatcha askin’ for the haystack?” Unfazed by Bugs’ unintentional insult of calling him lard, the yellow-shirted pig answers, “Ten bucks” (animated by Charles). Bugs finds this “plenty inflated” but decides to pay him anyway. The yellow-shirted pig thanks him before walking off and saying, “Good luck” and then adding, “You’ll need it”. Initially confused by that, Bugs just shrugs before walking into the straw house (animated by DeLara).

Meanwhile, the wolf is walking along and reading the story from the book, reciting his lines and trying to get his tone of “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down” correct. Finding himself at the straw house, “just like the book says”, the wolf says the phrase, “I’m gonna huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!” in the correct tone, complete with rolling tongue on the word “blow”. Bugs opens up the door to ask, “Eh, what’s up-” before he is interrupted by the wolf blowing it down, “-doc”. The wolf checks off a list in the book, “Well. That’s number one. The straw house.” He pushes Bugs aside and finds that there are “no pigs here” (animated by Manny Gould).

Shortly, Bugs has been swindled again, this time into buying the stick house, which looks like an ordinary house. The green-shirted pig is the one who he bought it from as he bids him farewell, “Well, you bought yourself a house, chum. So long” before cackling, “What a maroon! He went for it again”. The yellow-shirted pig tells them that they can now go into the brick house before they all walk off laughing (animated by Carey).

Bugs decides that the stick house is better. “I should’ve known better than to buy a straw house”. This time, when the wolf shows up, he forgets his line, and has to look in his book to refresh his memory before saying it in the same tone as before. Bugs angrily opens the door and begins to reprimand, “Now just a minute, doc!” but the wolf blows it down anyway (animated by Gould). Bugs decides, “Of course, you know, this means war!” (animated by Charles)

Dressing up as Red Riding Hood, Bugs skips along with Red’s basket and starts singing “The Lady in Red” but with “Rabbit” replacing “Lady”. The wolf is sitting down by the tree, studying the story in the book again, and realizes, “Gee. It says I CAN’T blow the brick one down”. He spots Bugs and asks him where he’s going, so Bugs flips the pages to the story of Little Red Riding Hood before continuing on his way: “Here, doc. Eh, Read THIS. I’ll see ya later”. The wolf says the title in his normal voice (animated by DeLara up to here) before hilariously reading the story at rapid speed. Upon getting to the “what big eyes you have” part, the wolf snaps out of it and realizes, “Hey, I’m late! I didn’t even take care of Grandma yet!” (animated by Charles)

The wolf takes the shortcut to Grandma’s house which leads him straight to the back door of said house (animated by Carey). Upon getting in, he starts rushing Grandma about and demanding her to leave. She is surprised, “Land sakes, Wolfy! Ain’t ya gonna eat me?” The wolf explains he hasn’t got time as he continues rushing her out. “Goodness! Can’t a body get her shawl tied? Heavens to betsy! Stop that, wolf!” She runs out screaming as the wolf yells, “Beat it! Get out and stay out!” (animated by Gould)

Still singing “The Rabbit in Red”, Bugs arrives at Grandma’s House (animated by DeLara) and after he greets the wolf with “Hi, Granny. You old… darlin’”, he immediately starts the “what big eyes ya got, Grandma” bit. The wolf starts to explain in a feminine voice, “All the better to-” but Bugs pokes him in the eyes, causing him to scream loudly in pain. “And what big ears you’ve got, Granny!”, as he pulls on the wolf’s ears. “And what big teeth ya got, kiddo!” as he pulls out wolf’s teeth like a cash register (animated by Charles).

The wolf then fights back: “Oh yeah!? What big ears YOU got!” as he pulls on Bugs’ ears. Bugs retorts, “Oh yeah!? And what big feet you got!” and stomps on them. “What a red cloak you got!”, the wolf yells as he pulls it off of Bugs. Bugs takes Grandma’s nightgown off the wolf (animated by DeLara) and says, “Why, Granny, you’re just a wolf in cheap clothing!” The wolf folds his arms and sulks, “And you’re not Red Riding Hood!” (animated by Charles)

Bugs decides, “Okay, bright boy. In that case, ya don’t get the present I brung ya.” This piques the wolf’s curiosity as he begs Bugs to be a good guy and give him his present. Bugs gives in and gives it to him, which is a cake that he splatters him in the face with: “Well, okay, doc. But always remember. You ASKED for it”. After getting hit in the face with said cake, the wolf lets out an angry “Why you-” (animated by Gould) and chases Bugs down to the cellar. Every time the wolf goes down into the cellar, Bugs shuts the lights off, forcing the wolf to go back up the stairs before Bugs turns the lights on again. Eventually, Bugs just says “Click” without turning the lights off, before the wolf runs back down in the dark and gets hit with Bugs holding a baseball bat in the darkness (animated by Charles).

Bugs makes his getaway on a bicycle but upon turning around, realizes that he just grabbed a bicycle-built-for-two as the wolf is on the seat right behind him! The chase continues down a hill, ending with the wolf hitting a clothesline (animated by Carey). After the wolf falls from the clothesline, Bugs scolds him, “Serves you right. Blowin’ my houses down”. The wolf finally reveals his true intentions: “Not YOUR houses, the PIGS’ houses! I gotta do like the book says!” Catching on, Bugs realizes, “I get it. It’s those PIGS!” (animated by Charles).

The Pigs are seen playing cards inside the brick house laughing over how they swindled Bugs earlier, unaware that Bugs is watching (animated by DeLara). Bugs walks up to the wolf, who is at the door and informs, “They’re home, doc. Start blowin’”. The wolf protests, “I CAN’T blow the brick house down. It says so in the book”. Bugs doesn’t care and tells him to do it anyway: “Book, schnook. Blow the house down” (animated by Charles). The wolf shrugs and once more says, “I’m gonna huff and I’ll puff and I’m gonna blow your house down!” in the same tone as before (animated by Gould). The Pigs only laugh as the green-shirted pig says, “Ha-ha, listen. It’s that windy wolf.” The red-shirted pig tells the wolf to blow his brains out, with the yellow pig adding, “We know ya can’t blow down bricks!” (animated by Carey) The wolf ignores them and blows anyway. Nothing happens for a brief second, but the house DOES get blown down. Pleasantly surprised, the wolf shouts excitedly, “I did it!” (animated by Gould) The astonished pigs repeat: “He DID it!” The camera pans over to reveal wires and that Bugs actually blew it up with a TNT plunger. “Eh, WE did it”, he laughs (animated by Charles).

Where Can I Watch It?

At archive.org!

Carrot Rating:

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