One of the most enduring of animated classics is Walt Disney's Three Little Pigs, taken from the old fairy tale about three juvenile little oinkers, only one of whom meets the challenge of the Big Bad Wolf.
Coming out as it did in 1933 it's both a metaphor for the Great Depression, the consequence of no financial planning for a rainy day and the steps we must take to reform the system as the New Deal attempted to do. A lot of people thought the same way as the Three Little Pigs did in poopooing the notion of a Big Bad Wolf, but only Practical Pig took practical steps in building his house of bricks so the wolf was kept from his door.
In Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse became the first of Walt Disney's animated creations, but in Three Little Pigs, the first of many songs identified with the Magic Kingdom was written and has certainly endured. Who's Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf is probably sung by so many parents to their children in reciting this tale that they probably think it came with the fairy tale. It probably was what won Disney his Oscar for Best Short Subject for the cartoon.
It was a mega-hit during the Depression, not an easy thing when people weren't buying records. I happen to have a rollicking version by Thirties band-leader and entertainer Ben Bernie of the Frank Churchill- Ted Sears classic. It's still quite a hoot.
And as a lesson in planning ahead, Three Little Pigs for children and former children can't be beat.
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