Three Little Bops

Jazz, 1950s style, takes precedence in this cartoon of the "The Three Little Pigs" who are jazz musicians. They're good, too, on sax, drums, piano with a bass handy, if needed. The whole cartoon is told in song, with Stan Freberg doing his best to sound jazzy as he sings the story. It actually sounds more like very early rock 'n roll.

The story is basically a hip-dressed wolf who enters the club, hears the pigs and wants to join in with his trumpet. The pigs are nice guys and can't say "no" but when the wolf starts blowing his horn, well, it ain't' good. As Fregerg sings, "The three little pigs were really gassed; they never heard such a corny blast."

The pigs tell the wolf, "We've played in the West; we've played in the East, we've heard 'the most,' but you're 'the least!' They escort the wolf out. He winds up blowing the house of straw down!

This happens in several places as the pigs entertain elsewhere, each time the wolf coming in and getting thrown out for his horrible playing until the pigs finally build a place made out of bricks ("made in 1776" - each line is rhyme in this cartoon.)

It's this kind of dialog and singing (along with the dress-ware of the musicians) that makes this cartoon just a huge hoot to watch and hear. I loved it! It was different from anything else I've seen on these Looney Tunes collections. I felt like I was in a jazz club back in the '50s or at a Bill Haley rock 'n roll concert. This is one cartoon I will play over and over.

The three little pigs are a city jazz combo who play to adoring crowds. When they are joined by a trumpet player by the name of `big bag wolf'. However the wolf is not a very good player and he threatens to spoil the career of the pigs. However when they kick the wolf out of the band, he blows down their gig at the Straw House. Despite their insistence that he is rubbish, he follows them to the Wood Club to try and get in again.

I have seen other Warner twists on the Three Little Pigs story, some of which have also been set to music but this one is a lot different as it totally changes the story. Sadly it is interesting enough to only watch once and then it will have lost it's novelty value and will expose it's many flaws too readily. The film is set to a constant jazzy/bebop style song and basically sees the wolf trying to play with the pigs and then taking revenge in the time honoured fashion when he is rebuffed. The material is not very funny and relies too much on the juxtaposition of the music and action. In this regard it is worth seeing once as it is a clever idea, albeit it one that needed better delivery.

The singer is not all that he could have been and doesn't sound like he is someone who sung that type of music for a living - I may be wrong but it sounded like the emphasis was on clear pronunciation of the words rather than an authentic feel to the music. On top of that the animation was too broad and colourful for me - lacking it's own feel. The characters also struggle over this and they feel too basic and blocky. Once the basic humour of the music and the action has gone the film has nothing left and didn't endear itself to me after this point.

For all it's flaws it is worth seeing once for it is a clever idea and is cool and jazzy enough to keep you happy for several minutes. However repeat viewings will not have this novelty value and you'll be left with nothing much else to replace it. Clever idea but needed better delivery.

Through many of the Looney Tunes cartoons, I've derived that the creators probably had a way with jazz, and it plays out in "Three Little Bops", as a trio of jazz-playing pigs perform in clubs, but a square wolf keeps interrupting and blowing the clubs down. But then, they find a place built out of bricks.

Not only is this a jazz-centric cartoon, but I notice that the narration sounds like "Rock Around the Clock". But that shouldn't be any surprise; after all, rock 'n' roll was pretty much based in jazz and blues. All in all, this is a very fine cartoon. I can say with certainty that Stan Freberg was as great a voice artist as Mel Blanc was.

Friz Freleng's 'The Three Little Bops' is a longtime favourite of mine. From the first time I saw it at a very early age, I was always on the lookout for a chance to see it again. While I was growing up during the 80s and 90s, Warner Bros. cartoons were frequently on TV and every so often this one came around. I was absolutely delighted when it finally became available for me to own on the essential Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. A jazz parody of Disney's famous 'Three Little Pigs' cartoon, 'The Three Little Bops' is entirely set to music with a great vocal by the underrated Stan Freberg (who finally gets screen credit in this cartoon). It tells the story of the Big Bad Wolf's unsuccessful attempts to be accepted into the Three Little Pigs nightclub act and each time he is rejected, he blows the nightclub down! The visuals are beautifully stylised, fitting perfectly with the modern theme of the cartoon, and Warren Foster's lyrics are often priceless ("Dew Drop Inn did drop down"!). It's not quite a perfect cartoon, since there are a couple of slightly mistimed moments and the section in which the Wolf adopts a series of disguises slows things down and unnecessarily breaks from the musical narration for a conspicuously long time. Nevertheless, if asked to list my favourite cartoons, 'The Three Little Bops' would always be one of the first to pop into my head. It's a toe-tapping delight of which I never tire.

A variation on the Three Little Pigs fable set to toe tapping jazz swinging music. Has the pigs playing different clubs which the Wolf blows down when no one likes his trumpet playing and call him a square. This was an amusing short and the music was good so I enjoyed it. Not the best of the music-centric Looney Tunes shorts, but it's still a fun time to be had be all. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. It features a commentary by Jerry beck, as well as an optional music only track, and a vocals only track.

My Grade: B