Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . for Best Animated Short of 1957, but voice artist Mel Blanc's contract with Warner Bros. stated that only cartoons giving Blanc a voice credit would be submitted for Academy Award consideration. (Since it was Warner's "turn" to win this category that year--under the genteel practice of the 1900s for the Hot Houses of Hollywood to rotate the Golden Statuettes according to the "Studio System"--the Oscar went to an inferior Warner effort called BIRDS ANONYMOUS, in which Mr. Blanc participated.) THREE LITTLE BOPS illustrates the Truism that Death (preferably by suicide) helps many artists to "hit their stride," (such as John Kennedy Toole, whose CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES was published by his Mom 11 years after he killed himself, or Vincent van Gogh, whose brother sold hundreds of his paintings after Vinnie failed to sell even one, and blew his brains out in that corn field). Often people who collected only rejection slips when they were alive enjoy their greatest success once they buy the farm, especially if they have Moms and Brothers like Toole and Van Gogh. But, because his medium is Jazz, the Big Bad Wolf of THREE LITTLE BOPS doesn't even require the services of such an immediate-family-member-turned-posthumous-business-manager to finally earn a coveted ensemble gig. As the Three Little Pigs observe, "You Gotta get Hot (in Hades) to play Real Cool."
tavm
On YouTube, I got to see three versions of this unique Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon. One was the original with the voices of Stan Freberg and the music of Shorty Rogers. That one is pure classic. Another one had an Italian-dubbed soundtrack that was another nice twist on the cartoon. And then there was one I saw linked from the Misce-Looney-ous blog. That one had a live version of the music and the other voices as performed at the Blackstump Festival at Australia in 1993 by the Belvedere Blues Band. That was fine too except for the slightly changed ending when it's mentioned that the wolf went to the pearly gates when he's still seen playing in "the other place" and one of the pigs says, "You've got to be SAVED to play it cool" instead of saying HOT. While this cartoon was not hilarious, there was one line that I was highly amused by when, after Freberg mentions Liberace, one of those pigs says, "I wish my brother George was here." On that note, I highly recommend all three versions of Three Little Bops that are uploaded on YouTube still as I'm writing this... Original version:**********, Italian-dubbed version: **********, Belvedere Blues version: *********.
killersax
The pigs play better than the wolf, but no more hip. They're mostly just vamping on a simple boogie that sounds a lot like "Rock Around the Clock" (And Stan Freberg's inability to find the right pitch is downright painful--way worse than the wolf.)Considering this was made the year Miles released "Kind of Blue," (a year after Bird died.) and considering the really adventurous stuff Shorty Rogers was doing for Stan Kenton around this time, I have to think Warner Bros. dumbed it down musically to what they thought the Lawrence-Welk/Liberace-listening public would like.For a cartoon that really does something with music, how about "The Rabbit of Seville"? Glenn
Robert Reynolds
This is a jazzy little cartoon, taking the Three Little Pigs and making them a Jazz combo, consisting of a guitar, drums and piano. The Big Bad Wolf wants to join in on a jam session. He's really bad and a square, so the Pigs tell him to scram. The cartoon focuses on his attempts to join in. The music is great, the narration is sung (by Stan Freberg) and the ending is excellent. The crowd goes wild and the land saw much rejoicing! They just don't make 'em like this anymore! Great cartoon and more than worth your time. Highly Recommended.
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