| Three Little Bops | |
|---|---|
| Looney Tunes series | |
The Three Little Bops prepare to throw the Big Bad Wolf out of the House of Straw. |
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| Directed by | Friz Freleng |
| Produced by | Eddie Selzer (uncredited) |
| Story by | Warren Foster |
| Voices by | Stan Freberg |
| Music by | Shorty Rogers |
| Animation by | Gerry Chiniquy Bob Matz |
| Layouts by | Hawley Pratt |
| Backgrounds by | Irv Wyner |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | January 5, 1957 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 6 minutes 42 seconds |
| Language | English |
Three Little Bops is a 1957 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng, with voices by Stan Freberg and music by jazz composer/trumpeter Shorty Rogers. A takeoff on The Three Little Pigs, told as a hip, jazzy musical, it is currently available on the DVD box-set Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 2.
Contents |
The cartoon opens with a display of the book that shows the Three Little Pigs who used to play pipes and dance jigs. The short then focuses to the present day and reveals the pigs now play modern instruments and perform as The Three Little Bops.
During a gig at the House of Straw, the Big Bad Wolf appears and proves he is friendly by stating that he wants to join the band. The Wolf happens to be terrible at playing his choice instrument (a trumpet) so the pigs, stating he is corny, throw him out. Feeling insulted, the Wolf retaliates by blowing down the straw house, forcing the pigs to go to the Dew Drop Inn, the House of Sticks.
Things go well (including the piano playing pig doing an imitation of Liberace's "I wish my brother George was here"), until the Wolf comes in and attempts to play his trumpet again. Like the pigs, the people watching also think the wolf's playing is corny, so they call for the pigs to throw the wolf ("square") out, which they do. Again, the Wolf retaliates by blowing down, or "dropping out," the Dew Drop Inn. The pigs then realize that in order to escape the Wolf's huff and puff, they will go to the House of Bricks (built in 1776, according to a cornerstone).
For the pigs, the House of Bricks has a "No Wolves Allowed" rule, so when the Wolf tries to get in, he is punched in the face by a bouncer. The Wolf runs out of breath in trying to blow away the club, but realizes he can get in by disguising himself. He reenters in fur coat and ukulele with his rendition of the Charleston song (cut short by slipping on a strategically thrown banana peel). He returns in the disguise of a houseplant with his trumpet but gets blasted outside by a plunger shot from the double bass. For his third try, the Wolf shows up in drum major outfit playing a big bass drum to the tune of Don't give up the ship. A dart is shot into the drum, leaving him to exit in humiliation.
Finally, he shows up with a large cylinder of TNT and snaps, "I'll show those pigs that I'm not stuck! If I can't blow it down, I'll blow it up!" The fuse is blown out on his first try, so he steps back a bit and lights it from there. Unfortunately for him, he is too far away and his weapon explodes while he is carrying it to his target.
The narrator reveals that the explosion did not send the Wolf to Heaven but down to Hell ("the other place"), where his trumpet playing improves. When the pigs hear this, one of them proudly replies, "The Big Bad Wolf, he learned the rule: you gotta get hot to play real cool!" The Wolf's spirit then rises up through the floor and joins in for the final notes, prompting one of the pigs to alter their band's name to "The Three Little Bops Plus One," ending the cartoon.
Instrument credits are believed to be:[1]
This is one of only two Warner Brothers cartoons to give on-screen credit to an actor other than Mel Blanc during the period of Blanc's exclusive contract with the studio. The other short is The Mouse that Jack Built, which credits the cast of The Jack Benny Program.