The fortune of the year of the pig first came to Walt Disney with the release of The Three Little Pigs animated short film. The riches of the film’s ticket sales exceeded the box office wealth of any animated film in history and won a golden Oscar for best animated sort film. The longevity of the cartoon’s popularity lasted so long that a New York theater manager started to draw beards on the pigs in the lobby poster. The happiness of the short’s music inspired families during America’s Great Depression. The great fortune, longevity, and happiness of The Three Little Pigs made 1933 Walt Disney’s luckiest year of the pig ever even though 1933 was actually the year of the rooster.

     The story of The Three Little Pigs is based on a classic nursery tale. The Fifer Pig built his house of straw, the Fiddler Pig built his house of sticks, and Practical Pig built his house of bricks (Ashe, 2015). Despite the immense popularity of this cartoon the characters were not given their official names until six years later (Korkis, 2012). The pigs frolic and dance to music written by Frank Churchhill (Korkis, 2012a; IMDB, n.d.). Frank actually began creating music for piglets he was looking after as a child and played them tunes on his harmonica (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). The music of Disney’s The Three Little Pigs became an American cultural phenomenon as a hit radio song that became recognized as an anthem for people struggling during America’s Great Depression (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). No other cartoon had ever turned out a popular music hit and the song even was performed in non-Disney movies including MGM’s Babes in Toyland (Korkis, 2012). Life’s not all song and games because the pigs are intimidated by The Big Bad Wolf voiced by Billy Bletcher who voiced the Mickey Mouse cartoons villain Peg Leg Pete (Korkis, 2012a; IMDB, n.d.). The Big Bad Wolf blows down the house of Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig, but can’t penetrate the house of Practical Pig because of his hard work built on a rock solid foundation (Ashe, 2015). This leaves the short film with a moral message and unlike the original nursery tale no one ends up getting eaten (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). A classic fable set to a catchy tune were the basic ingredients behind the success of The Three Little Pigs.

     The short’s enormous success had an influence on the development of character animation and impacted the direction of future films. The Three Little Pigs came about as the 36th of the Silly Symphonies short films which were Walt Disney’s opportunity to experiment and innovate in ways that he couldn’t in the Mickey Mouse cartoons (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). One animation technique improvement was the way that the pigs expressed emotion (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012a; Ashe, 2015). In other cartoons of the time the emotion of a character was defined by how the character looks, but in The Three Little Pigs tail gestures and facial expressions brought personality to pigs that otherwise looked identical (Korkis, 2012a; Ashe, 2015). It is personality that makes a character appealing and the pigs quickly became popular characters commercialized on everything from toothbrush holders to tea sets (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). The short film’s box office wealth turned out to be triple the fortune of Disney’s typical Silly Symphony short film (Korkis, 2012). After the lucky success of The Three Little Pigs theater owners had difficulty getting enough prints and demanded more cartoons with pigs (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). Roy Disney convinced Walt that it would be good business sense to create sequels to The Three Little Pigs (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). This was a decision that Walt Disney regretted ever since and in Walt Disney’s final message to Disney shareholders in the 1966 annual report he cited this as an example of why he would never make a sequel to Marry Poppins:

Walt Disney

“As a matter of fact, people have been asking us to make sequels ever since Mickey Mouse first became a star. We have bowed only on one occasion to the cry to repeat ourselves. Back in the ’30’s The Three Little Pigs was an enormous hit, and the cry went up –’Give us more Pigs!’ I could not see how we could possibly top pigs with pigs. But we tried, and I doubt whether any one of you reading this can name the other cartoons in which the pigs appeared.”

(Sklar, 2013)

     In December 2018 The Walt Disney Studios went against Walt’s final warning and released a sequel to Mary Poppins (IMDB, n.d.). During Walt Disney’s lifetime there were four sequels to The Three Little Pigs and the characters had cameos in several Disney cartoons including Mickey’s Polo Team (Disney, 1935a; Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012). The only sequel to The Three Little Pigs worth mentioning is an animated sequence made for a 1963 Mexican film Cri-Cri, El Grillito Cantor (Sampson, 2007a; Korkis, 2012a; Korkis, 2016). This film by Carlos Amador was a tribute to a famous Mexican children's song writer Francisco Gabilondo Soler who once wrote a story about three sleeping pigs (AP, 1990a; Korkis, 2012). Bill Justice and X. Atencio from Disney worked to create a four minute animated sequence for the film with proceeds benefiting the Institute for the Protection of Mexican Children to provide free school lunches for Mexican children (Korkis, 2012a; Korkis, 2016). Walt Disney regretted the attempt to top pigs with pigs, but The Three Sleepy Pigs is an interesting product of the international success of the characters.

Film Reel Displayed in Museum by Chiang Kai-shek’s Former Residence

     The international popularity of the characters continued to travel around the world to Asia. Chinese president Chiang Kai-shek owned a copy of The Three Little Pigs at his home in Fenghua, China. When Hong Kong Disneyland was celebrating its first year of the pig in 2007 the three little pigs were selected as the official character mascots (Hong Kong Disneyland, 2007). The history of the costumes these characters wear in live appearances goes back to the first Disney licensed Ice Capades (Otero, 2016). Here are photos to show how the pigs have grown up over the years. The years shown on the photos are approximations of the Year of the Pig around when the pictures were taken. If you were born in one of these years then congratulations, you were born in the year of the pig which represents fortune.

1947 First Disney Licensed Three Little Pig Costumes were from Ice Capades

(Kidney 2014)

1959 Disneyland California’s First Year of the Pig

(Kidney 2014)

1971 The Magic Kingdom Opened in The Year of the Pig

(Joel, 1971)

1983 Disneyland California

(Javier, 2011)

1995 The Magic Kingdom

(Zach, 2010)

2007 Hong Kong Disneyland’s First Year of the Pig

(Hong Kong Disneyland, 2007)

(Hong Kong Disneyland, 2019)

     When Shanghai Disneyland was built these characters were replaced by Hamm from Toy Story as the park’s official year of the pig character mascot, but a few of the buildings on Mickey Avenue pay tribute to The Three Little Pigs. As part of Mickey Avenue you can find Practical Pig Hardware located right next door to B.B. Wolf & Co Demolition. If you look carefully you can also see Fifer and Fiddler’s straw and stick homes built right behind practical pig’s rock solid brick and mortar hardware store. There is even a small detail of the pigs frolicking and dancing as The Big Bad Wolf hangs from the weather vane.

     The current year 2019 is the year of the pig, but don’t forget to look back at the historical significance of Disney’s first cartoon pig superstars. The Three Little Pigs was lucky enough to attain record breaking box office wealth with a popular song that became a cultural anthem. The cartoon’s improvements in animation techniques brought personality to the pigs to make them a popular success. The immense popularity of these characters led to sequels that Walt regretted making. Over the years the iconic characters of Disney’s Three Little Pigs have grown up with Disney theme parks worldwide and in 2007 became the official mascots of the year of the pig in Hong Kong Disneyland. When Shanghai Disneyland opened The Three Little Pigs found a home on Mickey Avenue right next door to The Big Bad Wolf. The year of the pig is a symbol of fortune and the enormous wealth, longevity, and happiness brought by the release of The Three Little Pigs certainly fit the characteristics for Disney’s first year of the pig.

References:

Associated Press (1990, December 16). Francisco Gabilondo Soler, Writer of Children's Songs, 83 [Electronic version]. The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/16/obituaries/francisco-gabilondo-soler-writer-of-children-s-songs-83.html

Ashe, B. (2015). Saturday Morning Cartoons: Three Little Pigs. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://theretroset.com/saturday-morning-cartoons-three-little-pigs-1933/

Disney, W. (Producer). (1935). Classic Cartoon Favorites, Vol. 5 - Extreme Sports Fun: Mickey’s Polo Team [DVD]. Los Angeles, CA:Walt Disney Prod. Ltd.

Hong Kong Disneyland (2007). Hong Kong Disneyland Celebrates in Style with “Disney’s Chinese New Year”. Retrieved January 26, 2019, from http://news-en.hongkongdisneyland.com/PressReleases/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?AssetId=01a9b706-0a63-4b92-b516-34745046b006

Hong Kong Disneyland (2019). Celebrate the happiest Chinese New Year ever with Year of the Pig fun. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://news-en.hongkongdisneyland.com/Images/ImageDetail.aspx?AssetId=93667641-a5fb-47bc-aff0-22bafc0f36c7

IMDB (n.d.). Billy Bletcher. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088285/

IMDB (n.d.) Mary Poppins Returns. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5028340/

IMDB (n.d.).Three Little Pigs. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024660/

Javier, L. (2011). Who's Afraid? Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://flic.kr/p/9ytcgG

Joel, Y. (1971, October 15). Disney World Opens. LIFE Magazine, 1971(41), 44.

Kidney, K. (2014). 17 Horrifying Vintage Pictures of Disneyland Characters. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://mentalfloss.com/article/57824/17-horrifying-vintage-pictures-disneyland-characters

Korkis, J. (2012). The Revised Vault of Walt. Orlando, FL: Theme Park Press.

Korkis, J. (2016).The Three Sleepy Pigs: The Three Little Pigs Go To Mexico. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-three-sleepy-pigs-the-three-little-pigs-go-to-mexico/

Otero, S. (2016). The Three Little Pigs Through the Years 1955- Present. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://pupepepets.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-three-little-pigs-through-years.html

Sampson, W. (2007). Disney's Ham Actors: The Three Little Pigs. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://www.mouseplanet.com/8198/Disneys_Ham_Actors_The_Three_Little_Pigs

Sklar, M. (2013). Dream It! Do It! My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms.Glendale, CA: Disney Editions.

Zach (2010). Postcards from the Past. Retrieved March 29, 2019, from http://timeandmusic.blogspot.com/2010/07/postcards-from-past.html

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