Pigs in a Polka
About Pigs in a Polka
A wolf in a tuxedo, as master of ceremonies, announces the evening: the three little pigs and the big bad wolf, danced to Brahms. The pigs introduce themselves. The wolf’s attacks follow Hungarian Dances Nos. 5, 7, 6, and 17, in that order. There is almost no talk beyond the introductions.
Cast & crew
More about Pigs in a Polka
Friz Freleng directed. Tedd Pierce wrote it. Carl W. Stalling arranged the Brahms. Leon Schlesinger produced. Treg Brown edited. Warner Bros. released this Merrie Melodies short on 6 February 1943. A listed length is 8 minutes; another says 7. Mel Blanc and Sara Berner are the voices named on the filmography. Bea Benaderet is on the catalog cast. The short parodies Disney’s Three Little Pigs (1933) and Fantasia (1940).
Themes
Making
Freleng times the brick, stick, and straw business to Stalling’s cuts of Brahms instead of to a song score written for the pigs. The tuxedo is the Fantasia joke. The houses are the 1933 joke.
Music
Carl W. Stalling conducts the cartoon to Brahms’s Hungarian Dances Nos. 5, 7, 6, and 17, in that order. Dialogue is limited to the wolf’s introduction and the pigs naming themselves.
Preservation
The 1943 Technicolor short survives.
Notes
- Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons at the 15th Awards, for 1942 releases. It did not win.
- The same year Freleng’s unit made A Corny Concerto, another Fantasia joke.
- Dance No. 5 opens. Nos. 7, 6, and 17 follow, not in numerical order.
- The wolf’s spoken part is the introduction, not a running commentary.
Scenes
- The wolf, in a tuxedo, introduces the program.
- The pigs bow and name themselves.
- Each attack is cut to a different Hungarian Dance.
Influenced by
- Three Little Pigs (1933)
- Fantasia (1940)
Influenced
- A Corny Concerto (1943)
Also available
- Internet Archive (Cartoontheater1930sAnd1950s1)
