The Practical Pig is a Silly Symphony that debuted on February 24, 1939. It was the only Silly Symphony to be billed as a "Three Little Pigs" cartoon. It's also the final Silly Symphony to feature the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, and the Three Little Wolves.
Synopsis[]
Practical Pig is hard at work building a new anti-wolf contraption, this time a lie detector. His two brothers, Fiddler and Fifer Pig, express their amusement at this before deciding to go swimming, but Practical warns them: "Don't go swimming, do ya hear? The pond ain't safe, the Wolf is near!" Ignoring this warning, Fiddler tells Fifer "Last one in is a pork sausage!" and they rush off to the pond. After changing into their swimming trunks and diving in, they start calling each other a pork sausage. Sure enough, the Big Bad Wolf is nearby and decides that he should cook Fiddler and Fifer into a pork pie for dinner. So he disguises himself as a mermaid to lure Fiddler and Fifer and captures them, bringing them to an old windmill where his sons the Three Little Wolves are waiting for their dinner. When his sons run towards the pigs, the Wolf swats them aside, telling them "Take your time! Take your time! We don't eat until I get that third pig, see?" The Wolf, thinking that Practical isn't as smart as he thinks, plans to entrap him using a fake letter requesting help by his brothers on the belief he would fall for that sort of trick. As he writes the letter however, the Three Little Wolves attempt to eat one of the pigs' legs between a baguette (complete with smothering the leg with mustard), but the Wolf sees what they're doing and blows them down. Afterwards, the Wolf sets off to capture Practical, reminding his sons "Remember, no eats 'til Pop gets back!". The Three Little Wolves seem to agree with him, telling him "Uh, okay, Pop.", but once he takes his leave, they start early and put the two pigs into a pan to prepare to bake them into the pork pie; Fifer and Fiddler, out of concern more for the wolves' lying to their father than being eaten, ask them "Why don't you mind your papa?"
Back at Practical's house, Practical is putting the finishing touches on his lie detector when he hears a knock at the door. It's the Wolf, disguised as a messenger boy, which Practical only realizes when the Wolf forgetfully blows the fake letter under Practical's door. The Wolf's bad penmanship regarding his letter (the letter reads "DEAR BRUTHER WE ARE IN TRUBBLE CUM WITH ME BEARER LUVINGLY YUR BRUTHERS") also makes Practical realize that "he's got 'em!". Unaware he's blown his cover, the Wolf -with a bag at the ready- asks Practical if he's coming with him; Practical claims he'll be right with him, before quietly setting his new invention in motion. Just as the Wolf thinks Practical fell for it, the welcome mat drops from under the Wolf's feet, and the surprised Wolf falls into the pit below. He is next seen strapped in a chair in Practical's basement, as Practical begins to interrogate the Wolf, demanding to know his brothers' whereabouts. The Wolf claims "Your brothers? Never heard of 'em!" and the lie detector goes into action; a phonograph plays back his words, electricity crackles, alarm bells ring, chemicals mix and eventually, a needle on the machine's main indicator points to "LIE" as two steam whistles blow in a wolf-whistle. The result: a scrub brush washes the Wolf's mouth out with soap. When Practical repeats his demand to know of where his brothers are, the Wolf then claims "I ain't seen 'em!"; the chair he's in flips over and he ends up getting a spanking with another scrub brush. The third time Practical demands for information, the Wolf -in an attempt to avoid further punishment- tries to fool the machine by calmly claiming "Now listen, buddy, you've got me wrong. Why, I'm your pal." But the lie detector sees through this instantly and promptly gives him the works (a spanking and a mouth washing, along with his knuckles being whacked with rulers, all at once).
Meanwhile, the Three Little Wolves are about to put Fifer and Fiddler in the finished pork pie into the oven. The two pigs warn them they'll be sorry when their father comes home and finds them gone, but the wolves simply sarcastically concur with their warning. Before they put the pork pie (along with the Fiddler and Fifer) into the oven, one of the wolves suddenly remembers they forgot to add pepper. As they add the pepper onto the pie crust however, the lid of the pepper shaker suddenly comes off and the larger than intended amount poured onto Fifer and Fiddler causes the two pigs to sneeze so strongly, the pie crust is duffed off and into the wolves, which sticks and traps them against a far wall. With the Three Little Wolves trapped, Fiddler and Fifer quickly make their escape and rush back to Practical's house.
Back at Practical's house, the lie detector punishes the Wolf harder and harder until he finally gives in; the machine's indicator points to "TRUTH" as a mechanical bird tweets and plays a harp. The exhausted Wolf tells Practical, "They're in the old... the old mill". He is then shot out of the house with a firecracker and seemingly explodes in the sky. Practical prepares to go save his brothers when Fiddler and Fifer burst in. When Practical scolds them for defying his warning, they promptly claim that they didn't go swimming, but the lie detector springs into action and gives them a serious spanking. Practical then tells them "Remember, this hurts me worse than it does you!", but the lie detector interprets this as a lie and gives him a spanking too.
Voice Cast[]
- Billy Bletcher - Big Bad Wolf
- Tommy Wiggins - Practical Pig
- Dorothy Compton - Fifer Pig
- Leone Ledoux - Three Little Wolves
- Mary Moder - Fiddler Pig
Releases[]
Television[]
- Disneyland, episode #2.6: "The Story of the Silly Symphony"
- Walt Disney's Mickey and Donald, episode #8
- Donald's Quack Attack, episode #86
- The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.19: "The Big Bad Wolves",
- The Ink and Paint Club, episode #1.53: "Silly Symphonies At the Zoo"
VHS
- Dumbo (UK VHS; 1985 - 1997)
DVD[]
- Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies
Gallery[]
