''The Practical Pig'' is a ''

Silly Symphony ''Silly Symphony'' is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the ''Silly Symphonies'' were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces ...

'' cartoon. It was released on February 24, 1939, and directed by Dick Rickard. It was the fourth and final cartoon starring

The Three Pigs ''The Three Pigs'' is a children's picture book that was written and illustrated by David Wiesner. Published in 2001 by Houghton Mifflin/Clarion, the book is based on the traditional tale of the ''Three Little Pigs'', though in this story they s ...

.''The Practical Pig''
''www.bcdb.com'' Like its prequels, ''The Practical Pig'' incorporates the song "

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" is a popular song written by Frank Churchill with additional lyrics by Ann Ronell, which originally featured in the 1933 Disney cartoon ''Three Little Pigs'', where it was sung by Fiddler Pig and Fifer Pig (voi ...

". Unlike its prequels however, its title cards labeled it as a standalone ''Three Little Pigs'' cartoon, suggesting that they were to get their own series of cartoons. It is also the second-to-last ''Silly Symphony'' cartoon.

Plot

Practical Pig is hard at work building a new anti-wolf contraption, this time a

lie detector A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and ...

. His two brothers, Fiddler and Fifer Pig decide to go swimming, despite Practical's warning about the

Big Bad Wolf The Big Bad Wolf is a fictional wolf appearing in several cautionary tales that include some of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales.'' Versions of this character have appeared in numerous works, and it has become a generic archetype of a menacing predatory a ...

lurking by the pond. The Big Bad Wolf disguises as a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

to lure Fiddler and Fifer and captures them and bringing them to an old windmill where his sons the Three Little Wolves are waiting for their dinner, but tells them they must not eat until he captures Practical. The Wolf plans to entrap Practical as well using a fake letter requesting help by his brothers. While the wolf is off to capture Practical, the Three Little Wolves start early to put the two pigs into a pan and prepare to bake them into a

pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts ( pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), swe ...

. The Wolf, disguised as a messenger boy, blows his cover when he blows the fake letter under Practical's door. Realizing the wolf is up to his tricks and his brothers have been captured, Practical tries out his new invention. As the wolf attempts to lure Practical, the welcome mat opens under the wolf's feet, and the wolf falls into the pit below. He is next seen strapped in a chair in the basement, captured, as Practical demands to know his brothers' whereabouts. The wolf first he claims he has never heard of Practical's brothers and secondly he claims he hasn't seen them, but the lie detector detects his lies and punishes the wolf with brushes to wash his mouth out with soap and spank him in each case. The wolf then lastly tries to fool the machine by claiming that he and Practical are pals, but the lie detector sees through this and gives him the works (a spanking and a mouth washing, along with his knuckles being whacked with rulers, all at once). Back at the wolves' hideout, the Three Little Wolves are about to bake Fifer and Fiddler into the oven as the two pigs tell them they'll be sorry when their father comes home. One of the wolf cubs uses pepper but the lid accidentally comes off and this causes the two pigs to sneeze so strong, the pie dough is duffed off and into the wolves splatting them against the wall like glue. With the wolf cubs trapped, Fiddler and Fifer escape and rush back to Practical's house. The lie detector punishes the Wolf harder and harder until he finally tells the truth, saying "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 orders, they tell him that they didn't go swimming, at which point the lie detector springs into action and gives them a spanking. When Practical tells his brothers "Remember, this hurts me worse than it does you!", the lie detector ends up interpreting what he just said as a lie and gives him a spanking as well, much to his dismay.

Voice cast

;Principal voices: *

Billy Bletcher William Bletcher (September 24, 1894 – January 5, 1979) was an American actor. He was known for voice roles for various classic animated characters, most notably Pete in Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse short films and the Big Bad Wolf in Disney' ...

as Zeke Midas Wolf *Tommy Wiggins as Practical Pig **Was later redubbed by

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), professionally Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, newspaper cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Co ...

Dorothy Compton Dorothy Compton was an American voice actress born in the early 1900s. An early friend of Walt Disney, she made her first acting debut in ''The Three Little Pigs'' (1933) as the voice of Fifer Pig. From 1933 onward she made more appearances in th ...

as Fifer Pig *

Mary Moder Mary Moder (1905 – 1993) was an American voice actress for The Walt Disney Company known for the voice of the Fiddler Pig in the ''Three Little Pigs'' short subjects. She was a member of the vocal trio the Rhythmettes, which also included Bonni ...

as Fiddler Pig ;Additional voices: *Tom Buchanan *Ralph Hansell *Richard Holland *Donald Kearin *Leone Le Doux as Three Little Wolves

Comic adaptation

The ''

'' Sunday comic strip ran a three-month-long adaptation of ''The Practical Pig'' from May 1 to August 7, 1938.

Reception

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informatio ...

'' wrote, "The musical effects here heighten the comedy to howling proportions... While lacking a hit tune, this edition of the Three Pigs is a delightful bit of nonsense."

Home media

The short was released on December 4, 2001 on '' Walt Disney Treasures: Silly Symphonies - The Historic Musical Animated Classics'', as an easter egg in the options menu . It has also been released as a bonus feature on the British VHS edition of ''

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, a ...

''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Practical Pig, The 1939 animated films 1939 films 1939 short films American sequel films 1930s Disney animated short films Films about pigs Films directed by Dick Rickard Films produced by Walt Disney Films scored by Frank Churchill Films scored by Paul Smith (film and television composer) Silly Symphonies Films based on The Three Little Pigs 1930s American films