In 2013, Jerry Beck posted about a Mexican sequel to Disney’s Three Little Pigs. This article elaborates on the story behind this odd bit of Disney obscura.
Today, it is hard to imagine the impact of the Disney Silly Symphony, Three Little Pigs. It not only won the 1934 Academy Award for best animated film (the year after Flowers and Trees won the very first Oscar given to a cartoon) but it was the most successful cartoon that had ever been released up to that time.
It was the 36th Silly Symphony (the seventh in Technicolor) and cost $22,000 (not counting prints and publicity) but earned over $150,000 in its first 15 months of release. The average Silly Symphony generally grossed around $50,000 in its first year of release at this time.
The Three Little Pigs premiered at Radio City Music Hall on May 25, 1933 and ran for one week. However, it did very well at local neighborhood theaters as well as runs at other New York theaters, including the Roxy and the Translux.
There were requests from theaters for more cartoons featuring the pigs, and these requests were supported by Roy Disney who convinced Walt it would be good for the business and bring in much needed income.
Walt later regretted bowing to pressure and producing three more cartoons featuring the characters: The Big Bad Wolf (1934) Three Little Wolves (1936) and The Practical Pig (1939). These were not bad cartoons, but they were not as memorable as the original, and it prompted Walt to offer his famous statement: “You can’t top pigs with pigs.” It meant that instead of sequels and repeats, that the Disney Studio would devote itself to always finding something new.
The Disney pigs did pop up in cameos in other Disney cartoons, including Mickey’s Polo Team, Toby Tortoise Returns, Mickey’s Christmas Carol and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
In the Fall of 1962, Walt Disney called Bill Justice and X. Atencio to his office to introduce them to Carlos Amador and his movie star wife, Marga. Disney fans may know Justice as the primary animator of Chip’n’Dale in their classic cartoons, and Atencio as the lyricist for both the Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion theme park attractions. However, their many different projects for the Disney Company could literally fill books.
Amador was preparing a live action movie about the life of a famous south-of-the-border writer. Since one of the stories was about the three little pigs, Amador wanted to use Disney’s three little pigs in a four-minute animated segment.
The reason Walt agreed and assigned Justice and Atencio to the project was that half of the profits would go to help provide poor Mexican children a free lunch each school day. Walt had decided to donate the animation, especially since the charity was the favorite of the Republic of Mexico’s first lady and it was, in fact, the only way many children could be persuaded to attend school.
Amador wrote the adaptation with Justice and Atencio doing the production work.
In the film, a live action young boy and girl on their bed look at a framed picture of three sleeping pigs. As they gaze at the picture, it comes to cartoon life. The three little pigs are tucked into bed and given a kiss by their mother.
One dreams of being a king and having lots of tasty treats brought for him to gorge on. Another pig dreams of having his own rowboat but with disastrous results when he ends up in the water and back in bed, a tear trickles down his face.
The Practical Pig dreams of the Big Bad Wolf threatening his mother that she must pay the rent by tomorrow. La Fiesta Las Flores (that features re-used animation from the 1944 The Three Caballeros) offers the pigs an opportunity to win some money to pay the rent as the three pigs perform a musical number.
Of course, they win and return home late at night whistling Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf. However, they are attacked by the wolf, but escape as the wolf shakes his fist. The wolf is standing under a palm tree and a coconut drops from its palms to bonk him on the head. The pigs give the money to their mother, who hugs all three of them at one time. The film then shifts back to the live action children.
A few months later the finished product was shown to Walt for his approval, and it was followed by an invitation from Amador for Justice and Atencio, along with Gene Armstrong of the Disney Studio’s Foreign Department, and their wives to visit for ten days. The Disney staff was treated like royalty. At the Mexico City airport, they were greeted by a mariachi band and their wives were given bouquets of roses.
One evening at a special dinner as the guests of honor of the First Lady of Mexico, Justice and Atencio were given gold medals for their work.
A Disney press release from Fall of 1963 announced:
“The Three Sleepy Pigs, a new four minute segment of animation in Spanish, has been produced by Walt for incorporation in a live action Mexican feature called “Cri-Cri, El Grillito Cantor” or in English, “Cri-Cri, the Little Singing Cricket”.
“The feature itself is based on the life of Gabilondo Solar, a famous south of the border song writer, while Walt’s contribution to it is based on Solar’s popular ballad, Los Cochinitos Dormilones.
“Proceeds of the feature, which is set for widespread theatrical release throughout Mexico beginning in October, will go to the Institute for the Protection of Mexican Children, an organization that maintains thirty-two plants engaged in the packaging and shipping of food to million school-age youngsters all over the country.”
Justice and Atencio were invited back to Mexico again in November 1963 to attend an international film festival, where the completed film was to be given an award. Tragically, the screening was during the same time that President Kennedy was assassinated. Justice and Atencio attended and the film festival continued, but Bill told me he still remembers how deeply the people at the festival expressed their sympathy when they discovered he was a citizen of the United States.
Although they have been eclipsed by other Disney animated stars, at one time the Three Little Pigs were superstars whose huge success allowed the Disney Studio to flourish and create even greater triumphs.