Magic lantern - Three Little Pigs.

Three Little Pigs
from the famous Walt Disney film

On May 27, 1933, Walt Disney introduced us to the animated short film 'Three Little Pigs'. Based on a fairy tale of the same name, it was the first Disney cartoon to be fully conceived on storyboards, rather than sketches that give an overview of each scene. In the original folk tale, the wolf eats the first two pigs after he blows down their houses, and then he drops down the chimney of the pig with the brick house and ends up in a pot of boiling water and gets eaten himself. It was Walt Disney himself who revised the story so that neither the pigs nor the wolf are eaten. It was also Walt who came up with the idea to give the pigs musical instruments and have them sing and dance. 'Three Little Pigs' shows us the importance of hard work in keeping the “big bad wolf” away from your door. The brothers Fifer Pig and Fiddler Pig build their houses hastily because they want to play their flute and fiddle respectively all day long. The Big Bad Wolf blows easily down Fifer’s straw house, and does the same to Fiddler’s house of sticks. The two seek refuge in the solid brick home of their elder brother Practical Pig, whom they had earlier made fun of for spending his day building the house. The Wolf, unable to blow down the sturdy structure, is ultimately stymied in his attempt to have pork chops for dinner. The success of the film owes a great deal to its musical score. The theme song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” became the top-selling song of the year. Many US theatres ran the film for months. In 1933 Ensign ltd released a set of twenty-four 'Three Little Pigs' square magic lantern slides that was soon to be followed by dozens more.
	The slides are of a poor quality. The images are rather sloppy printed on a thin cellophane paper and the colouring is not always done conscientiously. The cellophane is pinned between two square glasses which are hold together by means of an edge-binding tape. The image on the cellophane is larger than the projected part because a paper mat covers the edges (see picture left). The thin cellophane tends to crinkle (see picture below) which can affect the projection.

Cardboard box that contains the complete set of 24 square magic lantern slides measuring 3.25" (8.2 cm).



1. Once upon a time there were three little pigs	2. In almost no time at all he had completed his house	3. He was building it of little sticks and twigs and leaves

4. There was nothing quite so safe and strong as bricks and stones	5. The first one took up his flute and the second one took up his violin	6. He cocked his head on one side, listening with ears erect

7. He turned around quickly and drew in the welcome mat	8. 'I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in!'	9.'Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?'

10. The wolf replied in a high, squeaky voice	11. 'Not by the hair of our chinny-chin-chin!'	12. Again and again he huffed and puffed

13. All there was left were the two little pigs holding up the door	14. As they approached a tree, one ran on one side and one ran on the other	15. He turned to his panic-stricken brothers, who were still under the bed

16. 'I'm the Kleen-e-ze Brush man,' came the reply	17. He brought it down again and again on the wolf's paw	18. With a cry of pain, the wolf jumped back from the door

19. He huffed and huffed and huffed and puffed and puffed until he was blue in the face	20. He sat at the piano, where he played a musical accompaniment	21. He would slide down the chimney


22. The little pig rushed over to the fireplace and pulled the lid off the pot	23. The wolf jumped up in the air again, flying clean out of the chimney	24. 'Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf? Tra la la la la-a-a-a-a!'
	Slide #21 contains a joke: on the wall hangs a painting of a large ham with the caption 'FATHER'. Slide #15 shows a photo on the wall of their mother feeding her little children.
Ensign also released the slides of the Three Little Pigs as three sets of eight slides each, packed in smaller cardboard boxes. and as six rectangular glass slides with four pictures each (below).



Four pages from the original enclosed text booklet.

	And then also as a set of six rectangular glass lantern slides with four images per slide. This set is packed in an attractive cardboard box, together with the accompanying text booklet.