Line #21 WesternAnimation/TheThreeLittleBops


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/three_little_bops_jpeg_7248.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: “The pigs were due for a big surprise…”]]
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4	"The Three Little Bops" is a musical 1957 ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short directed by Creator/FrizFreleng with Shorty Rogers providing the music.
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6	Another (very loose!) revision of the classic "Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs", with the pigs playing as a bebop {{jazz}} group and the wolf being a "square" trumpeter. In this version, the wolf is not interested in ''eating'' the pigs but rather becoming a member of their band. However, as his constant off-key playing is off-putting to both the pigs ''and'' the clientele, he gets shown the door at every locale and subsequently attempts to 'blow the house down' for revenge.
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8	Famously, this is one of the first ''Looney Tunes'' shorts where somebody other than Mel Blanc got a solo screen credit for voices, in this case Creator/StanFreberg.
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10	----
11	!!"A-one and a-two and away they went!"
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13	* TwelveBarBlues: The music for this short is written this way, but most of the singing is heard over the I-IV-I part with the V-I part being instrumental.
14	* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Played with. The Big Bad Wolf doesn't want to kill or eat the pigs, he just wants to play music with them. However, he'll still blow their clubs down whenever he doesn't get his way.
15	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Dew Drop Inn did drop down."
16	* ArtisticLicenseMusic: The instrumentation for this short are trumpet (doubling on flugelhorn), tenor sax, electric archtop guitar, piano, double bass, and drums. However, the pigs are usually only seen playing guitar (sometimes doubling on sax), drums (sometimes doubling bass), and piano.
17	* BananaPeel: Strategically placed in the Wolf's path while he is performing his perfect ukulele rendition of the Charleston song. The SlipperySkid causes an involuntary rapid increase in the tempo.
18	* BatteringRam: The tree trunk the Wolf uses on the door to the House of Bricks.
19	* BarefootCartoonAnimal: The Wolf.
20	* TheBigBadWolf: The Bops' adversary, [[spoiler:who later joins them (literally "in spirit") as another band member.]]
21	* {{Bowdlerization}}: The ABC ''Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show'' airing of this cartoon cuts the scene after the House of Bricks is introduced where the Wolf looks into the front door and gets punched in the face by the bouncer. This was also cut when shown on ''The Looney, Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie'', though that was a time cut rather than a content cut.
22	* CantYouReadTheSign: The sign outside the brick house clearly states, "No Wolves Allowed".
23	* {{Determinator}}: "I'll show those pigs that I'm not stuck! If I can't blow it ''down,'' I'll blow it ''up''!"
24	* DisproportionateRetribution: The Wolf blows down the Bops' clubs just because they wouldn't let him join their band.
25	* DoubleEntendre: "I could disguise myself. Boy, what a dope!"[[note]]More like a ''triple'' entendre. Marijuana was a very popular drug with jazz musicians in the early-mid 20'th century[[/note]]
26	* EntitledBastard: The Wolf believes he deserves a place in the pigs' band so much that he destroys their club for not having him, and then ''keeps on'' trying to force himself into their group even after they've made it clear he's not welcome.
27	* EverybodyWins: [[spoiler:Yeah, he's a ghost now, but the Wolf finally learns to play like a pro, he earns the pigs' admiration, and he's officially inducted into the band as "The Three Little Bops Plus One."]]
28	* FantasticRacism: The House of Bricks has a "No Wolves Allowed" sign, though it could be argued that it was a ''recent'' installation to dissuade the Big Bad Wolf.
29	* FireAndBrimstoneHell: "Didn't go to Heaven, was the other place."
30	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Every time the wolf shows up to play his trumpet, he does it little better than before, Also, two of the disguises attempted by the wolf hinted he really had genuine musical skills on him: with the drum and the ukulele.
31	* {{Fully Dressed Cartoon Animal}}s: The pigs.
32	* GiftedlyBad: The Wolf can't tell that [[DreadfulMusician his trumpet playing is lousy]]. He even believes "They don't know talent in this here town!"
33	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Wolf brings in a large barrel of dynamite to blow up the brick house, only for the pigs to blow out the fuse, leading him to back up a few feet before lighting it again. This repeats a few times before he finally gets so far away from the house that he can't make it back before the dynamite blows him up.
34	* IJustWantToBeSpecial: The Wolf's main motivation.
35	* IrisOut: This variant doesn't take TheEnd (which instead fades out afterward) with it.
36	* KilledOffForReal: After attempting to blow up the house of bricks with a large barrel of dynamite, [[spoiler:the Wolf]] suffers a premature explosion, and as the camera attempts to look for him, the Narrator confirms he was "really gone / [[spoiler:and with him went his corny horn.]]"
37	* MimeAndMusicOnlyCartoon: Zig-zagged. While this has singing and rhyming dialogue, most of the sound effects are represented by the music, with the exception of when the Wolf's bass drum deflates.
38	* MobileShrubbery: The wolf figures out another way to get inside: inside a potted plant.
39	* MusicalEpisode: From the opening credits to TheEnd, the ''entire'' cartoon qualifies as one, with only one non-rhyming line of dialogue, when Piano Pig does an imitation of Music/{{Liberace}}. ("I wish my brother George was here.")
40	* PaperThinDisguise: How the Wolf attempts to enter the house of bricks, three times. He actually gets in each time, even though he doesn't bother to try hiding his face. The pigs easily see through each disguise.
41	* PowerTrio: The Bops, of course.
42	* PunnyName: Dew Drop Inn (do drop in), the House of Sticks. In the end, it does.
43	* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Wolf first appeared with "red rimmed eyes."
44	* RhymingEpisode: The narrator tells (or sings) the story in rhyme.
45	* RockMeAsmodeus: When the Wolf stops playing off-key.
46	-->'''Piano Pig:''' The Big Bad Wolf, he learned the rule. You gotta get hot to play real cool!
47	* ShoutOut: While playing piano, one of the pigs, in a shout-out to Liberace, says, "I wish my brother George was here!"
48	* SignatureHeadgear: Each pig wears a different hat. It's the only way to tell them apart.
49	* SpeakInUnison: At the Dew Drop Inn, the audience all says during the Wolf's "solo", "Stop the music! Throw the square out!"
50	* StandardSnippet:
51	** When the Wolf disguises himself as fur-coat wearing ukulele-strumming college boy, "Charleston" is heard.
52	** When the Wolf poses as a marching band bass drummer, "Don't Give Up the Ship" from the film ''Shipmates Forever'' plays.
53	* StorybookOpening: The short opens with a shot of a storybook of the Three Little Pigs as we traditionally know them, before fading into a shot of the House of Straw as a nightclub.
54	* ThatsAllFolks: The regular ending title card is averted. Just an iris out and a "The End" card.
55	* TotallyRadical: It's minor, but some 1950s or general jazz slang is used throughout, like one of the pigs using the phrase "the most" (meaning the best), the Wolf calling his fellow musicians "cats", and the narrator calling the Wolf's trumpet playing "corny". There's also the extended metaphor of using "house" to mean "nightclub."

Context WesternAnimation / TheThreeLittleBops