"Something New Has Been Added"
— The second title card
"Red Hot Riding Hood" is an animated cartoon short subject, directed by Tex Avery and released on May 8, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is one of Avery's most popular cartoons, inspiring several of his own "sequel" shorts (which really were just shorts with a similar plot and the same characters, though notably Droopy was involved with many of the other shorts Wolfie and Red appear in) as well as influencing other cartoons and feature films for years afterward.
The story begins as a typical cutesy retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood"—that is, until the Big Bad Wolf and even Red and her Grandma become annoyed at the narrator and complain about how stale and overused the premise is, demanding a new take on the story. The narrator finally gives in to their demands—cue the second title card quoted above.
The cartoon then takes us to Hollywood, where the Big Bad Wolf is now a womanizer who frequents nightclubs, Red is now an incredibly attractive singer and dancer, and her Granny is a hotel/implied brothel owner and an (apparently) oversexed Abhorrent Admirer of Wolfie once she sees him. Hilarity does indeed ensue from there.
The follow-up shorts to "Red Hot Riding Hood" were as follows:
- "Swing Shift Cinderella" (1945) — Pretty much same as the first short, but with Cinderella in lieu of Little Red Riding Hood.
- "The Shooting of Dan McGoo" (1945) — A cartoon version of Robert Service's poem "The Shooting of Dan McGrew," which features Droopy.
- "Wild and Woolfy" (1945) — A Western-themed short, also featuring Droopy.
- "Uncle Tom's Cabaña" (1947) — An adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin which featured Red. Wolfie doesn't appear, as here he is replaced by Simon LeGreedy.
It's not often shown anywhere in the United States. - "Little Rural Riding Hood" (1949) — Essentially had a City Mouse/Country Mouse-plot, with a hillbilly wolf and a sophisticated urban wolf as well as a severely country-fied version of Red.
An Indian Maiden Expy of Red also makes a cameo at the end of the Tex Avery short "Big Heel-Watha" (1944). Red is a prominent character in some Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films (where she acts as Parent Service) while Wolfie and the two wolves from "Little Rural Riding Hood" make cameos. List:
- Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes
- Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood And His Merry Mouse
- Tom and Jerry's Giant Adventure
"Red Hot Riding Hood" provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Granny's just as attracted to Wolfie as he is to Red. Both are clearly unwelcome to the target of their affection.
- Absurdly-Long Limousine: While not a usual stretch limousine, Wolfie drives a car with an absurdly long hood that takes quite a while to pass the viewer.
- Adaptational Curves: C'mon, who would've thought the Little Red Riding Hood would look this good? (Not that Wolfie minds at all...)
- All Men Are Perverts: Wolfie, true to his name, lusts after Red.
- All Women Are Lustful: At least Granny is.
- Anticipatory Lipstick: Granny applies lipstick before running at top speed towards the Wolf. Wolfie ducks just in time, and Granny kisses the wall instead, leaving a huge lipstick mark on it.
- Bait-and-Switch Credits: The cartoon begins as a traditional rendition of the story, until the characters rebel and demand that they tell it a different way. So the cartoon begins again with a new title card, this one a neon sign proclaiming that "Something new has been added".
- Behind a Stick: The Wolf is introduced in the first version as hiding behind a very thin sapling.
- Big "NO!": Red rejects Wolfie very loudly this way, and in a man's voice. Before shouting, she speaks softly and sweetly.
- The Cat Came Back: When Granny chases after Wolfie, he just doesn't seem able to get away from her.
- The Chanteuse: Red is a nightclub performer. She retains this role throughout the other films in the series.
- Damsel in Distress: The shorts featuring Droopy tended to turn Red into this, in contrast to those without him, where she was perfectly capable of fending off the Wolf's advances herself.
- Dirty Old Woman: Granny has the hots for Wolfie.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Whenever Wolfie first sees Red, he jumps out of his chair and stiffens his whole body in mid-air horizontally, kind of like a...you know...
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Averted. Granny's harassing of Wolf is portrayed in the same sort of negative light as Wolf's harassing of Red.
- Driven to Suicide: At the end, Wolfie vows to never to so much as look at another woman again while at the nightclub or else he'll kill himself. The curtains are pulled back and he sees Red on stage again. Sure enough, he then shoots himself in the head with two revolvers, but then his ghost begins to do wild takes.
- Elevator Gag: As the Wolf gets into an elevator to Granny's penthouse, the elevator light is shown going up to the top of the building, and then moves sideways to the next building over (with only empty air in between!) and continues upward to the penthouse.
- Eye Pop: One of Wolf reactions to Red.
- Fake-Out Opening: The story begins as a typical cutesy retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood"—that is, until the Big Bad Wolf and even Red and her Grandma become annoyed at the narrator and complain about how stale and overused the premise is, thus demanding a new take on the story.
- Fiery Sensuality: The eponymous character is a Hotter and Sexier version of Little Red Riding Hood who has grown up to be a singer and dancer. She is able to drive every man in the room mad with desire, especially the Big Bad Wolf.
- Follow That Car: Wolfie tells a taxi driver to follow Red's car, and he does... without Wolfie inside the taxi.
- Fractured Fairy Tale: It's Little Red Riding Hood set in 1940s Hollywood (then-present).
- Glamorous Wartime Singer: Red was based on these. In one of her later shorts, she does sing a song with a wartime theme.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: After Wolfie jumps through the window to get away from Granny.
- Head-and-Hip Pose: Red does this pose at the very end of her song as well as while sitting at Wolfie's table.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Wolfie's reaction to the voluptuous Red is always an exaggerated Love Can Make You Gonk. Granny's reaction to him is also this.
- Hotter and Sexier...and zanier too. Starts out as a normal "Little Red Riding Hood" until the characters suddenly rebel at this done-to-death staging and demand a fresh approach. Red is a sexy adult nightclub entertainer.
- The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: Wolfie starts out as the metaphorical "hunting" Red, before becoming himself "hunted" by Granny.
- Hypocritical Humor: The Wolf tells Granny to "control [her]self".
- I Kiss Your Hand: Wolfie does this while trying to sweet talk Red. It isn't effective.
- Impact Silhouette: Left by Grandma on the ceiling after Wolfie punctures her rear with a needle.
- Impossible Hourglass Figure: Red, again. Her figure would probably be something like 36-15-40 in real life. It's even more exaggerated in her appearances in the Tom and Jerry films.
- Interactive Narrator: The characters in the first version complain to the narrator until he agrees to change the story.
- Lady in Red: The singer/showgirl/stripper. She's even unofficially named Red, probably as much from her hair as her costume (which is white in several of the shorts). In any case her clothing certainly draws attention.
- Lipstick Mark: Granny applies lipstick and races head first towards Wolfie. He ducks and Granny slams her lips against the wall, leaving a huge lipstick mark.
- Love Can Make You Gonk: Wolfie practically loses his mind upon seeing Red. The same can be applied to Granny when she sees the Wolf.
- Love Makes You Crazy: For the Wolf and Grandma.
- Ms. Fanservice: Red, a nightclub singer and dancer who is usually making all men in the room crazy, especially a Wolf character who — in vain — tries to seduce and chase her.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Red's singing voice is reminiscent of Lena Horne, while her speaking voice is patterned after the typical way actresses parody Katharine Hepburn (emphasizing the end of each sentence with "really I have").
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Once the tables are turned on Wolfie and Granny is lusting after him, he's terrified and does his best to run away, to no avail.
- No Name Given: The eponymous Red Hot Riding Hood wasn't given a real name in any of her theatrical appearances, but most fans generally refer to her as "Red." Her later appearances in the Tom and Jerry DTV-features ultimately made "Red" her official name.
- Pain-Powered Leap: Wolfie sticks Grandma in the butt with a needle and she jumps through the roof of her penthouse. Interestingly, we never see the jab, just the results.
- Puff of Logic: When Wolf tries to escape Granny by opening an apartment door and dashing through it, only for it to open straight into a free fall off the skyscraper. He takes a few seconds to realize he's walking on air.
- Real Fake Door: As the Wolf tries to escape Grandma's apartment, he opens a door and crashes into a brick wall with a sign reading "Imagine that—no door!"
- Red Riding Hood Replica: This is a Hotter and Sexier parody of the Red Riding Hood myth, invoked by the original characters of the fairy tale complaining about how stale the original fairy tale is. Red is an adult nightclub singer in a skimpy red dress, while the wolf is an overenthusiastic audience member who lustfully pursues her, though she loudly rejects him with a Big "NO!".
- Revised Ending: The short's original ending had Granny marrying the wolf at a Shotgun Wedding (with a caricature of Tex Avery as the Justice of the Peace who marries them), and having the unhappy couple and their human/wolf-hybrid children attend Red's show. Granted, the ending they eventually settled on wasn't exactly kid-friendly either (which is why it has been edited on TV).
- Seven Minute Lull: After Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf stop yelling, Granny says "...it smells!" before covering her mouth.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Red. She wears a skimpy red, strapless, backless Burlesque outfit.
- Granny also wears one, but it stopped being sexy about twenty years before.
- Shout-Out: The line "Something new has been added" originally comes from a slogan for Old Gold cigarettes in the 1940s.
- Something Else Also Rises: The Wolf's reactions to Red. In fact, most of them (like steam erupting from out of the Wolf's collar as he tugs at it) were considered too obscene to be shown by the Hays Office censors (by today's standards, the steam thing isn't that risqué).
- Stalker with a Crush: Wolf to Red to the point of lustful obsession - and later Granny to Wolf to the same extent.
- Standard Snippet: As was customary of cartoons at the time, this short makes use of a song from the MGM library: In this case, the 1922 jazz standard "Runnin' Wild".
- Statuesque Stunner: As the Wolf enters the nightclub, he passes two cigarette girls selling smokes. The second one is twice as tall as the first; she sells king-size cigarettes.
- Take That!: It wouldn't be the last time Tex took a jab at the cute and cuddly animation that was popular in the 1930s.
- Victoria's Secret Compartment: Granny keeps her keys here. Very much a Fan Disservice.
- Visual Pun: "Wolf" is an old-fashioned slang term for "womanizer," which is what the Big Bad Wolf actually is.
- Wartime Cartoon: The cartoon was originally made to entertain American troops. The Wolf enticing Red with a set of whitewall tires is a commentary on the rubber shortage during the war.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: When Wolfie chases after Red to Granny's house, Wolfie arrives, but Red is nowhere to be seen until we return to the night club again. One can only assume that Wolfie somehow passed Red to Granny's penthouse and Red was incapable of entering after Granny locked the door.
- Wild Take: To the point where this short by itself could very well be the Trope Codifier.
- Wolf Whistle: The two-note whistle is delivered by an actual wolf, no less, at the sexy and attractive Red. He finds a way to make it even rowdier than the last, to the point of packing an entire machine that whistles, slams the table and claps with multiple arms for him.
- Writer Revolt: An invoked trope. The characters (and presumably, the animators), are fed up with telling the exact same version of the story that other animation studios have already done to death, so the cast complains long enough for the animators to decide to completely rework the fairy tale.
