posted on 05 Mar 2017

The Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood from Walt Disney

The Disney Corporation have never been reticent to take the most diabolical liberties with traditional stories and fairy tales. That’s certainly the case with this 1934 publication from The Bodley Head which unceremoniously mashes together the story of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs. The only unifying factor is the Big Bad Wolf who is a splendid, rascally character who is presented here dressed rather like a vagabond from Dust Bowl America. Perhaps equally disturbing is the way the Disney artists have drawn Red Riding Hood to look alarmingly like a human pig.

You wont be surprised to hear that Disney has rather sanitised both stories and so your delicate child isn’t going to have to confront some of the more gory elements of both stories. No grandmothers are eaten, no woodchopper minces the wolf and no pot of boiling water is waiting for him either. Rather conveniently, once he’s been thwarted in his intentions by Red and the pigs he simply goes away.

But, of course, it’s not the story that makes this book such a treat – it’s the stunning illustration. No individual artists are accredited for their work on the drawings and they, along with the story mash-up, is attributed to ‘the staff of the Walt Disney Studios’. For me, this interwar period is the absolute peak of Disney artwork and this book really benefits from the studio hiring the very best animators to draw for the films. This spin-off is a glorious by-product – Disney was always keen to wring as much money from his hirelings as he could possibly get and putting them to work on books was a good way of doing this.

The colours are delicious and there is a good helping of colour used here – although there are probably even more black and white line drawings peppered throughout the book. The Disney artists are really masters of the small gesture, the facial expression or the sense of action and movement and although these illustrations are really quite flat, they somehow come alive and glow off the printed page.

This is just a bit of fun and I suspect it’s now more likely to amuse adults of a certain age rather than young children who may see this book as fusty and old-fashioned. I’m afraid that getting hold of a copy might be a bit of a challenge – they are pretty scarce now and where they have survived the ravages of the nursery you’ll have to pay quite a lot of money to own one. If you can’t get hold of a copy, enjoy these illustrations at least.

Terry Potter

March 2017