The Big Bad Jewish Wolf -- CASE CLOSED

[David A Gerstein]

	Dear Folks,

	I talked to my friend Jerry Beck, an animation historian in
Los Angeles, and at last found out the whole story about Zeke Wolf's
Hasidic disguise in 1933's THE THREE LITTLE PIGS.

	Here's the reason for our confusion -- there were *three*
versions of the film!

	A)  1930s version.  The Wolf's Hasidic disguise included
hunched-over posture and hooked schnoz, as well as Yiddish dialect:
"I'm the Fuller Brush Man.  I givin' g'way free semple."

	B)  1940s version.  The Wolf was reanimated so that he didn't
hunch over or have a hooked nose while giving his speech.  The new
animation was made by Jack Hannah.  But the AUDIO remained the same.

	C)  Current version, made in 1950s.  Version B was given a new
audio track so that the wolf now said, "I'm the Fuller Brush man.  I
work me way through college."  The Wolf's lip movements still say
"...I givin' g'way free semple."

	This is *not* common knowledge.  It is unknown if version B
was ever released to theatres, but it was made available as a home
movie print for a while, which is how Mr. Beck once saw it.  The only
version ever released to TV and video is version C.

	Version A is one of the rarest cartoons of all time.  Mr. Beck
doesn't even know if the Disney Archives has a copy.  He has seen a
French version at the Museum of Modern Art.

	As someone noted, Zeke isn't obviously very devout, because
he's spent years of his life attempting to catch three pigs.  Of
course, as non-kosher Jews such as myself know, the lure of the hog is
great sometimes... ;-)

	Your friend,

	David Gerstein

	"SO!  Will Petrolio de Balonio de Donald Ducko *pay* for his
Christmas dinner, or will he wash dishes in *my* kitchen?"
	<David.A.Gerstein at Williams.edu>