Red Hot Riding Hood
The narrator begins, "Good evening, kiddies!", and starts to introduce the time honoured fairy tale in its traditional form, only to be interrupted by The Wolf who complains that he's "fed up with that sissy stuff" and that "every Hollywood studio has done it this way!" Faced with a mutiny by the cast, the narrator gives in and we're treated to a very different version of the story. This time the Wolf is interested in Red, not Granny; Red is far from innocent, and Granny turns out to be a surprise, too.
| Daws Butler | ... Wolf (howling) |
| June Foray | ... cigarette girls |
| Frank Graham | ... Wolf |
The wolf's reaction to Red's nightclub routine ran afoul of censors thanks to the Hays Code. Avery got around this by including scenes which were even more over-the-top, which he knew would get cut, leaving him with the ones he wanted in the first place.
An US military officer asked for and received uncut copies of the short to show to his overseas troops, this version of the film has rarely been publicly released outside of animation festivals and events.
The short’s original ending was ultimately rejected by the Hays office on the grounds of bestiality. In it the Wolf ends up marrying Grandma at a shotgun wedding (in both the defined and literal sense) and then in the last scene, he, Grandma and their three wolf-cub children are seen attending Red’s show. Only publicity stills of this original ending exist today (even the ending that exists in the short today is often censored by networks).
Tex Avery was obviously fascinated with this fairy tale, as he made at least three different re-tellings of it, as well as letting it intrude into some of his other cartoons.
Daws Butler's first (uncredited) role in anything (even though he doesn't actually speak)
/ 5 ratings