BIG BAD WOLF IN CHILDRE'NS WALLPAPER DESIGN

Above scan is from a children's wallpaper currently being sold in an Istanbul bookshop. It was recently given as a gift to me by my brother -even though I don't have a child!

BIG BAD WOLF IN INTERIOR COVER DESIGNS

Above scan is of the interiors of the front and back covers of the first 8 books from the 'Renkli Çocuk Kitapları' series published by Turkey's Arkın Kitabevi in 1966. When we were kids, me and my brother had savored these books via their reprints in the 1970s and one of my first, if not the first, exposure to the Big Bad Wolf was from these interior cover designs, hence the placement of the BBW illustration from it in the masthead of this blog!
When Arkın published a further 8 books from this series in 1967, the design of the interiors of the covers changed, but the BBW was featured in two of the total four new designs:

If anyone has seen these illustrations elsewhere and/or has any hint/info on their origial source, PLEASE let me know!!...

GYRO VERSUS THE BIG BAD WOLF

As noted in yesterday's post in this blog, the Big Bad Wolf had made a small appearance in one of the booklets, featuring Gyro Gearloose, of an illustrated story book series from Germany. Above scan is of the page in which the wolf appears from the Turkish edition titled Arşimet'in Buluşları [The Inventions of Gyro Gearloose], published in 1967 as no. 16 of Arkın Kitabevi's 'Renkli Çocuk Kitapları' series. The episode with the Big Bad Wolf involves Gyro catching the wolf who had seaked into the inventor's laboratory.

GERMAN ILLUSTRATED STORY BOOKLET ADAPTATION OF BIG BAD WOLF COMICS

As a kid, I was especially delighted to see this Big Bad Wolf booklet, among other Disney booklets from the same series, in an Istanbul bookshop selling foreign books and had immediately bought them (or had my parents buy for me!) even though I couldn't read German... That was probably sometime in the mid-1970s. Now, I have discovered that it was derived from an American comics, published in no. 394 (dated July 1973) of Walt Disney's Comics & Stories, with art by Phil DeLara. Below are scans of the whole book and the comics it was derived from:

The no. 10 of Pestalozzi-Verlag's 'Walt Disney's Micky Maus Buch' series features the Three Little Pigs and is titled Die 3 kleinen Schweinchen und der böse Wolf (first published in 1965), but I don't have that one. No. 19, titled Der kleine Wolf, features the Li'l Wolf, but the Big Bad Wolf doesn't appear. On the other had, he makes a small appearance in no. 21 titled Daniel Düsentrieb from 1967, featuring Gyro Gearloose.
Pestalozzi-Verlag had started its 'Walt Disney's Micky Maus Buch' series in 1964, taking over from Bluchert Verlag's series with the identical series title and format from circa 1961-62. The initial books from Pestolazzi were reprints from Bluchert, but eventually they added new entries, such as this one. Not all stories in the series are derived from comics, some are German editions of US illustrated story books from the 1950s and most are of (yet-)unidentified origin. The series also had a British edition in the 1960s by Purnell and a French edition in the same decade by Hachette ("mini livre" series). The Turkish edition by Arkın Kitabevi from 1966-67 was of a larger and taller format than all the rest, some of the stories were also serialized in Arkın's short-lived Renkli Miki weekly comics magazine from 1966.

SPECTACLED BIG BAD WOLF (1945)

Recently, I've began reading the earliest 'Li'l Wolf' comics in Walt Disney's Comics & Stories in chronological order. I was surprised to see the Big Bad Wolf in spectacles in one occasion, while reading a newspaper, in the first installement (no. 52, dated Jan. 1945). I am not sure if he was ever again portrayed wearing eyeglasses.

In any case, this story sets the pattern of the relation between the Big Bad Wolf and his son as the father urges him to be a 'bad wolf' just like himself rather than the benevolent kid the Li'l Wolf is. For this end, in this first story, he forces him to catch small forest animals for food. The ending is however somewhat unsatisfactory as the Big Bad Wolf himself is caught in a trap set up by Li'l Wolf and his forest friends and is oblidged to promise not to force his son to become a bad wolf. The three little pigs are nowhere to be seen in neither this story nor the next one in no. 53.

The first 13 'Li'l Wolf' comics in WDC&S were by Carl Buettner.

CHRISTMAS DECORATION LIGHTS WITH BIG BAD WOLF AND HIS SONS

This colorful christmas decoration lights set featuring characters from Disney's 'Silly Symphony' cartoon series was recently sold on ebay for 41 US dlrs. Note that the Big Bad Wolf's sons from the cartoon short Three Little Wolves (1936) are also featured.

Other characters featured include Elmer Elephant and Robber Kitten.

Besides this lights set, the same company also marketed a set of bells with a similar cast of characters:

THREE LITTLE PIGS REDRAWN AS BEAR CUBS ON TURKISH COVER FROM 1936

Above photo is of the cover of no. 79 (dated May 21st, 1936) of Turkish children's magazine Afacan. The cover illustration originates from the cover of no. 13 (dated May 2nd, 1936) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly (see below), but has been partially modified with the Three Little Pigs redrawn as bear cubs in an apparent self-censorship to appease Islamic sensibilities.

Nevertheless, the three little pigs would regularly be featured in Turkish Disney comics from early 1950s onwards.

BIG BAD WOLF ON THE COVER OF MMW ANNIVERSARY ISSUE (1957)

Above image is of the cover of no. 874 (dated Feb. 9th, 1957) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. The "birthday" referred to in the illustration is not actually of Mickey Mouse himself but of MMW.

BIG BAD WOLF GAG ON THE COVER OF MMW (1940)

Above scan is of a detail featuring a British-made Big Bad Wolg gag from the cover of no. 234 (dated July 27th, 1940) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. Below is the full picture of the cover:

THREE LITTLE PIGS RECORD AND BOOK FROM ITALY

While the date of the above record is unknown, the below book is from 1975:

THREE LITTLE PIGS ITALIAN RE-RELEASE

Above image is of the poster of an Italian Donald Duck compilation movie from 1971 which also includes Three Little Pigs (1933) as a bonus.

BRITISH-MADE BIG BAD WOLF GAG COMICS FROM 1958

Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly comics magazine had ceased publication late in 1957 and was replaced by a new (and similar) magazine titled Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse. This new magazine, which lasted for about a year, ran a series of apparently British-made Big Bad Wolf gag comics. Above scan is from no. 8 (dated Feb. 22nd, 1958).

RE-DRAWN BIG BAD WOLF COMICS FROM BRITAIN'S MICKEY MOUSE WEEKLY (1950)

The Big Bad Wolf full-page gag comics on the cover of no. 551 (dated Dec. 2nd, 1950) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly is actually a abridged and re-drawn version of an 8-pages long comics from no. 121 (dated Oct. 1950) of the US Walt Disney's Comics & Stories. The British version largely omits the first 7 pages of the original, adding one new splash panel and two new regular panels featuring the Wolf's attempts to capture the sheep using his Bo-Peep costume. In the American original, the Wolf considers using the same costume but drops the idea:

The subsequent panels of the British version, starting with the "But Later" tag, reproduce the material on the last page of the American version:

TIN BOX FROM BELGIUM WITH BIG BAD WOLF

This wonderful tin box is currently being offered on ebay. The Netherlands-based seller identifies it as being from Belgium and from the "1930s". Based on the characters depicted, a more precise estimate can be 'late 1930s'.

THREE LITTLE WOLVES ON GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Above image is of the illustrated text adaptation of the cartoon short Three Little Wolves (1936) from a compilation of similar adaptations originally published in the American magazine Good Housekeeping. The 12-page (including covers) compilation, titled simply as Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse, was published by Whitman on linen-like paper.

THREE LITTLE PIGS RE-RELEASE POSTER

This poster, promoting an undated re-release of Three Little Pigs by Buena Vista, is currently on sale at ebay.

VINTAGE EUROPEAN MOVIE POSTERS

Among an amazing lot of vintage European movie posters currently on sale at ebay by a Spanish seller are three Silly Symphony posters with Big Bad Wolf. Perhaps the most interesting is the above Swedish poster. The seller dates it from 1933, but the illustration features characters from not only Three Little Pigs (1933), but also from The Wise Little Hen (1934) and The Grasshopper and the Ants (1934). It is being offered for 7,000 US dlrs!

The below French poster for "The Joyful Hour of Mickey Mouse" directly highlights The Three Little Pigs. It is incorrectly dated as 1930 by the seller. It was released in France in 1934. It is being offered for 21,000 Us dlrs!!!...

The below French poster features cartoons from the late 1930s, including The Practical Pig (1939). This compilation was released in France in 1940.

BIG BAD WOLF POCKET WATCH

This obscure Big Bad Wolf pocket watch (reportedly in semi-working condition) was recently sold on ebay for 300 US dlrs. The seller promoted it as being from 1934 and by Ingersoll, the clock company which had acquired a Disney license in 1933 and flooded the US market with watches with illustrations of major Disney characters. When questioned about the source of this date attribution, the seller said the estimate was provided by an antique watch expert.

While it is known that Ingersoll did produce an array of Big Bad Wolf & Three Little Pigs watches in 1933-34, this particular item with a solo image of the wolf is not listed in any sources. Based on the style of the illustration, it seems to me that it would more probably date from 1936 or onwards. I even doubt that it's an Ingersoll watch.

BIG BAD WOLF COVER ILLUSTRATION FROM 1939

Above scan is of the bottom-left corner of the cover of no. 161 (dated Mar. 4th, 1939) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly. Big Bad Wolf had been frequently featured on the covers of MMW in 1936, but this appears to be his first appearance after 1937.

RED RIDING HOOD CUTOUTS

Based on cartoon short Big Bad Wolf (1934), these cutouts were give-aways of a cereal.

RED RIDING HOOD BOARD GAME

This board game, manufactured by Salem-based Parker Brothers Inc. and based on the cartoon short Big Bad Wolf (1934), was recently sold on ebay for 47 US dlrs. The item was undated.

RE-LETTERED AND RE-WORDED BIG BAD WOLF

The above scan is from the color central pages of no. 525 (dated June 3rd, 1950) of Britain's Mickey Mouse Weekly and features a reformatted edition of a Big Bad Wolf gag from the back cover of a one-shot 3 Little Pigs comics magazine (dated March 1949) from the US (below scan). Note that during the course of re-formatting of the British edition, speech balloons have been re-lettered with altered wordings of dialogue. The new lettering appears to be the work of British artist Basil Reynolds.