The song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" became an anthem for optimism in the wake of the Depression.
The original version featured the Wolf dressed as a Jewish peddler (complete with oversized false nose) to gain entry to the pigs' house. A second theatrical release, not long afterward, used new animation and dialogue in this scene. This second theatrical version is the one used in the DVD release.
Though cartoon shorts usually lasted very brief periods of time, this one played in many theaters longer than most feature films.
This was the first Disney cartoon to be fully conceived on storyboards. Previously, simple sketches were drawn on a page giving a broad overview of each scene, with descriptions of the individual actions and gags typed on a separate page. Storyboards in the modern sense (drawings pinned on a bulletin board detailing every action on a film) were invented at the Disney Studio in the early 1930s.
The cartoon was test-screened for an audience of Disney employees to get their reactions. One employee thought the word "lousy" was unacceptable, and the line was cut.
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