If 1 pint of paint is needed to paint a statue 6 ft. high, then the number of pints it will take to paint (to the same thickness) 540 statues similar to the original but only 1 ft. high is 
$\textbf{(A)}\ 90\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 72\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 45\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 30\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 15$
The statues are similar, and since the height if the smaller statue is $\tfrac{1}{6}$ of the original statue, the surface area is $\tfrac{1}{36}$ of the original statue.  Thus, $\tfrac{1}{36}$ pints of paint is needed for one 1 ft. statue, so painting 540 of these statues requires $\tfrac{540}{36} = \boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ 15}$ pints of paint.