Fiftieth anniversary of Disney’s ‘Snow White’

Press, 16 July 1987, Page 18

Fiftieth anniversary of Disney’s ‘Snow White’

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” is making a nostalgic comeback in a worldwide celebration to mark the fiftieth anniversary of one of Walt Disney’s best-loved films.

In 60 countries — including New Zealand, the United States, the Soviet Union and China — “Snow White" will be shown simultaneously in 4000 cinemas. Christchurch families can take part in the celebrations at special screenings of “Snow White” at the Savoy this Saturday and Sunday, at 2 and 5 p.m. A 60-minute TV special to mark the occasion will also be shown by TV2 tomorrow at 6.30

It is half a century since Disney defied the advice of his Hollywood peers and went into production with the first fulllength animated film ever made.

This month, Snow White will make her mark on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, becoming the first human animated character to be given such an honour. Disney’s first animated feature, however, was born purely out of necessity. During the 19305, cinemas were running double features and Disney was having to squeeze his short cartoons into sessions as fillers.

In 1933, Disney scored his biggest success so far with “The Three Little Pigs,” which was not only the first cartoon in colour, but had an original song that became a major hit, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.”

But Disney was seeking bigger projects and more advanced techniques.

In the summer of 1934, Disney and his animators got down to formulating a feature version of “Snow White” to cost about $250,000 but this outline differed in many ways from the original and final draft of the script. The rest is history.