Fifty ideas for the dwarves' names and personalities were listed in the film's proposal; the list included all of the names finally included except Dopey and Doc (Dopey being the last to be developed). Some of the dwarves were: Awful, Biggy, Blabby, Dirty, Gabby, Gaspy, Gloomy, Hoppy, Hotsy, Jaunty, Jumpy, Nifty, and Shifty. Sneezy was a last-minute replacement for Jumpy.The "special" Academy Award granted to the picture consisted of one regular sized award and seven smaller sized awards.
Convinced that it would fail, the Hollywood film industry labeled the film "Disney's Folly".
Scenes planned, but never fully animated: - The queen holds the prince in the dungeon and uses her magic to make skeletons dance for his amusement. - Fantasy sequence accompanying "Some Day My Prince Will Come" in which Snow White imagines herself dancing with her prince in the clouds beneath a sea of stars - Dwarves building Snow White a coffin with help from woodland creatures. - The song "Music in Your Soup" where the dwarves sing about the soup that Snow White had just made them. - A musical number, "You're Never Too Old to Be Young", featuring the dwarves. It was pre-recorded, but never animated.
One notable example of this policy is when Ward Kimball suggested that the dwarfs' noses should pop one by one over the foot boards while they were peeking at Snow White.
The Prince was originally a much more major character, but the difficulty found in animating him convincingly forced the animators to reduce his part significantly.
When comedian Billy Gilbert found out that one of the dwarfs' names was Sneezy he called up Walt and gave him his famous sneezing gag and got the part.
Most of the voice actors reprised their roles for an appearance on "The Lux Radio Theater".
25 songs were written for the movie but only eight were used.
The first full-length animated feature film to come out of the United States. (The first ever were El apóstol (1917) and Sin dejar rastros (1918) by Quirino Cristiani but both films are considered lost. The oldest full-length animated feature film that can still be seen today is Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926), which clocks in at 65 minutes, and was animated entirely in silhouette.)
Publicity material relates that production employed 32 animators, 102 assistant, 167 "in-betweeners", 20 layout artists, 25 artists doing water color backgrounds, 65 effects animators, and 158 female inkers and painters. 2,000,000 illustrations were made using 1500 shades of paint.
Deanna Durbin auditioned for the voice of Snow White, but was not chosen because Disney felt her voice was too mature.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) became the first release in Disney's new Platinum Edition DVD series, hitting stores on October 5, 2001. On its first day, more than 1 million copies were sold.
One of the first films to have related merchandise available at the time of premiere.
At a recording session, Lucille La Verne, the voice of the Wicked Queen, was told by the Disney animators that they needed an older, raspier version of the Queen's voice for the Old Witch. Ms. Laverne stepped out of the recording booth, returned a few minutes later, and gave a perfect "Old Hag's voice" that stunned the animators. When asked how she did it, she replied, "Oh, I just took my teeth out."
The British Board of Film Censors (now, the British Board of Film Classification) gave the film an A-certificate upon its original release. This resulted in a nationwide controversy as to whether the enchanted forest and the witch were too frightening for younger audiences. Nevertheless, most local authorities simply overrode the censor's decision and gave the film a U-certificate.
Held the title of highest grossing film ever for exactly one year, after which it was knocked out of the top spot by Gone with the Wind (1939).
Spoonerizing comedian Joe Twerp was earlier considered for the role of Doc, according to the DVD supplementary material. The part went to Roy Atwell instead, but Twerp did perform as the voice of Doc on the radio.
Sergei M. Eisenstein, director of Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925), called it the "Greatest film ever made."
Because Disney did not have its own music publishing company when the earlier animated films were produced, all the rights to publish the music and songs from this film are actually still controlled by the Bourne Co. In later years, the Studio was able to acquire back the rights to the music from all of the other films, except this one. Prior to Snow White, a movie soundtrack recording was unheard of and with little value to a movie studio.
It took animator Wolfgang Reitherman nine tries to get the animation of the Slave in the Magic Mirror just right. He achieved it by folding the paper in half, drawing one half of the face, then turning the paper over and tracing the other half. He was then dismayed when his hard work was obscured by fire, smoke and distortion glass for the film.
For the scene where the dwarves are sent off to wash, animator Frank Thomas had Dopey do a hitch step to catch up to the others, as suggested in the storyboard. Walt Disney liked it so much he had the step added to other scenes - much to the chagrin of the other animators, who blamed Thomas for the extra work they had to do.
The film came third in the UK's Ultimate Film, in which films were placed in order of how many seats they sold at cinemas
Was the first of many Disney films to have its premiere engagement at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. At the end of the film's initial engagement there, all the velvet seat upholstery had to be replaced. It seems that young children were so frightened by the sequence of Snow White lost in the forest that they wet their pants, and consequently the seats, at each and every showing of the film.
Walt Disney came up with the idea for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) when he was only 15, working as a newsboy in Kansas City. He saw a major presentation of a silent film version of the tale starring Marguerite Clark. The screening was held at the city's Convention Hall in February, 1917, and the film was projected onto a four-sided screen using four separate projectors. The movie made a tremendous impression on the young viewer because he was sitting where he could see two sides of the screen at once, and they were not quite in sync.
Mel Blanc was considered for the voice of Dopey.
The movie was to start with scenes involving Snow White's mother, but they had to be cut to avoid the wrath of the censor.
Marge Champion served as a movement model for Snow White; some of this animation was later reworked for Maid Marion in Disney's Robin Hood (1973).
Some animators were opposed to the name Dopey, claiming that it was too modern a word to use in a timeless fairy tale. Walt Disney made the argument that William Shakespeare used the word in one of his plays. This managed to convince everyone, although any reference to the term "dopey" is yet to be found in any of Shakespeare's work.
Ward Kimball nearly quit after his two main sequences (the dwarfs eating soup and building a bed for Snow White, respectively) were cut. Walt Disney convinced him to stay by giving him the character of Jiminy Cricket in the next feature, Pinocchio (1940).
To give Snow White a more natural look, some of the ink and paint artists started applying their own rouge on her cheeks. When Walt Disney asked one how they would apply the rouge correctly for each cel, she responded, "What do you think we've been doing all our lives?"
In the original fairy tale, the Queen dies when she is forced to dance in burning metal shoes. Disney dropped the idea.
[June 2008] Ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Animation".
Dancer Marge Champion, whose movements as a dancer were rotoscoped to be used as guide for Snow White, married and divorced one of the Disney animators on the film, Art Babbitt. She later married, danced and acted on film and stage with famed choreographer and director Gower Champion.
Only one sound comes out of Dopey's mouth in the entire film. This happens when he goes upstairs to find the intruder (Snow White). When Dopey sees Snow White pushing up the sheets to adjust herself in the beds while she is asleep, he lets out a yell and runs back downstairs.
There are only 11 human characters in the film - Snow White, the Dwarfs, the Queen, the Prince, and the Huntsman.
Of the film's human characters, only the ones in the title have names. The Queen and the Prince are never named outside of these titles.
Cast of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
Adriana Caselotti as Snow White: Snow White is a young princess and the protagonist of the film. She is the daughter of a great king whose wife died when the daughter was very young. Her wicked stepmother has forced her to work as a scullery maid in the castle. Despite this, she retains a cheerful but naïve demeanor.
Lucille La Verne as the Queen: The Queen is the stepmother of Snow White and the main antagonist of the film. Once her magic mirror tells her that Snow White is fairer than she is, she immediately enlists Humbert the huntsman to kill her in the woods. After she discovers that Snow White did not die, she disguises herself as an old hag and uses a poisoned apple in order to remove Snow White from her path without killing her.
Roy Atwell as Doc: The leader of the seven dwarfs, Doc wears glasses and often mixes up his words.
Pinto Colvig as Grumpy: Grumpy initially disapproves of Snow White's presence in the dwarfs' home, but later warns her of the threat posed by the Queen and rushes to her aid upon realizing that she is in danger, leading the charge himself. He has the biggest nose of the dwarfs, and is frequently seen with one eye shut.
Otis Harlan as Happy: Happy is the joyous dwarf and is usually portrayed laughing.
Pinto Colvig as Sleepy: Sleepy is always tired and appears laconic in most situations. Sterling Holloway was also considered for the role.
Scotty Mattraw as Bashful: Bashful is the shyest of the dwarfs, and is often embarrassed by the presence of any attention directed at him.
Billy Gilbert as Sneezy: Sneezy's name is earned by his extraordinarily powerful sneezes (caused by hay fever), which are seen blowing even the heaviest of objects across a room.
Eddie Collins as Dopey: Dopey is the only dwarf that does not have a beard. He is clumsy and mute, with Happy explaining that he has simply "never tried to speak". Mel Blanc was briefly considered for the role.
Moroni Olsen as The Magic Mirror: The Slave of the Magic Mirror appears as a green mask in clouds of smoke. The Queen regularly asks him who is the fairest in the land.
Stuart Buchanan as Humbert the Huntsman: Despite his status as the Queen's assassin, the Huntsman cannot bear to kill Snow White, even when the Queen orders him to take the princess's heart.
Harry Stockwell as The Prince: The unnamed Prince first sees Snow White singing at her wishing well. He immediately falls in love with her and her voice. He later reappears to revive her.
Unvoiced characters include Snow White's animal friends, the Queen's raven, and the vultures who follow the Witch.
Disney's biggest movie mistake was not to take on Deanna Durbin - history would of changed!
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