Free Disney by Rees Quinn Page A

be softened to be suitable fare for a Disney audience. But Walt thought Snow White had everything. “I had sympathetic dwarfs, you see?” Disney would later say. “I had the heavy. I had the prince. And the girl. The romance. I thought it was a perfect story.”
    Disney told people at the studio how much he liked Snow White and wanted to make it into a full-length film. Colleagues marveled at how emotional Disney would get as he told them the story - and the powerful effect his descriptions had on them. Several said they were brought to tears as Disney explained the plot. Finally, one evening in early 1934, Disney rounded up some fifty employees, told them to grab some take-out dinner, and come back to the studio’s soundstage. Disney was alone under a spotlight when they arrived.
    Disney proceeded to act out the whole story of Snow White, giving each character a unique voice and personality. The bravura performance lasted three hours and ended with a round of enthusiastic applause.
    Disney’s version presented Snow White as a dark-haired, pale-skinned girl, with a melodic voice and a cheery disposition, who is forced to tend to grimy household chores. Her dreams of being swept away by a prince are dashed by the huntsman, who instead of killing her, sends her scurrying into a dark forest, where her fears and insecurities are played out in the shadows and howls of the wind. But even the forest and its creatures sympathize with the delicate princess, and bow to her beauty, becoming charming, cuddly companions who hope to protect her from the Queen’s wrath.
    The chipper squirrels, chipmunks, birds, turtles and deer usher Snow White to shelter in a hut, which upon her arrival is empty. The place is a mess, as might be expected of a home shared by seven men who are miners by trade. Snow White naturally cleans up, startling the dwarfs who return from a day’s work in the diamond mine to find their home transformed by an unsuspected intruder. Gruff, but timid, the dwarfs are reluctant to provide refuge to the evil Queen’s step-daughter. She wins them over with a gooseberry pie and her motherly instincts, insisting each of them wash their hands thoroughly before dessert.
    The Queen, informed by her magic mirror that Snow White still lives, becomes an old crone, cloaked in black, and concocts a poisoned apple, with which she tempts the trusting princess. Just one bite sends Snow White into a sleeping death, which can only be reversed by the kiss of true love. Too late, the forest creatures and dwarfs discover the plot, and chase the Queen up a mountain, where a thunderbolt sends her falling to her death. Mournfully, the dwarfs place Snow White in a glass coffin, until a prince passing through the forest discovers her and wakes her with a kiss.
    As news spread about Snow White, skeptics began to voice their opinions. Few people believed that audiences would tolerate a ninety-minute cartoon - or believe an animated love story. Disney, after all, was known for broad gags and funny animals. People in Hollywood started referring to the project as “Disney’s Folly.” Even Lillian Disney doubted the project, telling Walt, “I can’t stand the sight of dwarfs. I predict nobody will ever pay a dime to see a dwarf picture.”
    Because his contract with United Artists was only for short subjects, financing a feature film was a problem. Disney asked Roy to drum up financing from bankers. But, enthusiastic as he was, he had reservations. He told The New York Times that if the finished film didn’t meet his expectation, he would destroy it.
    In early 1935, Disney hired 300 more animators. On a family trip to Europe, he was delighted to find that theaters there routinely showed as many as a half-dozen Mickey Mouse cartoons in a row - proof that audiences had no problem staying in their seats for animation.
    By now, Disney was essentially a supervisor at his sprawling studio. “I do not draw, write music, or contribute most of the