Development Walt Disney conceived the idea of making his first feature-length film in 1933, when his
animation studio was focusing on production of animated short films, such as the
Silly Symphonies series. Although they were popular with the audience, Disney believed that the shorts did not bring enough profit for the further growth of the studio; he was approached by
Mary Pickford (co-founder of
United Artists that was distributing Disney's works at the time) with a proposal for a feature-length animated/live-action version of
Lewis Carroll's novel ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865); however, the project was soon scrapped when
Paramount Pictures began production of their
own film version. Disney then considered using the same concept for a film adaptation of
Washington Irving's short story "
Rip Van Winkle" (1819) starring
Will Rogers, but it did not work out either due to Paramount, which held the rights to the story, refusing to give permission. After the successful release of the
Silly Symphony short
Three Little Pigs in May 1933, Disney was strengthened in his decision to make a feature film and began introducing the idea to his staff through a "slow infiltration"sharing it with everyone individually during casual conversations. He entered into negotiations with
Merian C. Cooper to produce a full-length animated version of
Victor Herbert's 1903 operetta
Babes in Toyland in
Technicolor; the project was offered to
RKO Radio Pictures, which owned the rights to the play, but RKO executives rejected it. In July 1933, Disney first revealed his plans on making a feature film to
The Film Daily (although he had not yet managed to receive a response from the United Artists executives), and around the same time, he was approached with an offer for an animated version of
Felix Salten's 1923 novel
Bambi, a Life in the Woods in alliance with
Sidney Franklin. Disney eventually rejected the idea, feeling that his studio was not ready for the technical challenges that
Bambi would have presented.
Homer's poems
Iliad and
Odyssey, as well as
Jonathan Swift's 1726 book ''
Gulliver's Travels'', were also suggested to Disney at the time. Disney settled on the
Brothers Grimm's 1812 fairy tale "
Snow White" in the spring of 1934. As some animators later recalled, Disney assembled them on the sound stage in the evening and acted out the entire story of
Snow White for three hours, concluding with announcement of their first feature film.
Ward Kimball said that they were told by
Hollywood moguls (such as
W. C. Fields) that "it was OK, six-seven minutes, like the shorts, but an hour and a half, no way! Big reason was that you run out of funny things to do, you had to have a laugh-a-minute. And the bright colors would hurt your eyes, everybody would get up and walk out ... Walt, of course, plugged ahead, he didn't believe that. He felt that if you had a solid story, not only laughs in it, but tragedy, it would go." Both Disney's wife
Lillian and his brother
Roy (who was also his business partner) attempted unsuccessfully to talk him out of it, and movie-industry insiders derisively referred to the film as "Disney's Folly" while it was in production.
Early writing The earliest known story outlinetitled "Manuscript"was compiled by staff writer Richard Creedon on August 9, 1934, featuring twenty-one pages of suggestions for characters, scenes, and songs (including "Some Day My Prince Will Come"). At the time, Disney adopted a "wide-ranging approach", remaining open to any idea that could be proposed; notably, one of the suggestions included Snow White traveling through a series of enchanted sitessuch as the Sleepy Valley, the Morass of Monsters, and the Valley of the Dragonsbefore arriving at the dwarfs' cottage. Snow White was originally envisioned to be more tomboyish, with the Queen described as "stately, beautiful in the way of a
Benda mask ... a cool serene character who demonstrates her fury only in moments of great passion." One of the potential storylines developed for "Manuscript" involved the Queen imprisoning the Prince in her dungeon, after seeing his affection for Snow White, with the Prince later fighting his way out of her castle with "tricks that
Doug Fairbanks would like to have thought." Other story suggestions included the Queen having a collection of her former enemies reduced to a few inches in size; a
Gilbert and Sullivan-style musical number for the scene where the Queen orders the Huntsman to kill Snow White; and the sequence of the Queen trying to break the mirror upon learning that Snow White has survived, with the mirror detaching itself from the wall and smashing against the Queen after chasing her around the chamber. Disney also decided from the beginning that each of the Seven Dwarfswhom he considered the "strongest lure" of the story because of their comedic potentialshould have a distinctive personality, identified by a respective name; a pool of over fifty possibilities was compiled for "Manuscript" (with names such as Sleepy, Hoppy, Bashful, Happy, Sneezy-Wheezy, Biggo-Ego, and Awful as the top contenders). In October 1934, Disney began holding weekly story meetings with a small unit of writers, which included Creedon, Larry Morey,
Ted Sears, Albert Hurter, and
Pinto Colvig. During the first meeting on October 3, several scenes were proposed: the "Soup Eating" (where Snow White has dinner with dwarfs) and "Bed Building" (where the dwarfs build a bed for Snow White) sequences; Snow White teaching the dwarfs to pray; and the climactic scene of the dwarfs chasing the disguised Queen, followed by her death from falling off a cliff. For the rest of 1934, Disney further developed the story by himself, finding a dilemma in the characterization of the Queen, who he felt could no longer be "fat" and "batty", but a "stately beautiful type", a possibility already brought up in previous story meetings.
Reworking Disney did not focus on the project again until the autumn of 1935. It was believed that the
Silly Symphony short
The Goddess of Spring (1934) may have placed doubt in his studio's abilities to animate a realistic girl. Apparently, a three-month trip to Europe that summer restored his confidence. At this point, Disney and his writers focused on the scenes in which Snow White and the dwarfs are introduced to the audience and each other. He laid out the likely assignments for everyone working on the film in a memorandum on November 25, 1935 and decided on the personalities of the individual dwarfs. It had first been thought that the dwarfs would be the main focus of the story, and many sequences were written for the seven characters. However, at a certain point, it was decided that the main thrust of the story would be provided by the relationship between the Queen and Snow White. For this reason, several sequences featuring the dwarfs were cut from the film. The first, which was animated in its entirety before being cut, showed Doc and Grumpy arguing about whether Snow White should stay with them. Another, also completely animated, showed the dwarfs eating soup noisily and messily; Snow White unsuccessfully attempts to teach them how to eat 'like gentlemen'. A partially-animated sequence involved the dwarfs holding a "lodge meeting" in which they try to think of a gift for Snow White; this was to be followed by the elaborate 'bed-building sequence', in which the dwarfs and the forest animals construct and carve a bed for the princess. This was also cut, as it was thought to slow down the movement of the story. The soup-eating and bed-building sequences were animated by
Ward Kimball, who was sufficiently discouraged by their removal to consider leaving the studio; Disney, however, persuaded him to stay by promoting Kimball to be the supervising animator of
Jiminy Cricket in Disney's next feature,
Pinocchio (1940).
Casting Adriana Caselotti was the first audition for the role of Snow White in September 1934. She was invited to audition after Disney's casting director Roy Scott telephoned her father (who was a vocal coach in
Los Angeles) in search for voice talents, and Caselotti, overhearing their conversation, recommended herself for the part.
Virginia Davis was nearly hired to provide the speaking voice of Snow White (as well as the live-action reference for the character), but eventually dropped out due to finding the contract unacceptable, although some of Davis' miscellaneous vocal tracks were used in the final film. Caselotti was cast as Snow White in September 1935, exactly one year after her first audition, and recorded her first tracks on January 20, 1936.
Thelma Hubbard provided Snow White's screams in the forest flight scene and later voiced the character in the film's 1938 Spanish dub and
Lux Radio Theatre adaptation. The studio auditioned over a dozen actresses for the role of the Queen before
Lucille La Verne was chosen, although several members of Disney's staff contended that she sounded a "little old" for the part. Having portrayed similar characters in
Orphans of the Storm (1921) and
A Tale of Two Cities (1935), La Verne also tried out for the role of the Witch, and the animators initially felt that her voice was "too smooth and not rough enough" until she removed her false teeth. By 1936, Albert Hurter was assigned to supervise the film's art direction; all the designs used in the film, from character costume designs to layouts and backgrounds, had to meet his approval before being finalized. Having had
academic art training, Hurter was instrumental in devising the film's overall Germanic look, incorporating European illustrations and painting techniques into the animation. Ferdinand Horvath, who had been working at the studio since 1934, was also hired as the film's inspirational sketch artist, providing a number of dark concepts for the film. Many of his other designs were ultimately rejected since they were less easily translated into animation than Hurter's, and Hovarth did not receive a credit for the film. By the spring of 1936, the animation process had begun, with Hurter and Hovarth being joined by
Gustaf Tenggren. Tenggren, a color stylist, determined the staging and atmosphere of many of the scenes in the film, with his style borrowing from the likes of
Arthur Rackham and
John Bauer and thus possessing the European illustration quality that Disney sought. He also designed the posters for the film and illustrated the press book. Other artists to work on the film included
Joe Grant, whose most significant contribution was the design for
the Queen's Witch form.
Character animation Art Babbitt, an animator who joined the Disney studio in 1932, invited seven of his colleagues (who worked in the same room as him) to come with him to an art class that he himself had set up at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Though there was no teacher, Babbitt had recruited a model to pose for him and his fellow animators as they drew. These "classes" were held weekly; each week, more animators would come. After three weeks, Walt Disney called Babbit to his office and offered to provide the supplies, working space and models required if the sessions were moved to the studio. Babbitt ran the sessions for a month until animator
Hardie Gramatky suggested that they recruit
Don Graham, an art teacher from the Chouinard Institute. Graham taught his first class at the studio on November 15, 1932, and was joined by Philip L. Dike a few weeks later. These classes were principally concerned with human anatomy and movement, though instruction later included action analysis, animal anatomy and acting. Though the classes were originally described as a "brutal battle", with neither instructor nor students well-versed in the other's craft, the enthusiasm and energy of both parties made the classes stimulating and beneficial for all involved. Graham often screened Disney shorts and, along with the animators, provided critique featuring both strengths and weaknesses. For example, Graham criticised Babbitt's animation of Abner the mouse in
The Country Cousin as "taking a few of the obvious actions of a drunk without coordinating the rest of the body", while praising it for maintaining its humour without getting "dirty or mean or vulgar. The country mouse is always having a good time". Despite Graham and Natwick's objections, however, some scenes of Snow White and the Prince were directly traced from the live-action footage.
Music and records The songs in
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were composed by
Frank Churchill and
Larry Morey.
Paul J. Smith and
Leigh Harline composed the incidental music score. Songs from the film include "
Heigh-Ho", "
Someday My Prince Will Come", and "
Whistle While You Work". Since Disney did not have its own music publishing company at the time, the publishing rights for the music and songs were administered through
Bourne Co. Music Publishers, which continues to hold these rights. In later years, the studio was able to acquire back the music rights from many of their other films, but not
Snow White,
Pinocchio,
Dumbo or most
Silly Symphony cartoons.
Snow White became the first American film to have a
soundtrack album, released in conjunction with the feature film.
Cinematic influences At this time, Disney also encouraged his staff to see a variety of films. These ranged from the mainstream, such as MGM's
Romeo and Juliet (1936)—to which Disney made a direct reference in a story meeting pertaining to the scene in which Snow White lies in her glass coffin—to the more obscure, including European
silent cinema.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as the two Disney films to follow it, were influenced by such
German expressionist films as
Nosferatu (1922) and
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), both of which were recommended by Disney to his staff. This influence is particularly evident in the scenes of Snow White fleeing through the forest and the Queen's transformation into the Witch. The latter scene was also inspired by
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), to which Disney made specific reference in story meetings. Midway through, Disney needed a $250,000 loan to finish the film. Disney ran a rough cut for
Joseph Rosenberg of
Bank of America, who sat impassively during the showing. Then Rosenberg turned to the worried Disney and said, "Walt, that thing is going to make a hatful of money" and approved the loan. ==Release==