Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first animated movie that was full-length and it was also the first movie to be in Technicolor, first one to be made in the English language and the first to be made in the United States. The movie premiered on December 21, 1937 and revolves around an evil queen who wants to get rid of her step-daughter so she could be the fairest in the land. However, Snow White finds shelter in a forest cottage with seven hard-working dwarfs. Here are some interesting facts about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs…
The movie had an original budget of $250,000 but production ran over and ended up costing $1.5 million. This was a large amount of money for a movie back in its time and Walt Disney even had to mortgage his home to account for productions.
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However, the profits from the initial release gross of $8.5 million allowed Walt Disney to construct Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
We all know the names of the dwarfs that came to be but there were several names that were rejected including Shifty, Blabby, Gloomy, Awful and Gabby.
The voice of Snow White was done by 19-year old Adriana Caselotti who was paid $930 for the task. Walt Disney wanted to ensure her voice would remain unique and included in her contract that she was not to perform in movies or on stage again.
Walt Disney actually kept live animals on the set so the animators could use them as references when trying to ensure the forest animals were captured just right.
One of the dwarfs, Dopey, was originally supposed to be a chatty dwarf. However, the movie producers just weren’t able to find the right voice for a bald dwarf so the made Dopey silent instead.
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Upon its completion, 750 artists for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs drew over two million sketches.
The team of the ink and paint department for the movie wanted to give Snow White a life-like, rosy complexion. To achieve this, they applied real makeup to her cels.
I never knew any of this. How interesting this was to read about.
And here I thought I knew this tale! Guess not!
I’m surprised it was this one I thought that it would have been a mickey mouse film or those old Popeye movies. What qualifies as full length? I love interesting facts like this.
I had no clue that Snow White went way over budget but it’s a good thing that it exceeded profits for Disney. I am assuming the actress was paid well for that time period.
These are interesting facts, but what a crappy raw deal for the actress for Snow White. Exactly how could you sign a contract to never work as an actor again? Sheesh!
Interesting facts. My girls would love to know this.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was one of my favorite movies as a child. I know none of these facts except about the live animals on set. I would have loved to see the Blabby and Gabby Dwarfs. Thanks for sharing.
Sounds interesting. I have watched this movie Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs before. It is one of my favorite movie on my childhood days. I think my kids would enjoy reading about this!
Neat Facts! I can’t believe Adriana Caselotti the snow white voice only got paid that much and could never do it again. I sure hope she got paid every time it was showed anywhere.
Oh wow! What interesting facts. My daughter’s nickname ia Gabby. I’m sure she would have loved a dwarf with her name lol
Such cool info. Did not know all of these.