Anonymous voices. Required chaperones. An event so star-studded, even the lead actors couldn’t
get in. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most beloved animated movies of all time,
and both the film and its premiere were like nothing that had ever come before.
Hours before the 8:45 p.m. screening time on December 21,
1937, crowds gathered outside the Carthay Circle Theatre for the premiere of Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs. As J.B. Kaufman's book The Fairest One of All details,
animation art displays had been set up outside the theater. Fans were also treated to meet
and greets with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Donald Duck. Seven people were hired to
play the dwarfs from "Dwarfland" while donning masks created by sculpture artist Ted Wiedhaus.
There was also a special radio broadcast with announcers from the NBC Blue Network
chatting with fans and celebrities as they walked the special blue carpet.
Walt Disney and Snow White director Dave Hand provided commentary over the radio,
and Disney was reportedly so excited that he forgot the names of the dwarfs. In addition to
all that, the voices behind Snow White and the Prince, Adriana Caselotti and Harry Stockwell,
sang some of the songs from the film alongside a live orchestra.
The premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood,
even as Americans continued to live through the hardships of the Great Depression. The
opening night was a glamorous affair with thousands lining the street and
flood lights illuminating the scene in front of the Carthay Circle Theatre.
Alongside celebrities and other special guests were average moviegoers lucky enough to snag a
ticket to the sold-out event. Demand was so high that the five dollar tickets were
limited to four per person. According to Carthay Circle manager Ray Ducerne,
advance ticket sales broke the record for the theater.
Alas, not everyone in the massive crowd could make it inside,
so more than 30,000 people stuck around outside before, during,
and after the screening just to be a part of this singular moment in movie history.
"Hurry men! It's now or never!"
Even in the midst of the Great Depression, movie premieres were glamorous, star-studded
affairs. Snow White was no different, with more than a dozen big-name celebrities turning up.
Some of the Hollywood royalty who attended included Shirley Temple, Charlie Chaplin,
Marlene Dietrich, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Helen Vinson, Claudette Colbert, Gail Patrick,
Hedy Lamarr, and Preston Foster. Temple and her friends reportedly posed with some of the actors
who appeared as dwarfs, while other celebs walked the red carpet and spoke to radio broadcasters.
Walt Disney and his wife Lillian were also there, with wire news services reporting:
"[Disney] bit his fingernails, waiting for the
verdict of the tail-coated and satin-gowned audience."
In the biography Disney's World, author Leonard
Mosley reported that Disney said to the celebrity-filled crowd,
"I always dreamed that one day I would attend a gala premiere in Hollywood of
one of my cartoons. Tonight you've made it come true. You make me feel like one of you."
After three years of production and over $1 million spent on the film, Walt Disney was
understandably nervous during the Snow White premiere. His extreme anxiety had something
to do with the fact that he didn't know how the audience would react to such a film, as it was
the first full-length animated movie, after all. But he needn't have worried. On the day after the
screening, the press reported that the audience loved it, as it received a standing ovation.
"I thought so! I thought so!"
In the subsequent weeks, as more and more premieres happened leading up to the wide
release in February 1938, newspapers reported similar reactions among other audiences seeing
Snow White for the first time. The New York Daily News review noted that the audience at Radio City
Music Hall applauded enthusiastically at the end. It also revealed that there were
plenty of audible laughs and gasps throughout the screening from the completely enraptured audience.
Following its Hollywood premiere, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ran for five weeks in
January 1938 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City before getting a general release
the following month. It garnered both audience and critical acclaim for its historic animation
technology and its charming fantasy story. After actor Charlie Chaplin attended the premiere,
he told the Los Angeles Times that the movie exceeded his expectations and he
loved Dopey in particular. Meanwhile, Variety's film critic cheered,
"So perfect is the illusion, so tender the romance and fantasy,
so emotional are certain portions when the acting of the characters strikes a depth
comparable to the sincerity of human players, that the film approaches real [greatness]."
The rave reviews from critics and general audiences alike were a boon for a stressed-out
Walt Disney. Before the release, there had been delays that led some critics to question whether
Snow White would actually make it to the screen on time for its December 1937 premiere. It was
even dubbed "Disney's Folly]," but once people actually got to see it, it was a folly no more.
There were, however, some concerns among parents and critics that parts of the movie
were too intense for younger children. Specifically, there's the scene of Snow
running from the huntsman and into the haunted forest, which is dark and full of owls, bats,
and trees and plants that seem to have eyes and want to snatch her. According
to the Disney Archives at D23, the film was deemed too scary for youngsters in England,
and any child under the age of 16 had to be accompanied by an adult to watch it in theaters.
According to the biography The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney,
Disney himself reportedly had a sense of smug satisfaction when hearing some
critics say that Snow White was too intense for kids. As he declared in one interview,
"I didn't make the picture for children. I made it
for adults — for the child that exists in all adults."
In the official program handed out at the Snow White premiere, there was a note about the voice
actors lending their talents to the film. It explained that they were recognizable names
of stage and screen, but their identities weren't revealed. According to the program,
"Disney will not allow the names to be divulged as he feels that it would
detract from the audiences' acceptance of the voice as a part of a character."
Eventually, though, the world would get to know the real people behind
the major characters. The voice of Snow White was Adriana Caselotti,
who was only 19 when she auditioned and landed the role. In an interview with Animator Magazine
to celebrate the film's 50th anniversary, she said that Walt Disney described her
voice as having "a lilting quality" that fit perfectly with Snow's personality.
"The voice of Snow White is a beautiful, lovely, innocent young girl's voice."
Caselotti also revealed that she and Harry Stockwell, who voiced the Prince,
snuck into the premiere because the ticket collector at the door didn't recognize them
and wouldn't let them in without tickets. Similarly, many of Disney's own staff hadn't
yet seen the full film and reportedly had to pay five dollars to get in.
With the general release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs also came its overseas release,
and it proved just as popular with international audiences. In particular,
it enjoyed lengthy box office runs in London, England and Sydney,
Australia. According to Leonard Maltin's book Of Mice and Magic, distribution company RKO
reported that Snow White earned about $8 million in worldwide box office sales in its original run.
An issue of Variety from September 1938 reported that Snow White had hit 11 weeks
at the box office in Australia. In London, meanwhile, it was in the 27th week of its
initial run and would play for several more weeks. It would continue to play in theaters
through Christmas. The film's overseas run had at the time exceeded $500,000 in box office sales,
which surpassed the sales at New York City's Radio City Music Hall in five weeks.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs achieved a lot of firsts for both Disney and for
the film industry overall. This included being the first feature-length movie to have themed
merchandise for its premiere. Merchandising wasn't entirely new for Disney at the time,
though. By 1934, more than 600 different items themed around Disney characters
and stories were reportedly being sold around the world.
"Merchandising! Where the real money from the movie is made!"
For Snow White, Disney pulled out all the stops to market the film to all audiences. Local
and national newspapers boasted ads for dolls and dwarf figurines, seed packets, glassware,
and even women's clothing. Other officially licensed merchandise included puzzles, soap,
tea sets, postcards, and lunch pails. Avid fans could also buy Snow White food items,
like ham and bacon, and limited edition movie tie-in cereal with games and images on the
back of the box. Moviegoers loved this animated classic so much that The New York Times reported
more than $2 million in Snow White-themed toys had been sold in five months in 1938.
Local businesses certainly got in on the game as well. Consumers could whistle while they worked
with a new refrigerator-radio cabinet combo and buy "quality meats" that Prince Charming
ate to get his strength. Snow White also lent her name to fur storage and washing machines,
and the seven dwarfs accompanied ads for hats, milk brands, and windows. Some stores and business
owners even hosted Snow White-themed events, like a May 1938 call for readers to vote for
their favorite dwarf alongside ads for Snow White merchandise and places to buy Mother's Day gifts.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was reportedly the first movie to have
a commercially available soundtrack. It was originally released in January 1938
as a collection of three 78 RPM records from Victor Records. This made it available for
purchase before the movie premiered in theaters, as Snow White's eight musical
numbers blasted over radio airwaves as part of the massive marketing effort.
In a 1987 New York Times article marking the film's 50th anniversary,
Disney archivist David Smith noted that the marketing for Snow White was a huge effort at
the time. As detailed by the book Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production,
Reception, Legacy, a big part of that effort was popularizing the film's music.
Commercials and song rotations promoted the movie's impending release. Weeks before its
nationwide opening, "Whistle While You Work" became the 16th most popular song on stations
in New York, Maryland, and South Carolina. By February 1938, it moved up to number two,
as "With a Smile and a Song" and "Someday My Prince Will Come" joined it on popular rotations.
Disney's first full-length animated film wasn't just a charming take on a classic Grimm fairytale.
This colorful animated film was also chock full of metaphors and allegories that spoke to the
cultural ideology of the time. It presented ethics of hard work and a nostalgia of traditional values
and gender norms that many hoped would bring them out of the Great Depression.
Throughout history, entertainment has been a form of escapism in times of crises while also
reflecting the mood of its eras. Following the raucousness of the roaring 1920s,
the economic depression of the 30s saw a reversion to traditional "American" norms
of conservatism and a focus on the value of hard work ethics. Disney productions
and Snow White in particular were no exception. The seven dwarfs themselves
were clear allegories for capitalism and the morality of hard work and frugality.
"My corns hurt."
The book Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production, Reception, Legacy
features a chapter called "Framing Snow White: Preservation, Nostalgia and the American Way in
the 1930s." In it, writer Jane Batkin discusses the struggles at the time to balance modernity
and nostalgia. According to this reading, the dwarfs' behavior reflected the idea of reaffirming
traditional gender roles in order to get through hardships. Snow is a necessity to keep the dwarfs'
home in clean order while the men march to work and perform manual labor with smiles and a song.