Disney's Folly

Disney's new movie, Enchanted, is opening today to glowing reviews.
    This latest Disney princess movie is really a send-up of the entire Disney princess movie genre. It's a genre that got its start exactly 70 years ago next month. The very first full-length animated movie with sound, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was, and still is, a creative masterpiece.
    It was a movie idea Walt Disney had been playing around with since his teenage years in Kansas City. Like many of Disney's big ideas, bringing this dream to life almost ruined him. It took more than three years, 750 artists, and a troubling $1.4 million to create Snow White. Naysayers predicted doom and actually took to calling the project "Disney's Folly." Even Walt's wife and brother begged him to cease production of the movie. Instead, Snow White opened to rave reviews and went on to become the highest grossing picture of its day.
    Not all went perfectly, however. Nervous about recouping his huge production cost, Walt felt he needed to drum up some opening day publicity. So he hired some little people to dress up and dance around on the marquee outside a New York theater. To fight off the cold winter air, Disney provided his dwarfs with a few bottles of alcohol. The dwarfs got drunk, tore off their clothes, and hurled insults and empty bottles at the people passing below.
    Take a minute to watch the original theatrical trailer for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Be sure to take a close look at the 36-year old visionary who was risking both financial and personal ruin to bring a fairy tale to life.

Comments

[Scarlet]

Just look at him. Such a young thing. He couldn't have possibly had any idea what lay ahead. His willingness to take risks has had an impact on so many. Thanks, Mr. Disney, for taking the risk and teaching us that dreams really do come true. Thanks, bad banana, for reminding us.

[Cathryn Hrudicka, Chief Imagination Officer, Creative Sage(tm)]

Thank you for reminding all of us to think big and take risks. I needed a dose of that today, and here it is. Walt Disney has been a pied piper for many who followed him into animation or created companies like Pixar. It's great to see him on the cover of Time with the Seven Dwarfs (sans Snow White), who each personify a part of each of us, including their creator.

Happy Thanksgiving, Bad Banana!

[doane]

The biggest risk in life is not taking one.