EDITOR’S NOTE: For the past few weeks, AllEars.Net has been highlighting exclusive excerpts from Sam Gennawey’s new book, The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream. The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney’s Dream is the story of how Walt Disney’s greatest creation was conceived, nurtured, and how it grew into a source of joy and inspiration for generations of visitors. Despite his successors’ battles with the whims of history and their own doubts and egos, Walt’s vision maintained momentum, thrived, and taught future generations how to do it Walt Disney’s way. The Disneyland Story is now available for purchase (click on the image at left to link to Amazon).

A Favorite Subject of Mine
by Sam Gennawey

Another splendid little touch would appear on April 9, 1960, on the east side of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Walt had a special affection for wishing wells. He said, “Wishing long has been a favorite subject of mine. Wishes have come true for many of the characters in my motions pictures — and for me, too.” The Variety Club of America wanted to sponsor a wishing well in Disneyland and use the money to benefit children’s charities around the world. Walt was happy to oblige and came up with the Snow White Wishing Well and the Grotto.

Walt was given a set of exquisite Carrara marble statues of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs carved by Italian artist Leonida Parma. The statues were modeled after a set of soaps that were being sold at the time in Europe. When the statues arrived, John Hench noticed that all of the figures were the same size. This meant Snow White was as small as the dwarfs. Hench came up with a clever solution. He used forced perspective by placing the Snow White figure at the very top, standing next to a deer that was the right scale. The dwarfs were placed lower and closer to the guests. By applying this solution, the illusion is everything is correct.