The One Movie That Lillian Disney Told Walt “Nobody’s Gonna Pay To See”

Today, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs is thought of as arguably the most important film in Disney history. As the first full-length animated feature ever produced, its blockbuster performance ensured the future of the medium, and of the Disney Studios. Plus, the story’s basic structure has gone on to inspire Disney’s Prince themes nearly a century after its 1937 debut.

All of that probably makes it surprising that at the time of its production many around Walt Disney thought the project was going to be a disaster. It was dubbed “Walt’s Folly” by those outside — and some inside — the Disney Studio, and even Walt’s own wife Lillian told him it was a movie “nobody’s gonna pay to see.” So, how did Disney prove them all wrong?

Walt Disney first began seriously considering a feature-length animated film in the early 1930s, just as his studio was at the height of its success with shorts starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Silly Symphony cartoons including the mega-successful Three Little Pigs.

Walt initially considered several concepts — including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and and Rip Van Winkle — before settling on Snow White. Years later, Walt spoke about choosing Snow White in an interview that was later preserved on a DVD release. In the clip he says, “I don’t know why I picked Snow White. It’s a thing I remembered as a kid. I saw Marguerite Clark in it in Kansas City one time when I was a newsboy. They had a big showing for all the newsboys. And I went and saw Snow White. It was probably one of my first big feature pictures I’d ever seen. That was back in 1916 or something. Somewhere way back. But anyways, to me I thought it was a perfect story. I had the sympathetic dwarfs and things. I had the prince and the girl. The romance. I had the heavy. I just thought it was a perfect story.”

Once he settled on Snow White, Walt presented the idea to his inner circle at the studio, before the film was officially announced in 1934. To reiterate, the reaction was somewhat negative, with many in Hollywood questioning if a feature-length animated film was technologically feasible, financially viable, and whether a cartoon that long could hold audience attention. Some even wondered if looking at animation uninterrupted for that long of a period of time would cause retinal damage to audience members’ eyes. Yes, really.

As the film went in production, it seemed like those referring to the project as “Disney’s Folly” might be proven right. In addition to story issues — there were hundreds of names considered for the Dwarfs including Biggy-Wiggy, Blabby, Deefy, Dirty, Gabby, Gaspy, Blabby, Hoppy-Jumpy, Hotsy, Nifty, Shifty, and Awful before Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Happy, and Dopey were settled on, and the Evil Queen was changed numerous times to ensure she was the right level of “frightening — the massive amount of manpower and technical innovation required to produce the film (including 32 animators, 107 assistants, 20 layout artists, 65 effects animators, and 158 female inkers and painters, all producing two million illustrations using 1,500 shades of paint was inconceivable for the time.

The film’s budget ballooned from a proposed $250,000 (itself 10X a usual Silly Symphony) to a whopping number closer to $2 million. Suffice to say, many, including Walt were concerned that if Snow White failed, the studio would be forced to close.

They needn’t have worried.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a massive hit pretty much instantly upon release. The film sold over 100 million tickets, earning a massive (for the time) $8 million, making it the highest grossing sound film of all time for a period. In addition, Disney heavily merchandised the film, a novel idea at the time.

In addition to financial success, the film was lauded by many of the same industry voices who’d predicted it would be Disney’s “armageddon.” Variety said of the film, … “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 film was even famously awarded an honorary Academy Award (made of one full-size Oscar, and seven miniature ones, naturally) for being “a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field.”

Over the nearly 9 decades since its release, Snow White has become an iconic film, and one of the most important in Disney’s catalogue. Not bad for a film that no one was gonna pay to see. Stay tuned to AllEars for more on Disney’s history.

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Are you a fan of the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? Let us know in the comments below. 

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