THE DAY CLARK & CAROL CRIED

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The year was 1938. Walt Disney and his crew of sketch and color artists, animators, cameramen, and sound people had just finished the innovative, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

As Mr. Disney, (“Walt” to his employees) took his seat in Radio City Music Hall perspiration dripped from his brow, and he was filled with anxiety. Over the past three years hundreds of those whom he referred to as his “boys and girls” had produced 200,000 colorized sketches, spliced them into a seamless whole, and added sound; sound as rich as the color applied to the cartoon characters.

Before the feature length production began, Clark Gable and Carol Lombard entered the well-known theater, and sat down.

And the feature length film started.

From the opening scene Walt Disney sensed a dynamic in the building which he’d never before experienced. A bit of his anxiety dissipated, but he was not yet ready to congratulate himself. And then. And then, the climax. It was “make it or break it” time, and he knew it.

As Snow White received the apple from the wicked queen, bit into that awful fruit, and dropped to the floor

… silence.

As the heroine of the story lay stone dead, and laid out on a bier, and Doc, Dopey, Bashful, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy and Happy wept great and copious tears, the audience reciprocated, and did the same! (It was reported that Clark Gable and Carol Lombard wept along with them).

Of course, as students of Disney filmology, you and I know that Snow White didn’t stay dead, but rather, our noble prince revived her with a kiss. And they rode off into the sunset. As heartbreaking as the initial reaction, so also was the joy of the subsequent response.

Applause! Cheers! Abject Joy!

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” ran an almost unprecedented 5 weeks at Radio City, and was featured at many other theaters throughout the nation. During the course of its run, and as the most horrific scenes played out, young (and perhaps not so young) children wet the seat cushions, and some ran screaming from the theater. In today's revenue, the movie grossed over 100 million dollars.

… All for a cartoon!

In the heart of every man, woman and child exists, at least for a few brief moments in time, the wherewithal to suspend credulity in favor of something mythological and magical.

In a world as troubled as ours, we need a few more magic wands and flying carpets to transport us to places we otherwise might have never had the opportunity to visit. 

By William McDonald, PhD