Disney’s Cinderella opens
On this day in 1950 Walt Disneys animated feature Cinderella opens in theaters across the United States.The Chicago-born Disney began his career as an advertising cartoonist in Kansas City.After arriving in Hollywood in 1923 he and his older brother Roy set up shop in the back of a real-estate office and began making a series of animated short films called Alice in Cartoonland featuring various animated characters.In 1928 he introduced the now-immortal character of Mickey Mouse in two silent movies.
That November Mickey debuted on the big screen in Steamboat Willie the first fully synchronized sound cartoon ever made.Walt Disney provided Mickeys squeaky voice himself.The company went on to produce a series of sound cartoons such as the Silly Symphony series which included The Three Little Pigs (1933) and introduced characters like Donald Duck and Goofy.Disney made a risky bet in 1937 when he championedand put 1.5 million of his own money intoSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs the first-ever full-length animated feature film.
The risk paid off in spades after the film grossed 8 million at the box office an incredible sum during the Great Depression.Four more animated hits followed in the growing Disney canonPinocchio (1940) Fantasia (1940) Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942)before full-scale production was stalled by wartime economic problems.By the end of the decade audiences were eagerly awaiting the next great Disney offering having had to satisfy themselves with so-called package films like Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948).Cinderella based on another Brothers Grimm fairy tale was chosen for its similarity to the Snow White story.
The films immediate source was Charles Perraults French version of the fairy tale which tells the story of a young girl whose father dies leaving her at the mercy of her oppressive stepmother and two unsympathetic stepsisters.As in Snow White Cinderella gets the help of a few friendsin this case singing mice and birds as well as a Fairy Godmotherto escape the prison of her servitude and win the heart of Prince Charming.Along the way to its happy endinga Disney trademarkthe film featured lively animation sequences and enduring songs like A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes and the Oscar-nominated Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo.Six years in the making Cinderella became one of Disneys best-loved films and one of the highest-grossing features of 1950.
As with Snow White and other classic animated features the studio held periodic re-releases of Cinderella in 1957 1965 1973 1981 and 1987 keeping its popularity alive among new generations of moviegoers.
