Document details

A take on the early animation contributions of famed animator Ward Kimball to Disney's 1937 animated classic.

Though a few story men and senior animators at the Disney Studio understood Walt’s ambition to create feature-length animation at the start of 1934, many of the younger animators, including Ward Kimball, didn’t learn about Walt’s grand plan until the end of the year—when Walt acted out the entire story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for artists at his Hyperion Avenue studio. Though the exact date of this performance is now lost, a reasonable guess, based on studio records, would be late October, 1934.‘ Though much of the meeting was focused on dramatic movements in the proposed film, all in attendance understood the implications: a true feature had the potential to transform the small studio operation from one that produced six— and seven-minute “filler” cartoons to one that created centerpiece entertainment.

[…]