Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-02-08
|'Alice' Tested
Before Film
Is Completed
By Howard c. Heyn
HOLLYWOOD.
sated in the studio theater were

11oLL WoSo.
Seated in the studio theater were
IS men and women, listening in
tently and taking notes while a
serious big fellow with a lecturers
pointer told them the story of Alice
in Wonderland"
Then the king raps for order
and the queen shouts, of with
his head" droned the narrator,
his voice, deliberately Unconditional,
echoing in the hall. His pointer
moved along a series of display
drawings.
Had Lewis Carroll G832-189S)
been born rs years later, he might
have put some OF this in his book,
for the process of bringing Alice to
the screen Is almost as fantastic as
her adventures in Wonderland.
The group in the theater COM
prised o new kind of story confer
ence, cooked up by Walt Disney's
research department. They weren't
writer's, or even studio employees,
but people from the outside-house-
wives, clerks, veterans, truck drivers.
On successive days three groups of
s. persons heard 10 chapters of
Alice" The drawings were prelim-
mary sketches by Disney artists
working out the narrative.
Wants No Errors.
All this springs from a compare
lively recent Hollywood gimmick
known as predetermination of audi
ence reaction. The test won't get
the producers money back If the
film is q real stinker, but it does
give him q chance to withhold re-
lease, or make revisions If possible.
It teaches him-or should-not to
make the same mistakes again.
Disney is applying this principle
before he starts filming Alice"
Disney says he will spend $780,
900 on "Alice," and he wants no
expensive errors.
He imported a Columbia Univer-
sity professor of speech, w. Cabell
Greet, to help determine the type OF
accents for the March Hare, the
Caterpillar and the other Carroll
characters. He engaged noted
actress, Edna Best, Just to see that
the voice of Alice Gas yet unchosen)
will be acceptable wherever English
is spoken.
These exhaustive preparations
have been pursued by the Disney
staff with an intensity and gravity
which might be ludicrous except for
the money involved.
Chose Tough Audience.
Card Walker, Disney research
chief, Is not only an avid Carroll
fan but a statistical dynamo whose
pet project is the narration sessions
I'VE wanted these people to hear
the story told dispasionately, SO that
all the interest they displayed would
be the product of the situations, .
he said in the interview. 1--WE chose
the toughest audience in the car
toon f1eld-the 18-to-30 age group.
"First, however, we mailed out
questionnaires. Many Of the replies
indicated that the 18-to-30 age group
considered it strictly a story for
children. Then we picked at ran
dom los other persons, 18 to 80, to
attend the variations.
1--WE found an amazing difference
in the reactions of some of those
who answered the questionnaires
and those who heard the variations
and saw the sketches" \
Not Unanimous.
Walker said IS per cent of the
narration audiences predicted the
cartoon will be very good or excel
lent. Sequences which the test con-
ferees liked best were: Alice enter
ing the rabbit hole. the talking
doorknob, the alteration Of Alice's
size when she sips from the bottle,
the mad tea party, and trial before
the Queen. Characters impressing
them most were Alice, the Caterpil-
lar, the Mad Halter, the Cheshire
Cat and the DormouSe
Even 50, the reaction was not
unanimously favorable. Much of
CAROLS satire, for instance, is lost
upon modern audiences. Some of
the los didn't like the Jabberwocky,
or the present concept of the Queen.
They'll like the Jabberwocky, all
right, when they see it against a
proper mood background, and with
appropriate music" Walker pre-
dicted confidently. "And the Queens
character is being polished, too"