Development on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" began in early 1934, and in June 1934, Walt Disney announced the production of his first feature to the "New York Times". Before "Snow White", the Disney studio had been mainly involved in the production of highly successful animated shorts in the "Mickey Mouse" and "Silly Symphonies" series. Disney hoped to enlarge his studio's reputation and money by moving into features, and estimated that "Snow White" could be produced for a budget of $250,000 - ten times the budget of an average "Silly Symphony".
Walt Disney had to fight to get the movie produced. Both his brother Roy Disney and his wife Lillian attempted to talk him out of it, and the Hollywood movie industry mockingly referred to the movie as "Disney's Folly" while it was in production. He even had to mortgage his house to help finance the movie's production, which eventually ran up a total cost of just over $1.5 million, a huge sum for a movie in 1937.
Unvoiced characters include Snow White's animal friends, the Queen's raven, and the vultures who follow the Witch. However, although the animals did not have human speaking voices, their natural calls were very lifelike, and were all voiced by champion whistler and animal mimic A. Purves Pullen, who would provide bird and animal calls for Disney movies (including numerous Pluto cartoons) for several decades. Pullen also produced the bird calls for the Enchanted Tiki Room attractions at Disney theme parks. During the 1940s and 1950s, he performed as "Dr. Horatio Q. Birdbath" with the
comedy band Spike Jones & His City Slickers.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was first shown in cinemas on December 21, 1937. It was released across the United States on February 4, 1938. It has been re-released many times since. The first time was in 1944, in order to raise money for the Disney studio during World War II. This set a tradition of re-releasing Disney animated features every seven to ten years. "Snow White" was re-released to theaters in 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987 and 1993.
Disney's wife, Lillian, told him that no one will go pay anything to see a dwarf picture. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937 to a very impressed audience, many of the same people who called the movie "Disney's Folly." The movie received a prasie from many child actors audience that included Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Jack Benny, Fred MacMurray, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Burns and Allen, Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, John Barrymore, and Marlene Dietrich. Six days later, Walt Disney and the seven dwarfs appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine. The "New York Times" said "Thank you very much, Mr. Disney." RKO Radio Pictures put the movie into general release on February 4, 1938, and it went on to become a huge box-office success, making more money than any other movie in 1938. In fact, for a short time, "Snow White" was the highest-grossing movie in American cinema history, until it was beat by "Gone with the Wind" in 1939. When taking inflation into account, and including rereleases, the movie still remains one of the top ten American movie moneymakers of all time.
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was the first full-length animated feature movie made in English and Technicolor (not counting the "Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons"), and won an Academy Award for Walt Disney as a huge movie which has charmed millions and started a great new form of entertainment. Disney won a full-size Oscar statuette and seven small ones, given to him by 10-year-old child actress Shirley Temple.
The movie was also nominated for Best Musical Score. "Some Day My Prince Will Come" has become a jazz standard that has been performed by numerous artists, including Buddy Rich, Lee Wiley, Oscar Peterson, and Miles Davis.
Noted moviemakers such as Sergei Eisenstein and Charlie Chaplin praised the movie as a huge achievement in cinema. The movie inspired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to produce its own fantasy movie, "The Wizard of Oz" in 1939. The 1943 "Merrie Melodies" short "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs", directed by Bob Clampett, parodies "Snow White" by presenting the story with an all-black cast singing a jazz score.
In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten movies in ten "classic" American movie genres. After polling over 1,500 people from the creative community, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was acknowledged as the best movie in the animation genre.
Snow White's Scary Adventures is a popular theme park ride at Disneyland (an opening day attraction dating from 1955), Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. Snow White, her Prince, and the Seven Dwarfs are also featured in parades and character appearances throughout the parks.
A video game was released for the Game Boy Color system. Snow White appears in the popular PlayStation 2 game "Kingdom Hearts" as one of the seven fabled Princesses of Heart.
Captain Jack Harkness
Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character in the British television series "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood". He is played by actor John Barrowman. He was first in "Doctor Who" in the 2005 episode "The Empty Child" and is in the show throughout the rest of the 2005 series as a companion of the Ninth Doctor. Jack later becomes the main character in "Torchwood", an adult-themed spin-off of "Doctor Who". He comes back into "Doctor Who" in the 2007 series and he meets the Tenth Doctor, and returned again for the 2008 series.
Jack is a time traveller and former con man from the 51st century. A bisexual. In contrast to the wiser and older Doctor, Jack prefers a hands-on solution to the problem at hand. As a consequence of his death and being brought back in the last episode of the 2005 series of "Doctor Who", the character becomes immortal, which does not change during both "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood".
In naming the character, executive producer and head writer Russell T Davies got inspiration from the Marvel Comics character Agatha Harkness, Jack's original appearances in "Doctor Who" were thought of with the intention of forming a character arc in which Jack is changed from a coward to a hero, and John Barrowman consciously minded this in his portrayal of the character. Following on that arc, the character's debut episode would leave his morality as ambiguous, publicity materials asking, "Is he a force for good or ill?"
The character is described as both "lethally charming... good looking and utterly captivating", as well as "flirtatious, cunning, clever and a bit of an action man". Within "Doctor Who", Jack's personality is light-hearted, although this changes in "Torchwood"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first series, where he becomes a darker character. In "Torchwood" Series 1, Jack has been shaped by his ongoing search for the Doctor and also by his role as a leader, in which he is predominantly more aloof. During The second series of "Torchwood", Jack became a much more light-hearted character once again, after appearances in "Doctor Who" where he was reunited with the Doctor.