Charlotte's Web (1973)

**Charlotte's Web** is a 1973 American animated musical drama film which was released on March 1, 1973 by Paramount Pictures.

It is based on E.B. White's 1952 children's book of the same name.

## Plot

Charlotte (Debbie Reynolds), a gentle & wise grey spider with a flair for promotion pledges to save a young pig named Wilbur (Henry Gibson) from being slaughtered.

## Voice Cast

* Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte
* Henry Gibson as Wilbur
* Paul Lynde as Templeton
* Agnes Moorehead as The Goose
* Don Messick as Jeffrey
* Herb Vigran as Lurvy
* Pamelyn Ferdin as Fern Arable
* Martha Scott as Mrs. Arable
* John Stephenson as John Arable
* Danny Bonaduce as Avery Arable
* Bob Holt as Homer Zuckerman
* William B. White as Henry Fussy

## Production

In 1967, animators John and Faith Hubley were interested in purchasing the film rights of "Charlotte's Web" in hopes of producing a feature-length animated adaptation.

E.B. White (who had liked the Hubleys) sold the film rights, but the Hubleys were unable to acquire financial backing and the project languished.

In September of 1970, the Los Angeles Times reported that White had sold the film rights to "Charlotte's Web" to Edgar Bronfman Sr.'s Sagittarius Productions who intended to produce a feature-length animated adaptation of the book.

Director-producer Michael Campus was hired to supervise the project. Later, in November, Henry White (the president of Sagittarius Pictures) and Campus approached director Gene Deitch to direct Charlotte's Web. Deitch agreed and personally met with E.B. White to discuss how the book should be adapted.

As part of the contract deal with E.B. White, he would have the final approval of the character design and the casting of the spider character, Charlotte; however, Campus left the project to direct the 1972 film, "Z.P.G." and Deitch later learned he was forbidden to show his storyboards to E.B. White.

Development on "Charlotte's Web" still continued at Deitch's animation studio in Prague with Czech painter Mirko Hanák producing artwork of the film before dying of leukemia in November 1971; however, Bronfman Sr. began to grow dissatisfied with the European-influenced conceptual artwork.

By May of 1971, Deitch shipped his storyboards in a package to Sagittarius Productions in New York City, whom notified that his package went unopened and would be returned to him. On June 3, 1971 (in a mailed letter to E.B. White), he stated that Sagittarius had refused to look his storyboards following six months of work on the project.

During that same month, it was reported that Sagittarius Productions had signed a two-picture production deal with Hanna-Barbera Productions in which both films would be distributed by Paramount Pictures (one of the films being "Charlotte's Web").

Around that same time, Joe Barbera had visited E.B. White at his residence in Maine in which the author highlighted parts of the book he did not want to change and parts that were *"subject to discussion."*

### Casting

In January of 1972, it was reported that Henry Gibson, Debbie Reynolds, and Tony Randall had signed on to provide the voices of Wilbur, Charlotte and Templeton.

Writing in his autobiography, Joseph Barbera wrote that Debbie Reynolds had called him and said that she was willing to join the project even without being paid.

Although Randall had completed all of his voicework, co-director Iwao Takamoto wrote that "his readings just went flat, which surprised all of us. Tony's delivery was a bit too sophisticated and his singing was too operatic. He did not have enough of that raunchy feeling that the character required."

Joseph Barbera felt that Tony Randall had to be replaced, and approached Paul Lynde (who was voicing characters in "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop" and other Hanna-Barbera TV shows at the time) to do a reading.

The following spring, Paul Lynde was officially cast in the film which was followed by Agnes Moorehead, Rex Allen, Pamelyn Ferdin & Martha Scott, who had joined the cast.

## Box Office

"Charlotte's Web" grossed $2.4 million in rentals.

## Critical Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, "Charlotte's Web" has an approval rating of 77% based on 22 reviews with an average rating of 6.60\10. The site's consensus reads: *"That's some pig, with spirited vocal performances and a charmingly family-friendly adaptation of E.B. White's winsome story spun around him."*

TV Guide Magazine said: *"The voices of [Debbie] Reynolds, [Paul] Lynde, [Henry] Gibson, and all the rest are perfectly cast, and the songs by the Sherman brothers are solid, although none of them became hits like those they wrote for such Disney movies as Mary Poppins."*

The Austin Chronicle wrote: *"The Hanna-Barbera animation is better than the studio’s usual bare-bones mediocrity, and the voice cast is superb."*

Variety magazine described "Charlotte's Web" as *"heartwarming entertainment"*.

The Chicago Reader wrote the the film *"preserves some of the form and language of White's original but fattens and sweetens his lean and pungent prose with songs by Richard and Robert Sherman (Mary Poppins)."*