Prod.2001 - Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (XI)
 |  |  |  |  |
- Dwarfs mainly by Ward Kimball, with Fred Spencer, Bill Tytla, Marvin Woodward, Dick Lundy and Bill Roberts. Snow White by Grim Natwick.
As one of the most famous "deleted sequences," the Soup sequence has had a legendary status for a long time, especially since Frank Churchill's song "Music in Your Soup" appeared on albums quite early on. The inclusion of the sequence in pencil test in one of the Disneyland TV programs in the 50s (was it The Plausible Impossible?) gave the first glimpse of what it could have been. The sequence can, of course, be found on the Blu-Ray, in its pencil test version.
Looking at it objectively, the animation was serviceable, though largely below standard, the gags unfunny and the whole sequence certainly slowed everything down. This was the time to get back to the castle and get down to business! I think it is fine the sequence was cut. The date on this 2nd (and last) draft: 2/4/37.
Ward Kimball, who long was the only person credited for this sequence, animated about one minute thirteen seconds, which on a film of this standard is not unsubstantial, but nothing in relation to Tytla's animation in the previous sequence. How far the later, also cut "Lodge Meeting" sequence had progressed, I do not know, but with these two sequences gone, there basically were only a couple of scenes animated by Kimball left in the picture, depicting vultures. No wonder it distressed him to the point of considering leaving the studio. I seem to recall him telling that that was where Walt promised him "the little green man," Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio, a story I find odd, as at this time the studio still was expected to get onto Bambi, prod. no. 2002, after Snow White. Maybe I remember wrong...
posted by Hans Perk at 10:00 AM
5 Comments:
I can't comment on the sequence, (I don't have the DVD with me), but I can try to answer your Kimball question.
I'm not sure what date Disney gave Kimball the option of animating Jiminy Cricket, but on pg. 236, Michael Barrier writes in Hollywood Cartoon that as late as Oct. of 1937, Bambi was considered the next release and that Pinocchio was officially the second film on Dec. of that year and that Walt wanted to have both in production at the same time. Also in the same book on pg. 240, was that Jiminy was added to the film during the summer of 1938. So, most likely Kimball was given his offer when Pinocchio was considered the next film for release after Snow White. Not that I'm complaining; Kimball's style, I think, fit better in Pinocchio than it would with what Disney wanted with Bambi.
I remember the first time I saw Snow White, it was a Christmas present for my younger sister back in, I think, '94 and so the whole family watched it on Christmas evening. I remember us all (or at least me) wondering what happened to the soap which Dopey swallowed in the previous sequence, then after the film along comes a documentary containing the entire soup sequence in pencil test form. So I was practically introduced to the scene along with the rest of the film, so I probably feel more like it belongs with the rest of the film than most people do. Certainly it tied up the loose end with the soap!
By the way, vultures? Wow, I knew Ward had very little animaton surviving into the film but I thought at least it would be dwarf scenes... no wonder he was so upset, the vultures hardly gave him a chance to do what he was best at.
Through aniamtor casting, one can assume this may have been directed by the same person who did the `Dwarfs at mine` sequence. Many of the animators carry through, including Les Clark and Marvin Woodward, who haven`t animated anything else yet. I read a psot by Floyd Norman on this scene, and he said Wilfred Jackson is responsible.
I'm proud to say I was one of the young artists who helped clean up the famous "Soup Eating Sequence."
We pulled this sequence out of the morgue because Walt wanted to use it on one of his television shows. The sequence was still in pretty rough form, so we cleaned it up for the television presentation.
This was back in the fifties, by the way.
I always wondered if Ward Kimball had any surviving scenes in the pictures, and they ended up being vultures.
I read in an article somewhere about Ward Kimball talking about his involvement in Snow White he mentioned that around early '36, Walt told him to do the soup sequence, which he spent 8 months on it, and then Walt Disney took the sequence out, and Ward then said that he was crest-fallen and Walt told him to animate the vultures and it made Ward a little better.
Post a Comment
<< Home