Lot 475 The most important copy of Disney’s Snow White book in existence
The movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered on December 21, 1937 at the Cathay Circle Theater in Hollywood; at the end of the showing, the audience, packed with celebrities, rose to its feet and cheered. Bringing it to the screen had not been easy. It began in 1934, when Disney assembled a group of animators and took them through his ideas about how to make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into a movie. From 1934 on, nearly 750 artists were employed at one time or another on the film, including many of the best and brightest who ever worked in the genre. Walt originally intended to spend up to half a million dollars on the project. In the end, he spent more than $1.5 million. Although the studio had had some success with a variety of animated short subjects, spending at this rate quickly caused Walt to run out of money, and he and Roy Disney had to leave their former bankers and get continued financing from the Bank of America, whom Disney courted constantly as the overruns piled up. Fortunately for Disney, the premier of the movie received virtually unanimous rave reviews, and it became an instant hit.
Nevertheless, $1.5 million was a lot of money to make up, especially when children were being admitted to the showings for ten cents each. Disney had recently changed distribution companies, signing up with RKO. In addition to domestic distribution of the picture, RKO had a significant presence in Europe, and Walt was eager to take advantage of this additional market. RKO Radio Pictures held its first International Sales Convention on September 5th and 6th, 1938, at the Hotel George V in Paris. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the featured film at the meeting. There were 24 distributors (dubbed The European Foreign Legion) from across Europe invited to the Convention. These distributors were shown the movie and the promotional materials at a two-day business meeting which featured lunches sponsored by Disney, and in the weeks following the Convention, the distributors and RKO worked out individual distribution contracts.
As part of his promotion for the affair, Disney had copies of the Disney book, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, published by Harper and Brothers in 1937, brought to the Disney studios where he and 51 of the principal creators of the film signed copies to be given as gifts to the prospective distributors. Disney signed boldly at the bottom of the title page and instructed the animators to sign on the title page and on the front flyleaf. We have examined the three copies known to exist from this group (the other two currently in private collections), and each signature is placed in the same location on each copy, indicating that the signing was carefully orchestrated. The group of signers is a remarkable collection. It contains 51 of the 64 people officially credited on the movie, and includes six of the nine men later referred to by Disney as the "nine old men". These six are Les Clark, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Lawson, Woolie Reitherman and Frank Thomas. In addition, it includes character designers Albert Hurter and Joe Grant, art directors Charles Phillippi, Terrell Stapp, McLaren Stewart, Harold Miles, Gustav Tenggren, Ken Anderson, Kendall O'Connor, and Hazel Sewell and supervising animators Ham Luske and Vladimir Tytla as well as a continuing who’s who of Disney animators.
Included with the book is the original letter written by the European RKO representative welcoming one of the attendees. This man, Otto Sonnenfeld, was the RKO distributor for Czechoslovakia, and he was Jewish. When he returned to Nazi-dominated Czechoslovakia, the distribution contract he secured for Snow White allowed him to leave his homeland and gain entry to British-controlled Palestine with a document known as a capitalist certificate, recognizing him as the RKO Pictures distributor for Palestine. In later years, Mr. Sonnenfeld and his wife credited the RKO convention and the success of Snow White with saving their lives. It is believed that most of these special copies of the book that went to Paris never left Europe and were destroyed during the war. Also included with the book are the business agenda for the convention and the menu for the Disney-sponsored dinner following the meetings.
In all, the book and the attendant materials make up a fascinating and truly rare piece of Disney history. Because of its provenance and its importance in the Disney story, it is not an exaggeration to say that this is the most significant Disney book available to the collector.
Nevertheless, $1.5 million was a lot of money to make up, especially when children were being admitted to the showings for ten cents each. Disney had recently changed distribution companies, signing up with RKO. In addition to domestic distribution of the picture, RKO had a significant presence in Europe, and Walt was eager to take advantage of this additional market. RKO Radio Pictures held its first International Sales Convention on September 5th and 6th, 1938, at the Hotel George V in Paris. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the featured film at the meeting. There were 24 distributors (dubbed The European Foreign Legion) from across Europe invited to the Convention. These distributors were shown the movie and the promotional materials at a two-day business meeting which featured lunches sponsored by Disney, and in the weeks following the Convention, the distributors and RKO worked out individual distribution contracts.
As part of his promotion for the affair, Disney had copies of the Disney book, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, published by Harper and Brothers in 1937, brought to the Disney studios where he and 51 of the principal creators of the film signed copies to be given as gifts to the prospective distributors. Disney signed boldly at the bottom of the title page and instructed the animators to sign on the title page and on the front flyleaf. We have examined the three copies known to exist from this group (the other two currently in private collections), and each signature is placed in the same location on each copy, indicating that the signing was carefully orchestrated. The group of signers is a remarkable collection. It contains 51 of the 64 people officially credited on the movie, and includes six of the nine men later referred to by Disney as the "nine old men". These six are Les Clark, Milt Kahl, Ward Kimball, Eric Lawson, Woolie Reitherman and Frank Thomas. In addition, it includes character designers Albert Hurter and Joe Grant, art directors Charles Phillippi, Terrell Stapp, McLaren Stewart, Harold Miles, Gustav Tenggren, Ken Anderson, Kendall O'Connor, and Hazel Sewell and supervising animators Ham Luske and Vladimir Tytla as well as a continuing who’s who of Disney animators.
Included with the book is the original letter written by the European RKO representative welcoming one of the attendees. This man, Otto Sonnenfeld, was the RKO distributor for Czechoslovakia, and he was Jewish. When he returned to Nazi-dominated Czechoslovakia, the distribution contract he secured for Snow White allowed him to leave his homeland and gain entry to British-controlled Palestine with a document known as a capitalist certificate, recognizing him as the RKO Pictures distributor for Palestine. In later years, Mr. Sonnenfeld and his wife credited the RKO convention and the success of Snow White with saving their lives. It is believed that most of these special copies of the book that went to Paris never left Europe and were destroyed during the war. Also included with the book are the business agenda for the convention and the menu for the Disney-sponsored dinner following the meetings.
In all, the book and the attendant materials make up a fascinating and truly rare piece of Disney history. Because of its provenance and its importance in the Disney story, it is not an exaggeration to say that this is the most significant Disney book available to the collector.
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