Tom Arnold was hailed in England as the King of Pantomime and was well known for his lavish ice spectaculars. An extremely successful impresario, he brought together a wide variety of shows to stadiums across the UK.It was in the early 1960s that Arnold's producer/director Gerald Palmer created an adaptation on ice of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The show would feature French skating star Jacqueline du Bief as the Evil Queen.
Tom Arnold image via My Brighton and Hove.
This 12-page Tom Arnold programme was available to patrons who attended the show. These two come from the performances at the Empire Pool Wembley and the Palladium in Brighton. (See the latter in more detail in another Archive entry.)
Pantomime-style shows were a popular Christmas tradition in the UK and Tom Arnold's Snow White would play for several years. A silent but substantial video clip from a 1965 performance at Wimbley Stadium in London can be viewed on youtube and at British Pathe.
A Tom Arnold record album was also released featuring the music from the show. Learn more in another post.
After the Tom Arnold performances finished their run, not much was seen of Snow White until the 1980s when things would change in a big way with Disney's own Snow White on Ice shows produced by Kenneth Feld.
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