Snow White Soundtrack - 1944/1949 Victor Records Reissue, Y6 & Y17

SNOW WHITE SECOND ISSUE ALBUM COVER
1944 record images courtesy of Grinning Ghost.

The Snow White soundtrack, first released in the US on the 1938 RCA/Victor record set (catalog number "J-8"), sported an album cover with the Seven Dwarfs marching across their log bridge. This same set of three 78rpm 10" discs was reissued in 1944; the Disney artwork, however, was not. While the Disney studio owned the copyright to its Snow White characters, all rights to the songs were (and still are) controlled by the Bourne Company. As a result, Victor went forward with an album design devoid of Disney influence and instead featured a generic children's circus-theme in its place.

The album was labeled with catalog number "Y-6", part of the Victor youth series. Like the earlier issue, this one was housed in an outer paper envelope with the artwork on the front, none on the back. Because of the fragile nature of the cover, it's difficult to find an example today without some signs of damage to it.

Around the time of the release, shellac records were beginning to be replaced by the new "unbreakable" discs. This Snow White set. though, was still pressed from the older material.

Note that both the 1944 individual matrix #41-0000-A and its 1938 counterpart #25735-A are stamped into the "dead wax" area of the disc center.

These original recordings are identical to the those of the1938 release, and as such, also contain the "missing verses" found in the Dwarfs' Yodel Song and Heigh Ho.

Sold during wartime, the three inner sleeves all contained logos for 'Victory Bonds and Stamps. The opposite side included a retail price list for the various Victor record labels. This pricing scale apparently did not apply to the Snow White set because, according to Disney record historian R. Michael Murray, this 1944 reissue originally sold for $1.80.

The record set is detailed on page 161 from Murray's book, The Golden Age of Walt Disney Records.

Matrix #41-0000 (1944); #25735 (1938)...
Side A: With a Smile and a Song
Side B: Dig-A-Dig Dig and Heigh Ho

Matrix #41-0001 (1944);  #25736 (1938)...
Side A: I'm Wishing and One Song
Side B: Whistle While You Work

Matrix #41-002 (1944); #25737 (1938)...
Side A: Dwarfs' Yodel Song
Side B: Some Day My Prince Will Come

____

Five years later in 1949, the same three-record set was re-released again by RCA/Victor. This time the album cover was blue and the illustration of the Dwarfs' log-crossing had returned. Catalog number Y-17.

1949 Album Cover courtesy of Greg Philip of A Lost Film.

Disc labels for this set are red. The individual record matrix numbers are 45-5097, 45-5098, and 45-5099.