Images via Heritage Auctions.
Snow White stage performance.
Signing autographs for fans.
Visiting hospitals.
Newspaper clippings filled two scrapbooks in Adriana's personal collection. These pictured below date from 1938.
More photos from promotional tours.
Singing on stage at an event for the 1952 re-release.
Heading out on tour again, possibly for the 1958 re-release of Snow White (or maybe the 1957 Cinderella reissue). Adriana poses in a Snow White dress. To our right is Roy Williams (Disney artist and "Big Roy" from the Mickey Mouse Club), and Clarence Nash (the voice of Donald Duck). We're not sure who the man is to the left, although one guess might be Dickie Jones (voice of Pinocchio).
Special thanks to Nunziante Valoroso and François Monferran for their assistance with this post.
The fortunate collectors who took home these winning auctions now possess a gold mine of Adriana Caselotti photographic memorabilia, some of which is rarely seen on the market today.
All those years, it has been written, and even recently, that Miss Caselotti's career was "destroyed" by the fact that the Disney Studio, as to not kill the fantasy, did prevent her from being known as the voice of Snow White! Well ... all of the above, and mostly the news paper clippings of 1938, are a proof that it is pure baloney! She was namely quite associated with the promotion of the film. Which is a good thing! But, the art of creating myths!
ReplyDeleteTrue. AC was definitely involved with the promotion of various SW re-releases (although there was a period where she tried to sue Disney for more money). I think when they talk about her "career being destroyed", it might be in reference to Disney not allowing her to be in other films (right after Snow White's first run). I could be mistaken, but she may have been under contract, preventing her from doing other projects (w/o Disney approval). With all of the success the animated film was having in 1938-39, it would have been quite beneficial for her to capitalize on the buzz. Whether it was because of Disney or some other reason, she never really did.
DeleteWell, it does look like Greg Philip has identified that gentleman on the left; animator Ken Walker, and the year seems to be before 1952 since Mr Walker left the Disney Studio that year and that Miss Caselotti confirmed that she stopped wearing the dress in ... 1951! Adriana Caselotti- Snow White’s original voice actress, in her mid-thirties, visiting various schools and hospitals in costume as Snow White, circa the 1950s. “I used to wear a Snow White costume, you know. For the first few reissues, I wore the Snow White costume and I wore it until 1951. At the time, I was thirty five years old.” Not much longer after this photo had been taken, however, she ceased appearing as Snow White in public and threw her costume away. “I wore it until 1951, when I saw two little kids talking as I was coming out of the school. I used to play in many schools because there was no television at that time. And I heard the little girl, she was about eight years old, say to the other one: ‘Oh, look- there’s Snow White, but she’s so old! She’s terribly old!’ So I never wore it again. She should see me now!” Later, in the nineties, a replica of her Snow White costume had been remade so that she could appear on late night television shows as the old Snow White, for gags." ...... Ain't that wonderful to discover after so many years?!
ReplyDeletehttps://iknowwhathappenedtoday.blogspot.com/2019/05/may-4-ken-walker.html?fbclid=IwAR01g9dJ2Nu9Mi2z0VPvuJpuZ406o1HIBKwdinvcF3IAtBAOfkxdNRcvQPs