Snow White on Ice - The Ice Capades

Disney characters have been appearing on ice since the late 1940s starting with the Ice Capades. Founded in Hershey, Pennsylvania by John H. Harris and others, the traveling ice skating show featured theatrical performances from former Olympic and National Champion figure skaters. A wide variety of programs were produced including those "by special arrangement with Walt Disney."

1949--

The first Snow White ensemble hit the ice in 1949 with US figure skating champions Donna Atwood and Bobby Specht portraying the princess and prince. These early shows were in the days before Disney theme parks as well as the fine art of character costuming. As a result, the dwarfs were sometimes a little scary-looking.

1949 Program Front Cover

Back Cover

1954--

The show returned in 1954 with Atwood and Specht reenacting their roles.

1954 Program: Front Cover

Back Cover

1955--

Snow White was not apart of the 1955 Ice Capades lineup, but the show did appear that year in a John Harris produced off-shoot called Ice Cycles. This 1955 program booklet appears identical to the one from '54 (above) except for the name on the cover.

An 8x10 Ice Cycles publicity photo (below) shows Snow White with her forest animal friends. Donna Atwood would retire her skates the following year in 1956.

1955 8x10 via Bah's Sports Photos and Memorabilia.

The Ice Capade costumes made a rare off-ice appearance when they were used in the parade and festivities shown live on television during the grand opening of Disneyland, July 17, 1955. Disneyland's first Snow White, JoAnn Killingsworth, is seen here with the dwarfs in a practice run of the parade.

Image via The Disneyana Collector newsletter (summer 1987). Scan courtesy of TokyoMagic! at Meet the World.

Also see a sharper image at Daveland and another angle at Stuff From The Park.

1959--

The Snow White show was brought back again for the 1959 season and starred Helga Neff and Peter Voss as the royal couple.

Promotional Photos via Humber Photo Collection.

1959 Program Front and Back Cover

Souvenir pennants...

Blue Wool Ice Capades Pennant (approx. 30" long)

Close-up Red Pennant

Also see the souvenir pins in post below.

The Ice Capades would continue in its popularity up thru the mid-1980s and even into the early 90s, but the heyday of performances featuring Snow White characters would end long before this. There were Disney-themed shows throughout the 1960s and early 70s, but none that centered so exclusively on the Snow White storyline.

In the 60s, it was the Tom Arnold shows throughout the United Kingdom that would bring the Disney Snow White characters back to the ice.

Program images via The Jumping Frog, Bah's Sports Photos and Memorabilia, and Lost Treasures For You.

Ice Capades - Pins

This 1949 Ice Capades celluloid plastic pin features "Donna Atwood as Snow White." Still on original card. Pin measures approximately 2.5".

And Dopey is on skates in this metal pin dating from the 1950s. Brass luster with colorful enamel paint accents. Measures 2.25” tall.

Dopey pin via Hake's Americana and Collectibles.

Easter basket tutorial and Cup Winners

Good Morning, hope everyone had a good weekend and saw a bit of the lovely sunshine we had here in the Fens, it was really beautiful and Sunday quite warm as there was little or no wind.

Before I can talk craft I have to share a picture of the boys after our win at Wembley yesterday, it was something of a nail biter going to extra time and then penalties, but we got there in the end and are assured of  European footie next season, not to mention another trophy in the cabinet at Anfield. For those of you totally lost and not as mad and fanatical about footie as I am, I mean Liverpool FC !!

Silliness over, on to some craft and I thought I would share one of the little Easter baskets I have been making, the inspiration actually came from a demo I saw on TV for a rather expensive score board and it got me thinking I could probably come up with something similar using my cheapie MDF board which I've had for yonks and hey presto it worked a treat, so here is my take on the basket.

It's a really basic design and I am sure most of you can suss it out for yourself, but just in case I've done a few photos with sizes to help. Above is what I used for mine, one sheet of A4 linen cardstock, I 12x12 sheet DP, some ribbons, Copics, Aquamarkers, scoring tool four eyelets, Nesie and stamp for the image which is Penny Black 2665K Blush and I also used Adirondack raspberry for the main part of the flower.

Start by cutting the A4 sheet of card down to a 21cm square  and score in both directions at 7cm intervals so your piece is divided into nine equal squares, the score the four corner squares diagonally as above. Crease all scored lines and you will see the shape of the basket coming together. The four diagonal corners scores need to be carefully folded inwards.

Next cut 17 - 6.5x6.5cm squares from the sheet of DP, leave 9 whole and cut the other eight in half diagonally, then stick all into place as below. Both sides will look the same with just one centre square blank, that will be your base.

Note: the basket in the picture at the top was my prototype and I didn't cover the folded in flaps, so if you prefer to do it that way to get some contrast you will only need nine of the 6.5cm squares and they won't need cutting in half as you will only be covering the whole squares, five inside and four on the outside.

Stamp your image four times and cut out with a Nestie, I then ran a Copic round the edge rather than matting and layering so as not to add too much weight. Stick on the four outer squares.......make sure you get them the right way up and not upside down as I did on my first attempt !!

Finally pop an eyelet into each of the four corners, draw the basket up into shape and thread ribbon through the eyelets. And walla, you have a pretty little basket to fill with goodies. I will share this pink and green version another day.

And of course you can change the size to larger or smaller, all you need to remember is that your chosen size will divide evenly by three so you get nine equal squares.

Marc Davis - Disney's Nine Old Men

Marc Davis (March 30, 1913 - January 12, 2000) was the very last of the "nine old men" to join the Disney studio, December 2, 1935. As with all new recruits, he started out as an in-betweener, but his first assignment was to attend two-weeks of intensive life-drawing classes under Don Graham.

Marc Davis

By late spring of 1936, Marc was made assistant to Grim Natwick, the original animator of Betty Boop. Although Davis' background experience was more in line with drawing animals, he would soon be helping to create the star of Walt Disney's first feature.

Grim Natwick

Natwick had a team which consisted of three assistants, Davis being the principle of these, and three in-betweeners. Their sole purpose during production? Animate the Snow White character. Supervising animator Hamilton Luske also had a Snow White team, and it was not uncommon for conflicts to arise between the two heads. In a nutshell, Natwick saw the princess as being older, more mature, Luske as more childlike.

According to Michael Barrier...

As Davis became aware of the hostility between Luske and Natwick, he gradually took it upon himself to make the necessary changes in Natwick's drawings. Those changes went beyond the character's proportions to what Davis called a "kind of feeling of the character"; Natwick, he said, wanted the girl to have "a vitality," more than simple cuteness, and it was this vitality that Davis had to tame. Hollywood Cartoons, p.198

Production Drawing via Collectors Paradise Galleries

Animator and assistant worked well together. Grim would say about the help that Marc provided during Snow White, it "was like having two right arms."

"During the three and one-half years that Marc and I worked together at Disney's," wrote Natwick in 1979, "twenty months or nearly six hundred days were spent drawing Snow White herself in scene after scene for the picture that carries her name in the title." Source: John Canemaker's Nine Old Men p.274

Snow White with broom. Rendered and initialed by Davis in graphite and red pencil on a 12 field sheet of animation paper (12" x 10"). Includes Disney studio stamps. Sold in May 2007 for $597.50 (USD). Heritage Auctions...

Snow White with bird. Drawing on animation paper (9.5 x12"), lead pencil with colored pencil accents. Marc Davis initialed bottom right-hand corner. Sold in June 2008 for $747.50. Hake's Americana and Collectibles...

Snow White collage, each head has been trimmed from an original animation production sketch and mounted to another piece of paper. All drawn by Davis. Image area 7.25" x 9.5". Sold in February 2011 for $1314.50. Heritage Auctions...

Marc had fond memories of those early days at the Disney Studio when the push to learn was immense...

At one time, Walt rented a studio up in North Hollywood and every Wednesday night we would see a selection of films--anything from Chaplin to unusual subjects. Anything that might produce growth, that might be stimulating--the cutting of the scenes, the staging, how a group of scenes was put together...

Everybody here was studying constantly. we had models at the Studio and we'd go over and draw every night. We weren't making much, because the Studio didn't have much, but it was a perfect time of many things coming together into one orbit. Walt was the lodestone. Nine Old Men p.273

As Natwick's assistant, Marc had to attend the "sweatbox" projection room meetings with the directors and Walt. But "the boss" hardly knew who he was. It wasn't until Davis started doing story sketches for Bambi that Walt "got excited" about his drawings.

Davis would go on to animate key characters in many of the classic features from the 1940s and 50s including both Maleficent and Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.

Video posted by TheBunnyHD

His contributions to the Disney empire, however, weren't restricted to just the animated motion picture. His visionary work as an Imagineer is the stuff of Disneyland legend.

Marc pictured below in 1987 at a Snow White 50th anniversary celebration...

 Marc Davis and Grim Natwick photo via John Canemaker's Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation, 2001.

Snow White image scans copyright Disney.

Further reading:

• Andreas Deja remembers Marc: Deja View
• Mouse Clubhouse interview
• Memories of Marc Davis at the Laughing Place
• Disney Legends: Bio
• 50 Most Influential Disney Animators: Marc Davis

That nasty issue again

Hello folks, I'm not here with any craft, just a rather sad follow up to my post last month here about the activities of another blogger copying work.

This blogger has apparently only just decided to put her side forward and last evening added a post to her blog accusing me of cowardice and plagiarism and whilst she has not named me in her post, has clearly circulated my name to friends and followers who appear to be accepting her explanation resulting in some of those people taking great delight in leaving offensive comments on my blog.

All offensive comments have and will be deleted as they appear, but will be saved and reported to blogger along with those who have already or may in the future post disparaging comments about me on their own blogs as they have threatened to do.

I did not name the person in my blog posts and did not pass her name to others so as not to cause her further distress whilst allowing her the opportunity to make her apologies, but it seems she was not prepared to do so.

It is no surprise that she claims complete innocence and to have never received my mail last month (of which she was sent another copy), yet a clean up of her blog happened shortly after it was originally sent. Her blog post refers to there being no evidence of her wrong doing, but she of course is fully aware of the material she deleted. I have since found out that it is possible to copy a persons web pages, but by then it was too late as she had removed the offending posts and evidence. But I understand there may be a way of retrieving deleted archived material and will be investigating that route.

Fortunately there are reliable and genuine friends who saw and witnessed the since deleted posts from this persons blog and I have no reservations or guilt at having raised the issue in the first place and stand by all I said last month.

Disney Catalog - Cover Art in Pins

From 2002 to 2003, the Disney Store produced a series of pins representing some of the most memorable cover illustrations from the Disney Catalog. The pins, limited to 3500 each, were sold in sets of three. An interesting feature about these guys is that they have two different backings, the regular pin-back and also an easel so they can be displayed standing up like a picture frame. Each pin measures 2" x 1.5". Printed on the back is "Disney Catalog Exclusive Pin Collection, Limited Edition of 3500."

The first two sets appeared in October of 2002. The third set in the series, the first to include Snow White artwork, was released in November.

• The Fall 2001 catalog cover of the princess and all seven of the dwarfs...

Image via Disney Pins and Charms For Sale.

• The "Royal Holiday" artwork from the Christmas 2001 catalog; Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella decorate a tree.

Image via Disney Pins and Charms For Sale.

• One of the Ariel covers completed the set of three. Original retail price $22.50/set.

Image via Never Enuff Stuff 4U

____________________

The next set in the Catalog series included two more Snow White covers. Released in April of 2003, the collection of three pins retailed for $24.50.

• The Fall Preview 2002 pin with Aurora, Belle and Snow gathered under a tree.

Image via barbies4u502.

• The well-known Halloween 2002 catalog cover (and its backside).

Images via The Muchness of Disney.

• A Winnie the Pooh on "cloud 9" pin completed the set.

Image via pinpics.

See the rest of the pins in the Disney Catalog Cover Art series at pinpics.

Disney Catalog - Snow White Cover Art

Most of these images come from Dan-the-man-Alexander of Dizmentia. Back in May of last year, I asked Dan if he happened to have any old Disney Catalogs in his collection, particularly those that featured Snow White characters on the cover. When the online world started to come into focus for the Disney Store, the paper catalog with its whimsical artwork was discontinued. I was expecting to see maybe four or five covers from Dan. He found 16! I added a couple more myself, and so here they all are--the Snow White characters on 18 different covers.

Summer 1992. Princesses framed...

Fall 1993. An all Snow White cover in celebration of the theatrical re-release of the film that year...

Holiday 1993. Dopey does his best not to drop the ornaments...

Holiday 1994. Dopey's back along with a few Snow White gifts...

Halloween 1999. The Queen in all her evilness...

Holiday 2000. Grumpy, Dopey and a train full of fun...

Fall 2001. Snow and the boys made the cover to commemorate the film's release on DVD...

Christmas 2001. Aurora and Cinderella help Snow White decorate a pink tree...

Holiday 2001. The Disney characters came out in force for this cover, but at first glance, it appeared that Snow White didn't make the cut. This was a special fold-out edition. When opened, she and the dwarfs are revealed.

In 2002, the Disney Catalog released lithograph prints from the artwork seen on the two Christmas covers above, "Magical Night" and "Royal Holiday"...

Fall Preview 2002. Snow with Aurora and Belle under a weeping willow...

Fall 2002. Belle, Cinderella and Snow White with their masquerade masks...

Halloween 2002. The Disney characters dress up for a night of treat-or-treating. Tinkerbell wears a Snow White mask; Snow White dons one of Maleficent. The others include Mickey as the Beast, Tigger as Pooh, Minnie as Marie, Donald as Jiminy, and one of the Dalmatian Puppies as Cruella...

Last-Minute Gift Guide, Holiday 2002. Snow White, the Prince and Dwarfs celebrate with the other Disney princesses around another pink tree...

Halloween 2003. Minnie Mouse as Snow White along with Lilo as Ariel, Tinkerbell as Cinderella and Marie as Aurora...

Christmas 2003. Wreath hanging with Snow, Aurora and Cinderella...

Winter 2003. More wreath hanging...

Spring Preview 2004. This is one of my favorites. Tea time in front of the castle with Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella...

Halloween 2004. The Old Witch and her Raven look on as the evil brew brings forth the villains Chernabog, Maleficent, Ursula, Jafar, Captain Hook, Scar, Cruella and Hades...

The hard copy catalog ceased operations in 2006. I'm glad to see the Disney Company saving trees by going paperless. But I do miss the cover artwork that used to arrive in the mail all those years. Unfortunately, most of my copies somehow ended up in the recycle bin. So it's thanks to those like Dan Alexander Dizmentia that we still have a glimpse of what they once looked like.