Snow White TV Special (50th Anniversary - 1987)

We wrap up our month-long look at the Snow White 50th Anniversary with a television show...

Screen captures via DTVzone.

This one hour special, Disney's Golden Anniversary of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was shown on NBC's weekly series The Magical World of Disney. In the Michael Eisner introduction to the show, it's clear that it aired around Christmastime. The copyright at the end of the program and the episode title both indicate that it was created in 1987. (I make a point of this because there are numerous online sources that state various and differing airdates for this program.)

Hosted by Dick van Dyke, the show included live-action and animated segments telling the history of the film and revealing for the first time the deleted "soup-eating" and "bed-building" scenes.

Dick van Dyke

The special guest-stars included Jane Curtin as the Evil Queen and Sherman Hensley as the Magic Mirror. The storyline that runs throughout the other historical and musical segments of the program has the Queen placing a spell on Grumpy in an attempt to get him to persuade the other Dwarfs to retire. Much of the show was shot on location at night throughout Disneyland with a couple of singing and dancing numbers by Dick Van Dyke and the Seven Dwarfs.

Jane Curtin

Sherman Hensley

 Dwarfs exit "mine shaft" at Big Thunder Mountain

Fantasyland song and dance

As mentioned earlier, the program was introduced by Michael Eisner. Later, partway through the show, things slowed a little with a weaker musical number by a few television stars of the day. Yet, Dick van Dyke picked things up, and Linda Ronstadt, singing at Snow White's Grotto, finished it off in style with Some Day My Prince Will Come .

Michael Eisner intro

Linda Ronstadt at Snow White's Grotto

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Now here's the entire program in six parts...

Part I

Videos posted by DTVzone.

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

You'd think that a Snow White television program from the 1987 might not hold up too well in today's video game, action adventure society. Yet, in fact, it does. Dick van Dyke is timeless, and following his lead, the program is informative and entertaining...even 24 years after its original airing.

Singin', Dancin', Heigh Ho! (50th Anniversary - 1987)

Disneyland also commemorated Snow White's Golden Anniversary with a live 24-minute stage show entitled Singin' Dancin' Heigh Ho! Held five times daily (11:45 am, 1:00, 3:00. 4:30 and 6:00 pm) at the then Videopolis Stage, the performance included plenty of singing characters, lots of eighties-style dancers, and even the princess on horseback.

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This 1987 Disneyland Summer Program brochure, good from June 20th to September 6th, was published "exclusively for Anaheim Area Lodging Guests" and included information on hours, prices, dining, and things to do at the park. Featured among the daytime entertainment listings were both the Golden Anniversary Celebration parade and the Singin' Dancin' Heigh-Ho show.

[CLICK IMAGE TO READ]

See the Summer Program and more at Vintage Disneyland Tickets.

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The show began with the Dwarfs singing Heigh Ho as they were joined on stage by a troupe of dancers.

The second number featured Snow White singing With A Smile and a Song to puppet forest animals that popped up from the stage in front of her.

Whistle While You Work came next with Snow beginning the song but soon being replaced on stage by the next group of dancers.

A smoke-filled stage followed with haunted forest trees and giant spider dancers. The Old Witch made her appearance too.

The Dwarfs returned to sing The Silly Song and the dancers did a tap routine.

Dry ice poured across the stage as Snow White sang Some Day My Prince Will Come and was then joined by the Prince in a duet of One Song. In front of a castle backdrop, the royal dancers came out for another spin.

The finale saw the dwarfs and dancers reappear to take their bows. Then the Prince led Snow White out on horseback as live doves were released from the front of the stage.

Screen captures via Harborhouse55.

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As part of the 50th Anniversary, the Disney Channel aired a special taped performance for television. See three clips below from the program featuring Colleen Hawks as Snow White and John LaLonde as the Prince...

Video posted by ColleenHawks.

Video posted by ColleenHawks.

Video posted by allen11375.

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And here's the entire Disneyland stage show in three parts as shot on home video...

Videos posted by scottof83.

The stage performance is also available on DVD (along with the Golden Anniversary Celebration parade) via Harborhouse55.

ABC's "Once Upon a Time" Premieres Sunday

From the writers of Lost comes Once Upon a Time, a new ABC television series where classic fairytale characters exist but in present day. Their town is a parallel world in which they look like modern people and don't remember who they truly are.

Emma Swan’s life has been anything but a fairytale. A 28-year-old bail bondsperson, she’s been taking care of herself since she was abandoned as a baby. But when Henry—the son she gave up 10 years ago—finds her, everything changes. Henry is desperate for his mom’s help and thinks that Emma is actually the long, lost daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. Yes, the actual Snow White and Prince Charming. Even stranger, Henry believes that Storybrooke, the sleepy New England town he calls home, is really part of a curse cast by the Evil Queen, freezing fairytale characters in the modern world with no memory of their former selves. Source: Once Upon A Time website.

Actor Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret...

Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, Snow White's abandoned daughter...

Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina...

Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold...

Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/John Doe...

Watch the first 9 minutes from the pilot episode...




Ginnifer Goodwin talks about Once Upon A Time and her Snow White character...

All images and video copyright ABC Television

The pilot episode airs Sunday, 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 pm Central on ABC.

Once Upon A Time Wallpaper

A look at the desktop wallpapers from the new ABC television series, Once Upon A Time...

Wallpapers copyright ABC Television. Downloaded from the show's website, Ask the Magic Mirror page.

"7D" Television Pilot Announced

Disney unveiled it's 2011 television plans for Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior at its annual presentation to advertisers last week in New York. The news included a pilot for a new animated series entitled 7D. According to Nancy Kanter, Senior Vice President, Original Programming and General Manager, Disney Junior Worldwide, the television program would star the Seven Dwarfs.

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As reported by Animation Magazine...

7D takes a new creative approach to the beloved Brothers Grimm tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, re-imagining it in a comic and contemporary storybook world. The new music-filled stories introduce the whimsical world of Jollywood, where the kind-hearted Queen Delightful calls upon the 7D – Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Grumpy and Doc – for assistance. Emmy Award-winning Tom Ruegger (Animaniacs) directs the pilot written by Craig Shemin (Tasty Time with ZeFronk) with character design by Noah Z. Jones (Fish Hooks). It is a production of Disney Television Animation.

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From Jim Hill Media...

7D would chronicle the Seven Dwarfs' adventures before they met up with Ms. White. Back when Doc and Co. still lived in the kingdom of Jollywood and were regularly recruited by Queen Delightful to come help out around the castle.

The end result will hopefully be an original animated series that still feels familiar to Disney Junior's 2 to 7-year-old target audience. "7D" - as Nancy Kanter describes it - is supposed to be a ...

... comic take on the world of fairytales and storybooks ... (where the Seven Dwarfs) are (Queen Delightful's) go-to guys. (But) what the queen doesn't realize is that while (the Dwarfs) do eventually save the day, it's less about their skill and more about their ingenuity and luck that gets them through.

Anyway, the pilot for "7D" has just gone into production. Later this year, Ms. Kanter and her team at Disney Junior Worldwide will formally review this test episode and then make a decision about whether or not they should proceed with full-blown production of a new animated series which would star the Seven Dwarfs.

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I personally am apprehensive whenever there's talk about tampering with characters from the original Snow White film. However for the time being, I will reserve judgment, keep my mouth shut and see what develops.

Hollywood Snow

As part of the Golden Anniversary celebrations of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the fictional princess was honored on June 28, 1987 with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame..."for her contribution to the film industry." It is located at 6910 Hollywood Blvd. near Disney's El Capitan Theater.

Creative Commons image courtesy of Thomas Hawk's Hollywood Stars set.

Image via the Kennetti Snow White Database.

The video below is not the highest quality, but it offers a glimpse of the ceremony where such names were present as Roy E. Disney, Ward Kimball, Richard Frank and Adriana Caselotti. Even Snow White herself steps up to the podium to speak.

Video provided by sosaix