When the movie musical hit its peak during the 1950s, many people thought it would go on a decline and would never be heard from again — a path it looked like the genre was heading. The stories went from focusing on the songs to focusing on the dances, until eventually they were just remakes of musical theater productions. At least, that’s what most of them did. But before Chicago and Moulin Rouge can stake a claim on “reviving” the movie musical, they should take a look at Disney.
There have been animated movie musicals around since the 1930s that have transcended time and space and whose songs are so well-known that most Americans over the age of 4 could sing them word for word. From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through Lilo & Stitch — with a few exceptions in between — Disney animated films have followed in the path of the great American musicals by using new techniques in both technology and storytelling. The songs propelled the storyline while the characters, despite being two dimensional, had three-dimensional stories. A dancer didn’t need to be trained and an actor didn’t need to be coached. The scene could take place in the courtyard of a castle, Neverland or the belly of a whale, without having to ship cast and crew.
Like live-action musicals, the songs in these animated films had ballads like “So This is Love” from CinderellaBeauty and the BeastThe Lion KingThe Little Mermaid).
But, as any Disney aficionado will tell you, before you have “happily ever after,” you have “once upon a time.”
The Silly Symphonies, created in 1929, were more or less the great-grandfather of the musical films of today. By using storyboards to set up the plot, the animators gave these first sound cartoons a depth never seen in previously created animated films and allowed them to see the weaknesses. Walt used this process to create the first full-length animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Although the story was based on the original Grimm fairy tale, Disney knew that he had to make significant changes in order to have room to develop the characters. For example, instead of having Snow White recover from a poison comb and then eat an apple, he cut out the comb. He also wanted the dwarfs to not just be random characters, but each would have their own personality. Luckily, Walt had the final say in the names or the dwarfs may have been called: Baldy, Burpy, Deafy, Jumpy, Lazy, Puffy and Wheezy. [For a detailed analysis of the original tale, see our essay, “Snow White” in our Fairy Tales column.]
One of the complaints some people have with musicals is, “it’s a great story, interrupted by songs.” The biggest sign of a bad musicals is when the action stops just so the character can sing. Even though Disney was not formally trained in music, he knew it was a vital part to telling the story; not just for breaking it up.
“We should set a new pattern, a new way to use music,” he told his creative team. “Weave it into the story so somebody doesn’t just burst into song.”
Take for example the song “Someday My Prince Will Come.” It begins with Snow White telling the dwarfs a story and then eases into a song.
(SPOKEN) Snow White: Once there was a princess.
Dwarf: Was the princess you?
Snow White: And she fell in love
Dwarf: Was it hard to do??
Dwarf: Did he say he loved you?
Dwarf: Did he steal a kiss?
(SINGING) Snow White: He was so romantic, I could not resist.
When Disney released Snow White on Dec. 21, 1937, the film had an impact on the audience never before seen: They stood up and cheered at the end of the movie.
“On its release, the film generated an enchantment that was helped, to no small degree, by the music,” Adrian Bailey wrote in Walt Disney’s World of Fantasy. “For Snow White is in effect a musical with the tunes skillfully woven into the fabric of the plot.”
The success led to other great movies with great songs. Three years later, Pinocchio introduced the world to the award-winning concept that, “When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true”; Dumbo brought the lullaby “Baby Mine” into the hearts of mothers everywhere; and “Love is a Song” from Bambi received the Oscar.
Then, the war hit, and as Dave Smith noted, “Because of wartime economic problems, the Disney Studio had to be satisfied with its ‘package films’ such as Make Mine Music for several years, but by the end of the 1940s, Walt Disney was able to put together the financing for another full feature telling a single story.”
The popularity of Disney’s first nonpackage film, Cinderella, wasn’t just from the rags-to-riches story, but also from the romance and magic associated with it. For example, the Fairy Godmother’s entrance in the film is something that Disney wanted in a certain way.
“Have the miracle happen at the end of the song. ‘The dream that your wish will come true’ is where we start to bring the Fairy Godmother in. She materializes because she is there to grant the wish.”
The rest of the 1950s proved very successful musically for Disney. Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty continued to prove that well-written songs coupled with beautifully animated characters and a wonderfully developed story. So what changed?
The years following Walt’s death in 1966 had their share of successes and failures. With help from the Oscar-winning Sherman Brothers, songs like “Bear Necessities” and “Wanna Be Like You” took a “modern” take on the songs of the movie musical and made The Jungle Book one of the company’s biggest box-office hits. But without Walt, quality control became a joke, and now the stories were based more on animals than they were people. The songs were there, but the animation looked — well — unanimated.
The world was changing, too. The late ’60s and ’70s was a time of war, and movie crowds were just more interested in seeing sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll than going to a “cartoon.” Even the live-action musicals were fading away to be replaced by rock-based films like Tommy and Saturday Night Fever. In the 1970s, Disney released just four animated films, one of which, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, was just a compilation of shorter cartoons.
All looked bleak for the future of the animated musical. But our fairy tale is not over yet. Just when it seemed like the villain was about to win, out popped a hero — or rather, a mermaid….
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