Memorable Mondays: Snow White Wishing Well and Grotto

April 9th, 1961:

     Walt Disney dedicates the Snow White Wishing Well and Grotto.

 

*** Please note that this WAS suppose to be for April 9th, which was a Monday. But my computer crashed.... after some furious tears, deciding to go Mac from PC and going on vacation, this is what you get :D 

Located to the right of the hub of the Castle just before the side entrance, you'll find a quaint little spot. Here you will find a wishing well and a dainty waterfall with white marble statues of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The white marble statues were gifts given  to Walt Disney by an unnamed Italian sculptor, who owned the small soap casts but had never seen the movie. Following what inspiration he had in front of him the artist carved all the statues  at the same height, about three feet tall. It was then Disney Legend, John Hench, who was placed to the task of where to place them at Disneyland. To create the illusion that Snow White was taller than the dwarfs, Hench and his team (I guess that would make them “Hench men” hahah…sorry) created depth and height to the statues by placing Snow at the highest point of all the other statues, and the dwarfs closer to eye level- forced perspective. A few other statues of furry animals – a baby deer, bunny and few others– were made to continue the illusion.

When inaugurated in 1961, the Grotto did NOT have the music that plays today. The song, “I’m Wishing”, was not introduced until 1987. The voice used for the recording is the original voice actress of Snow White, Adriana Castelotti. A lovely post on Adriana can be found her on Filmic Light’s blog found HERE.  I strongly suggest watching the Youtube clip, she’s just too cute and sweet.

The story that goes along with her recording is so “Disneyesque” that I had to share. I’ve seen this story in several places including Daveland, and Mouseplanet .  Before I place, reminder, this is not my own- this was posted by Al Lutz.

The last take...

            There's a wonderful story about Adriana Caselotti's re-recording of the soundtrack now used at Snow White's Wishing Well at Disneyland - that was done back during the 50th anniversary theatrical re-release of Snow White. [A magazine writer friend related it to me, and this seems like the perfect part of the site to finally tell it.]

Apparently, Adriana used to take the greatest of pride that until her very last days she could still do the famous "voice" - and usually she sounded just about as fresh then as she did back in the late thirties.  

             As you may well know, I'm Wishing, the song you hear every few minutes at the well requires a very solid, almost operatic, voice to perform well. Over the years for the more demanding studio work, Adriana had been increasingly replaced by several other actresses who were a little bit more reliable whenever it came time to do Snow's voice.  

             For this little project, apparently the forces that be at Disney thought it would be a nice touch to give her one last shot to digitally record and replace the patched together film soundtrack they were using at the grotto since it was originally installed. They wanted to capture her performance as Snow for posterity as the years went on.

Anyway, the day for the session came, and sadly, try as she may, Adriana just could not reach the high notes required of her for the song. Take after take came and then went - and she just couldn't make it. People who had pushed so very hard for her to do this little project were heartbroken to say the least.

            Finally, apparently just as she sensed they were going to call the session over, she asked if she could go ahead and ask someone for help. Rather puzzled, (since she was alone in the studio) the engineer and producer went ahead and gave her the go-ahead.  

She turned away from the mike - looked up skyward - and very quietly asked:

Mr. Disney, if you are up there - please help me find Snow White's voice.

After a moment, she turned back around and asked for a last take. The engineer crossed his fingers, hit the start button, and the tape began to roll. She got each and every note absolutely perfect that one last time.

            [And yes... those tears welling up in your eyes now are just what happened to everyone who was in the studio too upon the completion of the track.]

           So, the next time you stop by Snow White's Wishing Well at Disneyland do take a careful listen won't you? It's quite a heavenly performance they have playing there if you ask me.

-        Al Lutz

Gives you goosebumps doesn’t it?