The Rot at Disney Goes Deep

Toward the end of the Great Depression, many Americans looked to Hollywood with a keen sense of anticipation. Walt Disney, who had exploded onto the movie scene a few years earlier with his delightful Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony animated shorts, had launched a new project, something never attempted that many industry veterans deemed foolhardy: a feature-length animated film. Convinced that animation was suited only to brief bursts of comedy and could never hold an audience for 90 minutes, they deemed it “Disney’s Folly.” But when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered on Dec. 21, 1937, it proved the naysayers wrong. The movie was an enormous success as audiences cheered and the critics swooned. It went on to become one of the most popular and profitable films in movie history, as well as the Disney Studio’s most cherished creative artifact for many decades.