BACKGROUND
Just think: without Cinderella, there may not have been a Disneyland.
After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the following full-length feature animated releases from the Walt Disney Studios were a mixed bag, with only Dumbo (1941) making a profit. When World War II began, the Disney Studios were contracted by the government to create training videos and, alongside that, they released their “package films”, multiple short films that had been pieced together. These sustained the company, but just barely, and were nothing to be excited about.
After the war, the Disney Studios were in $4 million worth of debt and needed a hit animated film release to not only recoup the costs of producing it, but also to wipe away that debt, otherwise the Studios may have been forced to closed. Luckily, Cinderella was a huge success, financially and critically, and the movie cleared all the debts, and allowed Walt Disney to fund other projects, such as movies, television shows and, of course, Disneyland.
The story of Cinderella has been adapted many times in just about every possible medium: television, films, theatre productions, books, and even ballet. Yet it is Disney’s 1950 version of Cinderella that has become the most recognised and the most iconic. Disney’s original Cinderella is likely the first introduction to the story that most children will have. It was for me, and I have always liked Disney’s version of the film, though I do prefer the “princess” films that came after it, especially Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Beauty and the Beast (1991). I also like other retellings of the story, whether that is Hilary Duff in Warner Bros. A Cinderella Story (2004), or Anna Kendrick in Disney’s Into the Woods (2014).
PLOT
The Disney movie begins with the standard opening of the storybook, with a narrator reading out the first few pages to us: a motherless girl lives with her father in a majestic chateau in a “peaceful, prosperous land”, full of “romance and tradition”. One day, he decides the girl needs a mother and marries another woman, who has two daughters. The father unexpectedly dies, leaving the girl to be “cared for” by her stepmother, but instead is used as a servant, as the chateau falls into disrepair and the fortune is squandered.
We then find Cinderella waking up in the attic, after being woken from her lovely dream, by her bird and mice “friends”. She is told by one of the mice, Jaq, that another is stuck in a trap; she goes to save him, bringing him clothes and naming him “Octavius”, shortened to “Gus”. Cinderella then gets on with her daily chores, feeding her stepmother’s cat, Lucifer, the dog and the chickens, sorting out the breakfast trays, and starting on laundry. Lucifer is chasing Gus, who hides underneath one of the teacups on the trays. One of Cinderella’s stepsisters, Anastasia, is the unlucky one to find Gus, shrieks and runs to tell her mother. Cinderella is soon punished for the “prank”, by being given extra chores.
At the palace, the King is discussing his annoyance at his son, the Prince, for not being inclined to marry and give the King some grandchildren. He plots to put on a grand ball that night, and invite every unmarried woman in the kingdom to attend. The overworked Grand Duke is put in charge, much to his chagrin as he doesn’t believe this plan will work.
Then, we see Anastasia and Drizella having a music lesson: Anastasia on the flute, Drizella singing “Sing, Sweet Nightingale” – badly, I should add – with their mother, Lady Tremaine on the piano. Cinderella is busy cleaning the floors, but distractedly sings along to the tune, doing a much better job of it! The doorbell rings, and Cinderella is passed an invitation to the ball. She disturbs the music lesson to give it to Lady Tremaine, who reads it out loud. The girls are naturally excited and start discussing what they’ll wear. Cinderella mentions that as every eligible woman has been asked to attend, that she should go too. Lady Tremaine reluctantly agrees, only if she can finish all her chores and find something suitable to wear. Cinderella is then given more chores, so thinks she will not have time to alter her mother’s old dress. Her mice friends overhear and decide to make the alterations.
At the end of the day, Cinderella is upset that she has not been able to sort her outfit for the ball and sadly says she will not be attending. As she goes into her room, she finds the dress exactly as she wanted it, quickly gets dressed, and rushes downstairs to meet the carriage with the others. Anastasia and Drizella are furious, but Lady Tremaine seems at peace with this. She compliments Cinderella on her dress, particularly her necklace and sash, which are actually Anastasia and Drizella’s. The girls had said they didn’t even want them, so the mice picked up their “cast-offs” and used them. The two sisters rip apart Cinderella’s dress until it is shredded and tattered. The others leave, but Cinderella is distraught and runs into the garden to cry. There, her Fairy Godmother appears. The Fairy Godmother magics a pumpkin into a carriage; her dog, Bruno, into a footman; her horse into the coachman; and four mice into the horses. She almost sends Cinderella on her way with her tattered dress, before transforming it into a beautiful blue-white ballgown, complete with choker, headband, and, of course, glass slippers. Cinderella is warned that the magic will run out at the stroke of midnight, and she heads off to the ball.
At the ball, the Prince is bored of meeting all these women, much to the dismay of the King who can’t believe how uncooperative he’s being! Then, Cinderella arrives. The King sees her first and knows she’ll be the one to turn the Prince’s head. Sure enough, she does. The two dance together, first in the ballroom before heading out into the garden. Just as they are about to kiss, the clock strikes midnight and Cinderella rushes off. Despite the Prince and the Duke’s attempts to stop her, Cinderella gets away, leaving only a glass slipper on the stairs. The magic wears off in the middle of the forest. Cinderella is left with the other glass slipper as a memory of her night, which she is thankful for. The Duke tells the King of the events of the evening, and is ordered to try the slipper on every woman in the kingdom, and whoever it does fit, the Prince will have to marry her.
When Lady Tremaine is informed of this, she tells Cinderella to bring up the girls’ breakfasts. Cinderella overhears what has happened, and is surprised to find it was in fact the Prince she’d danced with all evening and that he is determined to find her. Cinderella is overjoyed, and dizzy with daydreams, leading Lady Tremaine to believe she was the girl at the ball. To stop her interfering with Lady Tremaine’s plans for one of her daughters to marry the Prince, she locks Cinderella in her room. Soon, the Duke arrives with the slipper, but no matter how hard Anastasia and Drizella try and dupe him, the slipper is much too small for their feet. At the same time, Jaq and Gus have taken the key to Cinderella’s room from Lady Tremaine’s pocket and walked it up hundreds of stairs to try and free her. Just as they arrive at the door, Lucifer pounces on Gus and the key, not letting go. Cinderella tells the mice to get her dog, Bruno. Bruno scares Lucifer off successfully, and Cinderella is freed.
As the Duke is about to leave, Cinderella rushes down the stairs and asks if she may try on the slipper. Despite Lady Tremaine’s protests, Cinderella is allowed; she takes a seat. One of the palace servants brings over the slipper, but Lady Tremaine trips him and the slipper smashes on the floor. The Duke is distressed over this and Cinderella offers to help; the Duke bats away her suggestion, saying there is nothing she can do. Except there is – because she has the other slipper! The Duke is delighted, and tries the slipper on Cinderella. It fits, and she is whisked away to meet the Prince. The two are married shortly after in a big royal wedding, with her mice friends watching over her, pleased she finally got her wish and that she is now far away from her stepfamily. The storybook tells us that the Prince and Cinderella live happily ever after, before it closes.
The story for Disney’s Cinderella was based on the fairy-tale written by Charles Perrault, not the Brothers Grimm. Perrault wrote the story in 1697, adding into his story the Fairy Godmother; the pumpkin carriage and mice transformations; and the glass slippers. At the time that Perrault wrote his version of Cinderella, glass was more expensive than gold by weight, so it was the costliest accessory that someone could have at the time, though nowadays we see glass as cheap, commonplace and breakable, therefore making it potentially hazardous footwear! But it was meant to be a symbol of wealth. In later versions of Cinderella, such as that by the Brothers Grimm, the slippers were no longer glass, but made of silver and gold, which we see now as much more luxurious than glass[1]!
Yet Perrault’s version of Cinderella was not the original story. Cinderella-like figures have appeared in stories for centuries. The first recorded story of this type of character comes from Greece in 6th Century BC, with the story of Greek courtesan, Rhodopis, whose shoe is stolen by an eagle and flown to Egypt, where it falls into the lap of the king. The King goes on a quest to find the owner of the shoe, eventually finding Rhodopis, and marries her. One European version from the 17th Century has the most similar plotline to what we know today: Italian writer Basile’s Zezolla, the Cat Cinderella. Zezolla is a woman forced to be a servant to her stepmother, her former governess, and six stepsisters. The King of a nearby kingdom holds a ball, which Zezolla attends. The King falls in love with her, but Zezolla runs away before he can find out who she is. On two occasions, she manages to escape him, but on the third, one of her slippers is seized. The King gets all the maidens in the kingdom to try it on, with Zezolla being the one it fits, and she marries the King. Charles Perrault’s version appeared in the late 17th Century, and became the basis for most other versions[2].
CHARACTERS & CAST
In Disney’s version, Cinderella is kind, and respectful of others. She rescues mice from traps, is loved by all animals, and, despite her life as a servant in her father’s home, she tries to be positive and keeps hoping that something will change. Eric Larson and Marc Davis were the animators for Cinderella. They couldn’t agree on what direction to go with the character, as Larson wanted her to be a simple rural girl, whereas Davis wanted her to be elegant, graceful and with some intelligence to her. In the end, Cinderella became a mixture of the two! I like Cinderella as a character. There are better “feminist role models” for children now, even in the Disney Princess group, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with Cinderella being kind, respectful, and dreaming of love. People today probably think Cinderella is a pushover for doing what’s she’s told by her stepmother, but really, she didn’t have much choice. This isn’t set in modern day – it’s 1800s France – so there weren’t many options for her. The Prince is her way out of this life in the movie, yes, but the point still stands that if you want to change your circumstances, then you should do something about it. Cinderella is forceful in her choice to go to the ball; she didn’t have to ask her stepmother to go, but she chose to. Ilene Woods voices Cinderella. She knew the songwriters on the movie from her career in radio, and was asked to sing their songs for the “demo”. Over 300 girls had auditioned for the role, but no-one suitable had been found. When Walt Disney heard Woods’ voice on the “demo”, he offered her the role, as he loved her “fairy-tale voice”.
Lady Tremaine is the villain of the movie, with her evil stepmother character being similar, but obviously more real as she is human, to the Evil Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). She is a scary character, with her sharp tongue, and piercing eyes. Frank Thomas was the animator for Lady Tremaine and was surprised to be tasked with the villain, as he had animated Snow White and Pinocchio previously. Lady Tremaine is a menacing villain, and not difficult to dislike – even me, who generally loves the villain! Her locking Cinderella in the attic is pure evil, wanting her to stay as her servant and never move forward in her life. She is voiced by Eleanor Audley, who would later voice “the mistress of all evil”, Maleficent, in Sleeping Beauty (1959), as well as Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion attraction. Her voice has such authority and command, delivering the lines sharply with sarcasm and menace. She’s perfect. One other thing to mention is that Betty Lou Gerson narrates the opening of Cinderella. She has such a kind, gentle voice, so I was very surprised to find that she is also the voice of another iconic Disney villain: Cruella de Vil in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)!.
The two “ugly” stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella, are mean, by giving Cinderella lots of work to do, and of course tearing her dress to shreds in that awful scene, but they are also kind of funny – I like them both! Ollie Johnston animated the two, and gave them quite strange ugly facial expressions, so Cinderella would always look good in comparison! Their music lesson of Drizella singing “Sing, Sweet Nightingale”, with Anastasia on the flute is so terrible that it makes me smile every time. And them trying to ram that tiny shoe onto their feet does the same thing, and they’re so obvious in front of the Prince at the ball. The girls are just funny, even though they’re bratty and their voices are kind of grating and screechy! Drizella is voiced by Rhoda Williams. She had roles in radio, TV and film but was also active in work relating to film industry unions in her later life. Lucille Bliss voices Anastasia, in her first movie role. She was known for her voice-over work, voicing Smurfette in The Smurfs (1981-1989), as well as uncredited parts in the Disney animations that followed Cinderella.
Milt Kahl did work on numerous characters, including the Fairy Godmother. The Fairy Godmother is a kind, motherly figure, very compassionate, though she is also a bit absent-minded, losing her wand and not realising that Cinderella needs a new dress for the ball until she’s about to send her on her way. Unfortunately, she only features in that one scene but she makes an impact on the audience, making a lot of us wish we had a Fairy Godmother just like her! Verna Felton voices the Fairy Godmother. She voiced many other Disney characters during her career, including one of the elephants in Dumbo (1941) and Flora in Sleeping Beauty (1959), however, everyone at Disney felt she was being the truest to herself as a person when she voiced Fairy Godmother. She died on 14th December 1966, just one day before Walt Disney. Walt’s favourite piece of animation was the Fairy Godmother’s scene, particularly the transformation of Cinderella’s tattered dress to her blue-white princess ball gown[3]. Her ballgown was inspired by a similar gown by Christian Dior for his Zemire piece. Cinderella also sports a choker and headband, which were popular accessories in the USA after World War II[4].
For the Grand Duke and the King, they have a fun dynamic together. The Grand Duke is clearly overworked by the King, and unable to state his opinion without being either ignored or dismissed completely! He looks so tired by the end of the movie, and every time something goes wrong and he has to tell the King, he seems so scared by the reaction he’ll get. The King is furious when he finds that Cinderella has disappeared after the ball, even attacking him with a sword. If it weren’t for that huge, crazily bouncy bed helping the Grand Duke avoid the swings, who knows what he would’ve done? The King is very set on his son marrying and giving him some grandchildren – that’s seemingly all his bothered by for most of the movie, but he is very happy for the couple at their wedding, and seems quite pleased to have Cinderella as his new daughter-in-law, as we see when the King picks up her shoe and she kisses him on the head; he blushes and waves them off – it’s very sweet. Milt Kahl and Norman Ferguson worked on these characters. Both are voiced by Luis Van Rooten, an actor known mostly for his villainous roles.
Milt Kahl also worked on the Prince; he apparently always got stuck with the princes who didn’t used to do much, say much, or have much personality – and that’s the case here as well! The Prince doesn’t have many lines in the movie, and we only see him look bored at the ball, having to meet all these women he isn’t interested in, and then goes and dances with Cinderella. Then he appears at the wedding, obviously, but that’s about it! He doesn’t even have a name! Contrary to belief, he is never referred to as Prince Charming in the movie. His character name is used in merchandising and at the Disney Parks though, such as Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel. Apparently, his real name may be Prince Henry (Henri), as revealed by Disney France. Mike Douglas provides the singing voice of Prince Charming, as he does mostly sing, but due to his strong accent was not allowed the voice part too, so his few lines are voiced by actor William Edward Phipps instead[5]! The Prince was going to have more of a role in the movie, with an opening sequence set to be him hunting a deer, only to find that he’d be friends with the deer; he was given more personality, but then it was shrunk to not very much at all!
Cinderella was also going to have a pet turtle called Clarissa originally, who would become her lady-in-waiting during the Fairy Godmother scene. Clarissa would then have fallen in love with the Prince’s valet. There were also plans for a crow called Jabber to be included, along with the clothes-wearing mice, who would all talk when Cinderella wasn’t around, except the birds – they would only be allowed to chirp. This was simplified so there would still be chirping birds, but then there would just be the mice, with the parallel relationship between them and Lucifer the cat going on at the same time as the rest of the story. Ward Kimball animated Lucifer, and had a lot of fun with the pure comedy of the cat-and-mouse games. I like Lucifer; he’s a typical over-indulged cat, who thinks the world revolves around him – as cats do! He’s a bit of a menace to the mice, though again, that’s his job as a cat, to get rid of mice – how is he supposed to know that Cinderella is friends with them? The mice are very kind to Cinderella, as she is to them, and Jaq and Gus are the most prominent ones. They have the most dealings with Lucifer too, with the scene of them trying to get the attic key to Cinderella being a very suspense-filled, tense one. Just as they’ve struggled up all those stairs, Lucifer comes in and traps Gus and the key under a teacup. That scene came from Wolfgang Reitherman, who was good at coming up with ideas to build tension and suspense.
PRODUCTION
The first time the Disney Studios told the story of Cinderella was in a Laugh-O-Gram cartoon in 1922, from Walt Disney’s original studio, Laugh-O-Gram Studios in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1933, over ten years later, Walt expressed interest in developing the story again, this time into one of Disney’s Silly Symphony shorts. However, soon they realised that the story was too long to fit into the short film format, and it was decided to make it into a full animated feature film instead. This feature film was considered further, but was still not working and was set aside. The studio returned to the idea in 1938 with a draft by writer Al Perkins, followed by more drafts and storyboards being made and then discarded[6].
In 1947, the Walt Disney Studios were suffering from debts, due to a lack of income during the war. They had made government training films for the war effort, as well as their “package films” of the 1940s, but this had not been enough to keep their finances consistent, leaving them in $4 million worth of debt. Walt Disney knew he needed a big hit to keep them afloat. Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953), and Cinderella were all in development at this time, but Walt felt that Cinderella was a similar type of story to their big success, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), and would have the better release, so all resources were committed to it. Cinderella became the first Disney single story full-length animated feature since Bambi (1942), and only the second feature based on a princess fairy-tale.
One of the most interesting things about how Cinderella was made is that it was actually filmed in live-action first. Filming certain scenes in live-action, in costumes with props, had been done before for the previous Disney feature-length animated films, however, they decided to complete a full live-action shoot for Cinderella to save time and money, by eliminating the trial and error of hand-drawing everything. The animators didn’t like the fact that this method stunted their creativity, but they tried to use it as a reference and enhance it in their own way[7]. For the stylisation of the movie, Disney artist Mary Blair did much of the concept artwork. The paintings she did were almost translated exactly to screen, with her costume choices, settings, and particularly her bold use of colour. For example, when Cinderella’s dress is being ripped to pieces – a big cinematic scene – you can see the background colour change from a burgundy to a bright red as the anger for Anastasia and Drizella builds and Cinderella becomes more and more embarrassed. Mary Blair was a huge influence to the works of Disney in the 1940s and 50s, with it being rare for a woman to be in such a key position at the time. Blair left the Disney Studios in 1953 to go into children’s illustration but would be requested to return by Walt Disney to work on it’s a small world in 1963 for the New York’s World Fair. That became one of the works she is most known for her, however, her work appears in films like Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944), as well as Peter Pan (1953) and Alice in Wonderland (1951)[8].
As with all movies, some ideas are discarded early on in the production process, as well as fairly late on. With Cinderella, two songs were still included in the film as late as 1948. The first was “Cinderella’s Work Song”, which would have happened right after Lady Tremaine had told Cinderella that she could go to the ball if you got all her work done. The sequence involved Cinderella daydreaming about multiplying herself to get her chores finished faster, with the numbers doubling, before becoming a huge band of working Cinderellas. This idea then became “The Work Song”, with the mice singing when working on Cinderella’s dress. The second song was called “Dancing on a Cloud” and involved a fantasy sequence of Cinderella and the Prince dancing on the clouds, during their first dance at the ball together. Though I think the concept would’ve been nice to see, I didn’t like the song at all, as it felt a bit too quick and loud to fit the quiet, magical mood of the scene, so I’m glad they chose to rewrite this scene and go with “So This is Love” instead. Walt’s dream of having an animated scene of two people dancing on the clouds would become a reality with Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip at the end of Sleeping Beauty (1959)[9].
MUSIC
Walt Disney wanted to make sure that the songs in Cinderella would both fit into the movie, without taking away from the story, and that they would be deliberate commercial hits. In previous years, the music within Disney shorts and feature films had not been considered for the commercial factor – they had become hits accidentally. However, Walt Disney knew that if Cinderella was going to be a financial success, he needed the music to do the same. Disney decided to publish the music for Cinderella through their own company for the first time as they hoped the music would be popular so they could benefit from it.
This is why Walt Disney looked for commercial songwriters for the movie, finding Mack David, Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman, who were part of the “Tin Pan Alley” set, a group of songwriters from New York City who dominated the music industry in the US, around the late 19th/early 20th centuries. They had previously written the song “Chi-Baba Chi-Baba”, which Walt had heard on the radio and wanted something similar for the Fairy Godmother scene. They came up with “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, which is still used frequently within Disney projects. The song and scene also inspired the “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boutiques” at the Disney Parks, makeover centres for children to become a Disney princess.
The trio also wrote the five other songs in the movie, like “The Work Song”, which became a big hit. It’s my favourite of all the songs in the movie, probably because watching mice sewing a dress is apparently very satisfying to watch! “Sing, Sweet Nightingale”, sung by Ilene Woods as Cinderella, was ground breaking for its use of overdubbing, a technique where multiple vocal tracks are recorded and played together as harmonies. This technique had only become mainstream in the mid-1940s so it was a relatively new concept. Cinderella also sings the emotion-filled song “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, as she’s getting ready in the morning. It’s upbeat and positive, yet with a strong heartfelt message behind it. “So This Is Love” is the love theme of the movie, sung by Cinderella and the Prince during the ball. It’s a quiet, romantic song, which has been re-recorded by other artists for Disney projects, along with “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, meaning they are still remembered today. The only song in the movie I don’t like is the Main Title song “Cinderella”, just because of that strange whispery choir sound that Disney used frequently in title songs!
Oliver Wallace and Paul Smith composed the score for the film. Smith had worked for Disney before, for many Disney shorts and “package films” such as Saludos Amigos (1942) and Fun and Fancy Free (1947). Oliver Wallace joined Disney in the 1930s, and composed the score for Dumbo (1941), for which he won the Oscar for Best Original Score. He worked with Disney for decades, doing the film scores for many of the Disney animated films and some live-action ones until his death in 1963[10].
RECEPTION
Cinderella opened on 15th February 1950. It needed to make more than its $2.9 million budget. If it had failed, then the Disney Studios may have been forced to close. But it was a success, and was the most successful film for Disney since Dumbo (1941). It grossed $8 million, and was praised for its storytelling and artistic details. It also received two Academy Award nominations: one for Best Score for Oliver Wallace and Paul Smith and the other for Best Original Score for “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, written by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston. Unfortunately, neither won, losing out to Annie Get Your Gun (1950) and “Mona Lisa” from Captain Carey, U.S.A (1949)[11].
Cinderella was released at a good time, as by 1950, the world was recovering from the war and needed a morale boost. The whole idea of a “rags to riches” story appealed to the classic “American dream” that exists in North America and in Britain, Cinderella boosted spirits after continuing austerity and rationing. The Royal Wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten in 1947, as well as the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, put royalty and fairy-tale love at the forefront of people’s minds, reigniting the romantic notion of young women meeting and marrying a prince[12].
LEGACY
Disney’s animated movie would span two direct-to-video sequels. The first, released in 2002, was Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, with the second in 2007 called Cinderella III: A Twist in Time. Cinderella II is made up of three individual segments connected together, detailing Cinderella adjusting to life as a princess after her marriage to the Prince. I don’t believe I have seen this film, but I think I have watched Cinderella III once or twice on the Disney Channel. Cinderella III is set one year after the first film, and is about Lady Tremaine stealing the Fairy Godmother’s wand to reverse time and stop Cinderella marrying the prince, and attempting to replace Cinderella with her own daughter, Anastasia.
There was also a 1997 television film, produced by Walt Disney Television, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, based on the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written for television, which was originally broadcast in 1957 with Julie Andrews playing the title role. The 1997 Cinderella stars Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, singer Brandy (Norwood) as Cinderella, and Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Constantina. It was a huge ratings success, being nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning for Outstanding Art Direction. It was ground breaking for its diverse cast, especially casting a Black actress as Cinderella.
Disney’s live-action remake of Cinderella in 2015 saw British actress Lily James cast as the title role, with other big names such as Cate Blanchett as Lady Tremaine, and Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother. The movie performed well financially, and received positive reviews from critics. I have not seen it, nor do I want to, for obvious reasons – it’s a live-action remake, so no, thanks! – but I’ve heard it’s one of the better live-action remakes.
Cinderella was unofficially the most popular princess at the time that Walt Disney World was being planned in the 1960s. Disney knew they wanted Cinderella to have her own castle and that it should be the centrepiece of the Magic Kingdom Park, to dwarf Anaheim’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. It opened 1st October 1971 with the park, and has become the iconic structure of not just Magic Kingdom, but the whole of the Walt Disney World Resort. At 189 feet high, it is also the second tallest Disney castle, after Shanghai Disneyland’s. There is an urban myth that Cinderella Castle can be dismantled in a hurricane. This is not true. The castle was assembled in two separate sections, but they were then bolted together permanently. As it has a steel frame and a concrete foundation, it can withstand winds of at least 90 miles per hour. Cinderella Castle was inspired by the French courts of Versailles and Fontainebleau and the chateaux of Loire Valley. It was designed by Imagineer Herb Ryman. Inside the walkway, there are also five mosaic murals, each 15 feet high and 10 feet wide, designed by Dorothea Redmond, detailing the story of Cinderella. At the top of Cinderella Castle, there is a restaurant called Cinderella’s Royal Table, one of the most popular character meals in Walt Disney World, where you can dine with the princesses for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It was previously called King Stefan’s Banquet Hall up to April 1997, even though King Stefan is the name of the king in Sleeping Beauty (1959). There is also a Cinderella Castle at Tokyo Disneyland.
The castle has been temporarily transformed a few times over the years. From October 1996 to January 1998, the castle was decorated to look like a pink birthday cake, in celebration of Walt Disney World’s 25th anniversary. This was the first time I would’ve seen the castle, and I loved it! In November 2004, the castle was “vandalised by Stitch” for one day, for the opening of the Stitch’s Great Escape attraction, with toilet paper covering the castle. These two transformations were not popular with the masses! In 2005, the castle received a gold trim for the “Happiest Celebration on Earth” celebration and was recently painted rose gold for Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary. I’d prefer if they painted it back to blue and white soon, to match Cinderella’s dress colours! There is also a private suite built into the castle. It was a planned private suite for the Disney family originally, but it was not built until 2005. Stays in the castle were awarded during the “Year of a Million Dreams” in 2007. Some celebrities have been known to stay in it occasionally in recent years[13].
At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Park, Cinderella used to have her own carrousel. The carrousel was constructed by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1917, was run in small East Coast parks, before being purchased by the Walt Disney Company for the opening of Magic Kingdom in 1971 and being refurbished and themed to the movie Cinderella, with hand-painted scenes on the top panels. It was later renamed from Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel to Prince Charming’s Regal Carrousel in 2010[14]. The renaming story is that Prince Charming had a carrousel built for him to practice jousting. A second one was built for visitors to go on closer to the castle, with regal theming instead of knights jousting. There is also another myth surrounding “Cinderella’s Horse”. There is a horse on the carrousel with a golden bow on its tail, second row from the edge. This is not an official story from Disney Imagineering, but many people like to sit on this horse anyway!
Cinderella is a popular meet-and-greet character at the Disney theme parks, and can be seen at Princess Fantasy Faire in Disneyland; within Cinderella’s Royal Table, she has a personal meet-and-greet on entry for diners, and at Princess Fairytale Hall at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom; and at Princess Pavilion at Disneyland Paris. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Cinderella Carousel and the Royal Banquet Hall feature nods to the movie. At Tokyo, a walkthrough attraction called Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall exists within their Cinderella Castle, depicting parts of Cinderella’s story. She can also be spotted within parades, shows, and at other meet-and-greet locations throughout the Disney Parks.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Despite Cinderella not exactly being a feminist icon, the character has become, and continues to be, one of the most well-known, most celebrated, and most popular princesses in the Disney Princess franchise. Her story is well-known, and her belief in dreams coming true is a strong message to people. Sure, Cinderella is focused on romance and love, but that doesn’t mean that the message can’t be applied to other aspects of life, like careers. I disagree with people who claim Cinderella is not a good role model. She may not be as progressive as the princesses that have come since, but there is nothing wrong with teaching children to be kind, respectful, and not to lose hope in difficult situations, because positive things can happen if you change your attitude and work towards them.
Thanks to the success of Cinderella, the world got to see much more from the Walt Disney Company, with further projects being able to be funded, like Disneyland. Cinderella lived up to the expectations from the Disney Studios, that it could be a success and would save the future of Disney Animation. It is also the most remembered retelling of the story.
Cinderella is first and foremost a romantic love story, though at the heart of it is the message to stay positive through times of adversity, and to never give up on your dreams – no matter what they may be – because perhaps with enough hope, belief and perseverance, maybe someday, that dream that you wish will come true.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Disney Cinderella Story’, MousePlanet.com, 24th August 2022.
[2] Credit: Kelsey McKinney, ‘Disney didn’t invent Cinderella. Her story is at least 2,000 years old.’, Vox.com, 15th March 2015.
[3] Credit: Disney, “From Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella”, from Cinderella (1950) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Disney Cinderella Story’, MousePlanet.com, 24th August 2022.
[5] Credit: Disney, “From Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella”, from Cinderella (1950) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[6] Credit: Disney, “The “Cinderella” That Almost Was”, from Cinderella (1950) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[7] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘The Disney Cinderella Story’, MousePlanet.com, 24th August 2022.
[8] Credit: Disney, “The Art of Mary Blair”, from Cinderella (1950) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[9] Credit: Disney, “Deleted Scenes”, from Cinderella (1950) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[10] Credit: Disney, “From Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella”, from Cinderella (1950) 2-Disc Special Edition DVD (2005).
[11] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Cinderella Was Released in Theaters in 1950 – Here’s How it Went’, WDW Magazine (online), 15th February 2021.
[12] Credit: Carol Dyhouse, ‘What the Rise and Fall of the Cinderella Fairy Tale Means for Real Women Today’, Time (online), 19th April 2021.
[13] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘Walt Disney World Chronicles: Cinderella Castle’, AllEars.Net, 15th April 2014.
[14] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Cinderella Was Released in Theaters in 1950 – Here’s How it Went’, WDW Magazine (online), 15th February 2021.
The Disney Purist 