By Jackie

Charm, sweetness, silliness, wickedness, happiness, innocence, sad tears, happy tears, a sea of memories for my floating heart. When my daughter gave me the Walt Disney Snow White video for my birthday, my past popped into my present like a bubble from the deep.

It's a warm, windy, autumn day. My small, young hand rests snugly in my grandmother's tender, chore-worn, hand. We walk hastily downtown our destination is the beauty and grace of the Palace Theater. (This was a time when grandmas didn't drive.)

I reached out one little leg, then the other, taking big steps to keep up. I tilt my face, squinting against the sun's glare. I see grandma, her short, curly gray hair outlines her chubby face, and her multicolored babushka is loosely tied around her soft-skinned cheeks. She is wrapped in the sun's light. I smile up at her, and she looks down at me through her dime-store glasses and slowly smiles back. A memory is born.

The scarlet velvet curtains separate, pucker, and then rest snugly against the sides of the enormous stage. The first full-length animated feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", flickers into my life. This is the beginning of a day of magical moments that I will carry in my heart forever.

Years later when the flicker rekindles, I find myself in search of the feature's origins and am delighted by the tidbits I discover. This information, like desert after a wonderful meal, made "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" even more delicious. Desert is served:

German Chocolate Cake -
The original take was German, and it was handed down orally from generation to generation. In Grimm's 1912 collection of fair-tales, we can find "Sneewitchen"; this was the first published take of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Walt Disney used European Illustrators Gustaf Tenggren and Albert Hurter to keep with the inspirational European decorative style.

Dream Cake -
The first outline for the "Snow White" project is dated Aug. 9, 1934. The completed version contains 250,000 separate drawings. Every expert from all of the branches of the Disney Studio were called upon to contribute to the production. "Intensive lectures on character construction, animation, layout, background, mechanics and direction extended Disney studio knowledge . . ." The demand for the foreign version was so great that it was dubbed into 10 different languages.

International Loaf Cake -
Doc became Prof in French, Grumpy, Sleepy and Dopey were rechristened Butter, Trotter and Toker in Swedish; Happy became known as Gongolo in Italian, Bashful as Romantico in Spanish and Sneezy as Asik in Polish. In all countries the most popular dwarf among collectors is Happy with Dopey running a very close second.

Topsy-Turvy Nut Cake -
Some of the names talked about but not used for the seven dwarfs were, Scrappy, Hoppy, Weepy, Dirty, Cranky, Hungry, Lazy, Dumpy. Thrifty, Shifty, Nifty, Woeful, Doleful, Wistfull, Soulfull, Blabby, Hotsy, Puffy, Chesty, Jumpy, Sappy, Gloomy and Silly. (This is what Jennifer wanted to know.)

Snow White Doll Cake -
After becoming the voice of Snow White Adriana Caselotti lived in a small white cottage with a wishing well in the garden. Very appropriate for the one who sang the famous song "I'm Wishing."

In 1944 Adriana went on a publiciy tour with Pinto Colvig, the voice of Sleepy, Grumpy and Goofy, and Clarence Nash the voice of Donald Duck. Her luggage was lost and for 2 weeks she was forced to wear her Snow White costume everywhere she went.

Awesome Cheesecake -
In 1939 a special Oscar and seven miniature Oscars were presented to Walt Disney by nine-year old Shirley Temple, for his production of "Snow White."

It was from the profits of "Snow White" that Walt Disney put down a $10,000. Deposit on a 51-acre site in Burbank, California. The total purchase price was $100,000. The complex that Walt planned to build would cost 3.8 million. Thus Walt Disney Studio was born.

Date Delight Cake -
Snow White was re-released in 1944, 1952, 1958m, & 1967. Then again in 1975, 1983, and 1987. Today Snow White is ours to release any time we desire. Through the use of a video and tape anyone can enter her world of happiness and love. A world where goodness wins, and even the simplest task brings joy and satisfaction.

My favorite scene plays in my mind each time I prepare pies. I see cheerful, airborne, feathered creatures lightly, dancing around Snow White's piecrust, and I smile. I see my Grandma's sunlit face, she touches my heart, and I remember the magical delight that was ours on that warm, windy autumn day.

The real Snow White is the spirit of my Grandma's love.