101 Dalmations
101 Dalmatians was born out of Bill Peet's adaptation of the widely read book, "The Hundred and One Dalmatians" by English writer Dodie Smith. For three years, a total of 300 artists using a total of 1,218,750 pencils worked on this film. Over 1,000 different shades of color (100 of these brand new) were specifically developed to achieve the subtlety and variety needed to realistically render the dogs and humans as they move through interiors and exteriors.
In all there are exactly 6,469,952 spots on the backs of 101 lovable Dalmatians as they appear in 113,760 frames of film. Pongo wears 72, Perdita 68 and each of the 99 pups in the story wear 32. In addition to the spots, all of the other color effects required 800 gallons of paint weighing nearly five tons, enough paint to dress the exteriors of 135 average homes.
The voices of 25 people were used to speak for the human and canine characters. Voice casting for animated films can be quite difficult as recording can cover a period of years. As a result, there is always a danger that an actor may not be able to fulfill his or her obligation. In the case of 101 Dalmatians Lisa Daniels, the actress cast as the voice of Perdita, got married and moved to New York with one-third of the film incomplete. Disney had to scour the nation to find another voice similar to the first Perdita.  Aladdin
Glen Keane, the supervising animator for Aladdin, has quite a history with Walt Disney Studios. He was the supervising animator for the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Marahute the golden eagle in The Rescuers Down Under, a directing animator for The Little Mermaid, a character designer for Oliver and Company, and a supervising animator for The Great Mouse Detective.
In order to animate Aladdin in the "One Jump Ahead" sequence, animator Glen Keane studied live action dancers as they choreographed the movements of Aladdin running through the marketplace. The final animation was not a literal transcription of the movements, but rather added the illusion of light and rapid movement that few human beings possess.
 
Alice In Wonderland
Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland is based on both Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There.
Because Sir John Tenniel's illustrations for the Carroll books were so well known, Walt Disney acquired the rights to them as the basis of the visual style of Alice in Wonderland. When the illustrative style proved a hindrance to animation, the character designs were freely adopted for the animation form, though still making reference to the well-known Tenniel drawings. The visual development of the characters required an unusual amount of preliminary evolution. Months of rough sketches preceded the final definition on the model sheets which would guide the animators.
In its final form, Alice in Wonderland was embraced neither by Carroll purists or the public at large. Truly ahead of its time, Alice in Wonderland has only recently come to be appreciated, particularly for its bold graphic style, primarily based on the inventive styling of Mary Blair.
Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice of Alice, would later be the voice of Wendy in Walt Disney's Peter Pan (1953). In 1983, Beaumont recorded new "Alice" narration for the Alice in Wonderland attraction at Disneyland.
 
Cinderella
Cinderella was only the second time Disney had made a film based on a classic fairy tale, the first being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs thirteen years before. The public must have been eager for the kind of entertainment offered by Cinderella. It became Disney's biggest moneymaker to that time, eclipsing even Snow White.
The voices of both Gus and Jag, the mice, and Bruno, the hound, were provided by veteran Disney soundman Jimmy Macdonald. Macdonald achieved the distinctive voices by experimenting with different speed playbacks of his recorded voice. Jimmy was also the official voice of another mouse - Mickey - from 1947 to 1983. Many scholars think that Cinderella's Glass Slipper is the result of an ancient mis-translation. Vair is an old French word for "ermine." Verre, in French, is "glass." The pronunciation is the same, the meaning could hardly be more different. Only versions of Cinderella derived from Perrault contain the slipper made of glass.
In many written versions of the Cinderella tale, including the Brothers Grimm account, one of the stepsisters is so determined to fit the slipper that she cuts off her toes to do so!
Walt Disney established a fascinating method to cut costs in making Cinderella. Rather that allow endless (and expensive) experimentation in story structure and ordinary human movement, Disney ordered much of the film's action to be shot with live actors. This footage was studied for basic movement, and edited together to help structural development.
The song to which Cinderella and Prince Charming fall in love, "So This is Love," is one of six songs composed for Cinderella by Mack David, Al Hoffman and Jerry Livingston.
Cinderella's Prince is the only Disney prince to bear the official name of Prince Charming. Snow White's prince is just "The Prince", although when Snow White tells the dwarfs of her dream Prince, she does say "Anyone could see that the Prince was charming." Prince Phillip is the beau of Sleeping Beauty (a.k.a. Princess Aurora, a.k.a. Briar Rose). Ariel (The Little Mermaid) had Prince Eric, Princess Jasmine had Prince Ali (Aladdin in disguise), and Beauty and the Beast, Belle had … the Prince.
Walt Disney Productions established its own music publishing business in December of 1949, Walt Disney Music Company. The fledgling music publisher's first release was the six-song score for Cinderella.
Cinderella has been reissued to theaters five times since its premiere on February 15, 1950; in 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981 and 1987. It was first released on home video in 1988, and was restored and remastered for its 1995 release to video.
A cat named Lucifer, bearing no resemblance to or relationship with the cat of the same name in Cinderella, had appeared in the 1946 short subject Pluto's Kid Brother.
Since Bambi (1942), Disney had made dozens of training films for the war effort, several anthology films, as well as two features which combined live action stories with animated sequences. But with Cinderella, Disney made his first true animated feature in eight years.
Eleanor Audley, voice of the villainous stepmother, Lady Tremaine, so impressed the Disney animation team that she was asked back to give voice to the malicious Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959).
The "Cinderella" legend, like the legend of "Beauty and the Beast" exists in almost every world culture. The earliest known written version is from ninth century China. The Disney version of Cinderella is based upon Cendrillion, as told by Charles Perrault in Histories ou Contes du temps passe (1697).
 
Dumbo
The story of Dumbo originated as a strip on the side of a cereal box. This little strip had all the basic elements of the story; a little elephant with big ears, who was made fun of, learned to fly, and became famous. Dick Huemer and Joe Grant took the strip, conducted a few story meetings, wrote it up a chapter at a time, and submitted it to Walt who subsequently agreed to make the story into an animated feature.
After three very expensive films, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Fantasia, Walt and the studio needed an inexpensive feature. Not only was the war hurting movie attendance for the current Disney films, but a strike at the studio would also inevitably erode profits. Dumbo cost a total of $812,000 which was expensive by 1940 standards but less than half the cost of Pinocchio. Despite the lower cost, the uncomplicated, poignant and well told story makes Dumbo a favorite 50 years later.
 
Fantasia / Fantasia 2000
Although Fantasia's first general release was something of a disaster, the film ran on Broadway for a full year, the record at the time for any "talking picture". The Sorcerer's Apprentice was recorded by Leopold Stokowski in Hollywood using a select group of studio musicians. When Walt Disney made the decision to enlarge the project into a feature, the remainder of the score was recorded in Philadelphia with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 1940, the original cost of producing the film was $2,280,000. Originally, Walt Disney envisioned the release from time to time of Fantasia with an altered program, some pieces dropping out to make room for new ones, much as an orchestra on tour might retain the basic program of its concert but introduce new works between one hall and the next.
  Fox And The Hound
The Disney magic lives on in The Fox And The Hound. Beautiful animated artwork of Tod the fox and Copper the hound.
  Jungle Book
Phil Harris, a veteran of over 60 years as a stage, screen and radio personality, brought a lot of himself to the character of Baloo the bear. His warm, comfortable, relaxed demeanor also proved to be a inspiration to the Disney animators for such characters as O'Malley the alley cat in the Aristocats and another bear named Little John in the 1973 animated feature, Robin Hood. In fact, casting Phil Harris as the voice of Baloo was the turning point for which the animators had been looking. His breezy, free-spirited delivery inspired a new approach to the character and from there all the pieces started to fall into place.
Perhaps inspired by his nature adventures as the voice actor for Mowgli, Bruce Reitherman (son of The Jungle Book director, Woolie Reitherman), today is an award-winning nature film producer, director and cameraman. He has traveled to the far ends of the earth, enduring difficult conditions to observe wildlife behavior in its natural habitat.
The Jungle Book was the last animated feature in which Walt Disney was personally involved. Although he died in December 1966, less that a year before the film's release, Walt contributed greatly to the evolution of the story and its main characters. Walt came up with the offbeat idea of having popular radio and film star Phil Harris provide the voice for "jungle bum," Baloo. He also insisted that the snake, Kaa, be brought into the story again later in the film as he was so enthralled with the character. Time magazine, in reference to the film, said it best, "the result is thoroughly delightful. The reasons for its success lie in Disney's own unfettered animal spirits, his ability to be childlike without being childish… it is the happiest possible way to remember Walt Disney."
Sebastian Cabot brought a distinguished air to his role as the black panther who guides Mowgli to his proper home. The London born actor was featured regularly on British radio, stage and screen before moving to Hollywood in the 1950's. His film work includes roles in Alfred Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), Kismet (1955), Terror in a Texas Town (1959), and The Time Machine (1960). Television fans know him as the fastidious Mr. French from "Family Affair."
 
Lady And The Tramp
It turns out that the character of "Lady" happened to be very close to Walt Disney's heart. The heroine of the tale is the animated duplicate of a puppy Walt carried home to his bride one night in 1925 as a peace offering after he had forgotten a dinner engagement. Walt's gift came in a hat box, the basis for the endearing opening scene in the film in which Jim Dear and Darling first meet their little Lady.
The character of "Tramp" was found in a short story about a roguish mutt written by a prominent newspaper executive, Ward Greene. Walt had read the story and wasted no time in contacting Greene. After an exchange of doggish anecdotes and family experiences involving their pets, the two agreed that Ward should write a book elaboration. The fresh story gave Disney's creative staff new freedom. About this Walt said, "We were free to develop the story as we saw fit, which is not the case when you work on a classic. Here as the characters came to life and the scenes took shape, we were able to alter, embellish, eliminate and change to improve the material."
More than four years in the making, approximately 200,000 individual drawings were created to bring Lady and the Tramp to the screen. Actual production began two years before Peter Pan was released in 1953. Cinemascope, with its enormously improved story-telling potential and dramatic wide-screen effects, sometimes quadrupled the work on each scene and increased the over-all expense by roughly 30 percent. Due to Cinemascope, there are more long shots and panning to show off the distinctive background artwork than in previous films.
To define the characters, studio artists and writers drew from their personal pets, the dog pound and the streets. Walt's philosophy about pets shaped the film from beginning to end. He said, "No person or family can ever completely "own" an animal. Any dog worth room and keep in a household has a life of his own. He's a dog; entitled to some natural animal life aside from being man's best friend and his most tolerant critic. It was when we ignored this that we got into trouble storywise and dogwise."
 
Lion King
The Lion King is the first Disney animated feature film to be based on original source material and set in a naturalistic environment populated entirely by animals and untouched by man.
The first drafts of the script for The Lion King date back to 1989, when the idea of making an animated feature about lions was first broached.
To date, The Lion King is the highest grossing animated feature film of all time.
The Lion King won three Golden Globe awards: best original song for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight," best musical or comedy and best original score.
The backgrounds in The Lion King are special for their epic feel and for the fact that, for the first time since Bambi, they present nature in its pristine state, without the presence of humans or their artifacts.
A team of talented supervising animators created and developed The Lion King's cast of lovable characters. Among them were Ruben Aquino, who drew adult Simba, Anthony Derosa, who drew adult Nala and Tony Bancroft and Mike Surrey who animated Pumbaa and Timon respectively.
Jum Fowler, co-host of television's Wild Kingdom provided an array of jungle animals, including meerkats, baboons and lions for the exhaustive drawing sessions arranged for the animators. The artists were able to sketch the animals at their leisure, under circumstances less constricting that at a zoo. This practice is reminiscent of the time, half a century earlier, when Walt Disney brought live deer and other forest animals to the animation unit working on Bambi. Disney artists studied sculptures, fabrics and decorations from many parts of Africa, and applied their interpretations to landscape, vegetation, and other elements needed for the movie.
With the exception of Rafiki's walking stick, The Lion King is a movie with virtually no props.
Rock and roll legend Elton John teamed up with Academy Award-winning lyricist Tim Rice (Aladdin) to provide an entertaining musical score that captures not only the moods and emotions of the story, but the flavor of its exotic setting as well.
Mark Henn, who animated young Simba, has worked on numerous Disney animated feature films including Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Rescuers Down Under, and The Little Mermaid. Aside from creating young Simba, he also created Jasmine from Aladdin.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas ("Randy Taylor" on the television series Home Improvement) brings humor and emotion to the vocal characterization of young Simba.
Veteran actors Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane provided the voices for the comedy duo Pumbaa and Timon. These actors brought to life the crass, witty and naïve dialogue, making Pumbaa and Timon two of the best-loved characters in the film.
Disney artists studied sculptures, fabrics and decorations from many parts of Africa and applied their interpretations to landscape, vegetation, and other elements needed for the movie
The Lion King's working title was King of the Jungle.   Peter Pan
Disney's Peter Pan is based on Sir James Barrie's play "Peter Pan" (1904) and his subsequent book versions. In fact, Disney used Barrie's original play notations, stage directions which he scribbled during rehearsals, and his concepts of the characters and their reactions to magical events to gain insight into what Barrie had in mind beyond the actual dialogue and scene description.
When Walt and his brother Roy were children, they robbed their piggy banks to scrape together enough money to watch a road company performance of Peter Pan on stage. It was then that Walt became so fond of the story of the boy who wouldn't grow up. Not long after, Walt played Peter Pan in his school play.
There are a number of differences between the stage and the screen Peter Pan, the most significant of which is the casting of the title character. Prior to the film, Peter had always been played by a young woman, but Disney chose to portray him as a twelve year old boy. Walt explained the age plainly saying, "He is twelve years old forever simply because he refuses to grow up beyond that comfortable age." The other differences were of course provided by the magic of animation.
Although firmly established in legend, the figure of Tinker Bell is not based on Marilyn Monroe. Tinker Bell owes her shapely form to the "Pin-Up Girls" of World War II, Betty Grable among them, but Monroe was still a supporting actor and relative unknown at the time Tinker Bell was developed. Margaret Kerry was Tinker Bell's live-action reference model.
By the time of its 1953 release, Peter Pan had been in development at Disney for 14 years. Disney had purchased the film rights to the story in 1939.
Tinker Bell continued her Disney career as the introductory icon on decades of Disney television programs, as well as introducing spectacular fireworks displays at Disney theme parks. In the J.M. Barrie play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, Tinker Bell was just a projected beam of light.
 
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