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jallanite · 10-12-2012, 10:43 PM

Doing some research, I find that from 1931 almost all Disney book material was produced by Whitman Books, mostly as part of their inexpensive Big Little Books line. When Whitman started, most children’s books usually appeared only at Christmas time in most stores, but Whitman’s inexpensive publications changed that. See http://www.biglittlebooks.com/historyofBLBs.html .

In Britain these normally appeared as Giant Midget Books®. Tolkien could have seen these books in various bookstores. From these Tolkien might have gotten his idea that the Disney Studio was influencing American children’s book illustration, which was not true. Rather Disney animated stories and newspaper strips were the origins of the illustrations in some of these books which reprinted Disney material.

The books usually had pictures from their source material and text on alternate pages and sold for 10¢ in the US and Canada for about 300 pages, whereas in the U.S. The Hobbit sold for 495¢ ($4.95). Obviously most kids would be more open to almost 50 books about Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, the Lone Ranger, Dick Tracey, Flash Gordon, and other popular characters over one book about something called a hobbit which didn’t even have a newspaper strip and didn’t appear in film serials.

It is not surprising if Tolkien were predisposed to see Disney as trash. But the film Snow White surprised most of those who had poo-pooed it before its release by being an astounding success. By May 1939 Snow White’s total international gross of $6.5 million made it then the most successful sound film of all time. Disney had won. Sergei Eistenstein called it the greatest picture every made. Many today would at least admit that it is one of the greatest films.

C. S. Lewis made a fool of himself in his one comment on the film. What Tolkien thought about it is now known, other than he classed it a one of the tales in which Dwarfs appear as figures of fun, which was indeed Disney’s intention, so that’s OK. Although Disney was not sure that his scene of the Dwarfs’ weeping when they thought Snow White was dead would really work. Would audiences really feel grief for comic animated characters? The scene worked splendidly.

Like most film viewers, despite my misgivings about much Disney output, I very much like his Snow White. Therefore, I would like to see Tolkien liking it. But the animator Hayao Miyazaki is on record as not liking Disney’s Snow White, and I have more respect for Hayoa Miyazaki than for Disney.

Many American comic strips and many American animated cartoons modify faces so that human eyes instead of being wider than they are tall (like <•><•>), are taller than they are wide (that is two eyes look something like (•)(•) ). This ought to bother people, except that they are so used to it in a cartoon that they don’t notice it. For example, in Disney’s Snow White the more human characters like Snow White and the Witch have normal human eyes but the Dwarfs have turned eyes.

Perhaps that was what Lewis was on about when he wrote:

Dwarfs ought to be ugly, of course, but not in that way.

Perhaps he was not so used to the turned-eye convention that the look of the faces bothered him. They might have seemed to him to express overmuch an American sense of flat cartoonishness to his eyes.

10-12-2012, 10:43 PM	#13
jallanite Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 479	Doing some research, I find that from 1931 almost all Disney book material was produced by Whitman Books, mostly as part of their inexpensive Big Little Books line. When Whitman started, most children’s books usually appeared only at Christmas time in most stores, but Whitman’s inexpensive publications changed that. See http://www.biglittlebooks.com/historyofBLBs.html . In Britain these normally appeared as Giant Midget Books®. Tolkien could have seen these books in various bookstores. From these Tolkien might have gotten his idea that the Disney Studio was influencing American children’s book illustration, which was not true. Rather Disney animated stories and newspaper strips were the origins of the illustrations in some of these books which reprinted Disney material. The books usually had pictures from their source material and text on alternate pages and sold for 10¢ in the US and Canada for about 300 pages, whereas in the U.S. The Hobbit sold for 495¢ ($4.95). Obviously most kids would be more open to almost 50 books about Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, the Lone Ranger, Dick Tracey, Flash Gordon, and other popular characters over one book about something called a hobbit which didn’t even have a newspaper strip and didn’t appear in film serials. It is not surprising if Tolkien were predisposed to see Disney as trash. But the film Snow White surprised most of those who had poo-pooed it before its release by being an astounding success. By May 1939 Snow White’s total international gross of $6.5 million made it then the most successful sound film of all time. Disney had won. Sergei Eistenstein called it the greatest picture every made. Many today would at least admit that it is one of the greatest films. C. S. Lewis made a fool of himself in his one comment on the film. What Tolkien thought about it is now known, other than he classed it a one of the tales in which Dwarfs appear as figures of fun, which was indeed Disney’s intention, so that’s OK. Although Disney was not sure that his scene of the Dwarfs’ weeping when they thought Snow White was dead would really work. Would audiences really feel grief for comic animated characters? The scene worked splendidly. Like most film viewers, despite my misgivings about much Disney output, I very much like his Snow White. Therefore, I would like to see Tolkien liking it. But the animator Hayao Miyazaki is on record as not liking Disney’s Snow White, and I have more respect for Hayoa Miyazaki than for Disney. Many American comic strips and many American animated cartoons modify faces so that human eyes instead of being wider than they are tall (like <•><•>), are taller than they are wide (that is two eyes look something like (•)(•) ). This ought to bother people, except that they are so used to it in a cartoon that they don’t notice it. For example, in Disney’s Snow White the more human characters like Snow White and the Witch have normal human eyes but the Dwarfs have turned eyes. Perhaps that was what Lewis was on about when he wrote: Dwarfs ought to be ugly, of course, but not in that way. Perhaps he was not so used to the turned-eye convention that the look of the faces bothered him. They might have seemed to him to express overmuch an American sense of flat cartoonishness to his eyes. Last edited by jallanite; 10-13-2012 at 12:14 AM.