1. To say Walt Disney had a lot riding on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs would be an understatement. Not only had he borrowed money to complete the film, he also mortgaged his home to help finance it.
2. Snow White was the first film to release an accompanying soundtrack.
3. But Snow White wasn't the first time Disney released music from its films to the public. A few years earlier, in 1933, the 78 rpm record for "Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" from The Three Little Pigs was a big seller (FTR, it was just a single and not a soundtrack).
4. In 1930, a Mickey Mouse writing tablet became the first Disney character merchandise. Walt Disney agreed to license the character to a company in New York (for $300) because he needed the money at the time:
5. "When You Wish Upon a Star," from Pinocchio, was the first Disney song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.
6. During World War II, 90% of what Walt Disney Studios produced was for the Allies' war effort (i.e. propaganda films, training films, print campaigns, etc.).
7. Cinderella was the first time Disney shot the entire film in live-action first, and then used it for reference to animate the movie.
8. The narrator for Cinderella — whose voice you hear at the beginning of the movie — is voice actor Betty Lou Gerson, who was also the voice of Cruella de Vil in 101 Dalmatians.
9. Both Lady Tremaine and Maleficent are voiced by the same actor: Eleanor Audley.
10. Eleanor Audley is also the voice of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion ride.
11. The Haunted Mansion has the distinction of being placed in a different land in every Disney park that has it.
12. Sleeping Beauty took a long time to make. It first went into production in 1951 and wasn't released into theaters until 1959.
13. The design of Anita in 101 Dalmatians was partly based on Julie Andrews.
14. According to Jeffery Sherman, son of Robert Sherman (of the famous Sherman Brothers), he inspired the Mary Poppins song "A Spoonful of Sugar" after he told his dad that he had gotten his polio vaccine on a sugar cube.
When I was a kid we got the polio vaccine. My dad, working on Mary Poppins, asked how my day was. I told him about the vaccine. “Didn’t it hurt? I said they put it on a sugar cube and you ate it. He called my uncle Dick and the next day they wrote “A Spoonful of Sugar.” (1 of 2)