THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL

Seventy-three years ago, tonight, radio listeners across America tuned in to hear a very special broadcast, hosted by Don Wilson, that reported on the premiere of Walt Disney's highly-anticipated debut feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Rather more recently – a mere twenty-three years ago – to mark the 50th anniversary of that ground-breaking film, I wrote and presented a radio feature for the BBC World Service that sketched the story of the making of a picture that Hollywood had initially dismissed as 'Disney's Folly', but which would become a milestone in the combined histories of animation, American cinema and the Disney corporation.

So, sit back and let me take you to The Carthay Circle Theatre on San Vicente Boulevard on the evening of 21 December 1937: the night Hollywood turned out to see a cartoon!

My programme, which includes contributions from some of those who worked on the film, was called...

THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL