THE BEDROOM SEQUENCE
Assigned to Fred Moore (1911-1952) this “Bedroom Sequence” – as it became known – was one of the first to be animated. Snow White yawns and stretches and starts to wonder whether the “children” have returned then notices seven pairs of eyes peering at her over the footboards. Exclaiming in an excess of modesty she grabs the quilt and covers herself up to her neck. The dwarfs duck out of sight again but immediately reappear one-at-a-time, each distinctive nose popping above the footboard, each accompanied musically by pizzicato strings. Animator Ward Kimball concocted this memorable gag for which he was paid the five-dollar bonus awarded to anyone whose suggestion got included in the film.
“Why you’re little men,” observes Snow White. She greets the dwarfs with a polite “How do you do?” which leaves them all totally befuddled. Disappointed at their lack of response, she repeats her greeting to which Grumpy finally grumbles “How d’ ya do what?” indicating that these rustics are entirely unacquainted with commonplace courteous discourse. However Snow White is delighted just to discern that they do at least talk and suggests that they let her guess their names which she proceeds to do. Though all seven names have been indicated earlier in the film and each clearly illustrated by its character’s traits, this guessing game serves as the first formal association of names with their graphic depictions.
As the dwarves began to take physical form, they were fitted with voices befitting their characters. Billy Gilbert [1894-1971], famous for his sneezing routine in vaudeville and movies, was a natural for Sneezy. Roy Atwell [1878-1962], a radio comedian who specialized in mixed up language, played Doc. Happy was veteran actor Otis Harland [1865-1940], and Bashful was Scotty Mattraw [1880-1946]. The versatile Disney hand, Pinto Colvig [1892-1967], played both Grumpy and Sleepy.[1]
Yet another vaudeville performer named Eddie Collins (1883-1940) provided live-action reference for Dopey, who of course needed no voice actor. Collins also produced assorted sneezes for Snow White’s many admiring chipmunks and squirrels as they dusted the dwarfs’ cottage.[2]
Each dwarf displays his signature character trait as Snow White charms them with her accurate conjecture of each name, including Grumpy who she gently chides for his cantankerousness. He is definitely not charmed and reminds his fellows that they already know who they are but who is this young woman. He won’t even speak to her directly, but furiously appoints Doc as his intermediary to interrogate her.
Unwittingly influenced, Doc begins angrily questioning Snow White but quickly lets his emotion devolve into calm gentility. The girl introduces herself and all are aware that she is “the” princess. Doc tries to be welcoming, but Grumpy once again imposes his own anger into their befuddled leader’s clumsy conversation and finally instructs him to tell the girl to “get out”. Snow White begs them not to send her away because the Queen will kill her. These dwarfs are well aware of the Queen’s reputation for evil and Grumpy warns them that if they harbor this fugitive the wicked monarch will “swoop down and wreak her vengeance on us”. Snow White counters him with the fact that her wicked stepmother doesn’t know where she is. Grumpy is not convinced, insisting that the Queen knows everything, practices “black magic”, can even make herself invisible and might be among them in the room at that very moment. They are indeed spooked: Dopey even checks for her evil presence under Happy’s beard. Snow White assures them the Queen will never find her at their cottage and promises if they let her stay she’ll keep house for them. She enumerates the tasks she’ll undertake and when she mentions cooking they want to know more specifics, such as exactly what she can concoct for them. “Apple dumkins?” asks Doc. She starts listing the confections she can bake and gets no further than “gooseberry pies” when the dwarfs heartily cheer and declare “She stays!” – all of them except Grumpy of course. The matter thus settled, Snow White dashes downstairs to tend to the stewpot bubbling in the fireplace.
This rather abrupt ending for the scene is perhaps due to Walt’s excising further contentious confrontation between Doc and Grumpy during which the two tweak each other’s noses and their argument nearly escalates into fisticuffs.
The story crew worked over the fight as carefully as they did the rest of the Bedroom sequence; the music and dialogue were written and recorded; Fred Moore labored for months over the animation; the cels were inked and painted… And then sometime during the autumn [1937!], the entire Bedroom Fight – comprising more than a third of the overall sequence 5A footage – was dropped from the picture.[3]
Before cutting it altogether only months prior to the film’s premiere Walt had already been chipping away at the fight.
Moore’s bedroom sequence was by far the most dialogue-heavy stretch of film that any Disney animator had ever tackled. It was to run around 650 feet, or more than seven minutes [the entire length of a typical cartoon short!], with most of that time taken up by dialogue.[4]
The dwarfs’ march from their mine to the cottage, their search for the intruder, Dopey’s mishap in the bedroom, the subsequent attempt to eliminate the “monster”, their discovery of Snow White and the debate over whether to let her stay or not – this entire lengthy part of the film without a song to enliven it and provide cohesion was already a distinct departure from the earlier sequences. No doubt Walt felt that trimming the last of these sequences so drastically would “tighten” the overall film (as he did with other completed footage – more later). The incidental musical score by Leigh Harline (1907-1969), Larry Morey (1905-1971) and Paul Smith (1906-1988) is rife throughout with “Mickey Mousing”, that is, orchestral snippets that re-enforce or punctuate the actions. The accompaniment contains only one melodic line, Dopey’s leit motif which briefly accompanies his solo entrance into the bedroom.
[1] Thomas, Bob: Disney’s Art of Animation, Hyperion Books, New York, 1991, p. 69.
[2] From Wikipedia under Eddie Collins (actor).
[3] Kaufman, J.B.: The Fairest One of All, The Walt Disney Family Museum Press, San Francisco, CA, 2012, pp. 152-153.
[4] Barrier, Michael: Hollywood Cartoons, Oxford University Press, Oxford, NY, 1999, p. 205.
