December 21, 1937: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" Premieres

December 21, 1937: Walt Disney Productions' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. Directed by David Hand, at 1 hour and 23 minutes, it was the 1st full-length animated feature film.

The source of the Snow White legend has not been definitively found, but most suggestions seem to have come from German-speaking places, such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The Brothers Grimm first published a version in 1812.

Many of the Disney tropes are here: The princess in distress, the dead mother (in this case, the father is dead, too), the evil or "wicked" stepmother (always referred to here as the Queen), a witch-like creature (the Queen transformed into an old woman, although she's never called a "witch" in the film), an odd group of good guys assisting the heroine (the Seven Dwarfs), magic both good (a mirror) and evil (assisting the Queen), a near-death experience for the princess, a "Prince Charming" who saves her, and the film ending as a love story.

Ever since, people have copied the Queen's question: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" But, as with many other movie quotes, they get it wrong: It's "Magic mirror on the wall... "

The Carthay Circle Theatre also hosted the premiere of Disney's Fantasia in 1940. It was demolished in 1969. A replica was built at Disneyland in Anaheim in 2012. While I'm on the subject: Neither Disney park's castle is officially Snow White's. Disneyland's is said to be Sleeping Beauty's, while the one at Walt Disney World outside Orlando is Cinderella's.

Most people think they can name all 7 Dwarfs (outside of the Disney context, the plural form is usually spelled "dwarves"), but tend to get stuck on one. The one I usually forget is Bashful. The others are Doc, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, Sneezy and Dopey.

From 1921 to 1964, the New York Yankees won 29 of the 44 available American League Pennants. From 1938 until the expansion of 1961, some people called the AL "The Yankees and the Seven Dwarfs."

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December 21, 1937 was a Tuesday. This was a big reason in Hollywood for another reason, although no one would know it for many years: Actress and antiwar activist Jane Fonda was born, the daughter of actor Henry Fonda and the sister of actor Peter Fonda.

Baseball season was over. The NFL Championship Game had been played 9 days earlier, with the Washington Redskins beating the Chicago Bears. No college football bowl games were played. And the NBA hadn't been founded yet. One game was played in the NHL: The Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Boston Garden. Despite this defeat, the Hawks went on to win the 1938 Stanley Cup.