Snow White in France. Chapter 3: 1962.

As Snow White has been released in the USA in 1958 through Buena Vista, the studio prepares an international Christmas 1962 release. Since new American credits had to be created to erase the name RKO which use to distribute the film, new foreign titles are created for the same purpose.
But Snow White must remain the fairest one of all. And Walt Disney has never been very fond of the foreign versions of his first features. For some of them, some of the songs weren't even translated (Bambi, Dumbo) in France and in the case of Snow White, not only the chorus was international (and sung wordless songs), but the recording quality had never satisfied him. As a matter of fact, most of the critics of the initial release were about the French version, the quality of the translation and the accents of the actors in it.

The solution appears obvious: re-dub the film with a new translation. Louis Sauvat is entrusted with the adaptation. The recording is done at S. P. S., Société Parisienne de Sonorisation, 8 rue Leredde, Paris 13.

Lucie Dolène in 1956

For the part of Snow White, just like the first version, separate people are tested for the speaking and singing voice. Lucie Dolène, then 31, has done that before. Other than her radio appearances (with Pierre Cour), her experience on the stage with operettas ("Le chevalier du ciel" with Luis Mariano) and on TV where she is often invited in the show "36 chandelles" by Jean Nohain (with her husband who composed Edith Piaf's "Mon manège à moi": Jean Constantin), she was Debbie Reynolds' singing voice in the French version of Singin' In The Rain and she also dubbed Dany Robin's singing in the film Frou Frou. She actually regrets that her work was kept a secret even though she was promised screen credit.

But once chosen to sing Snow White's songs, she overhears executives saying they still need an actress. She then offers to test for dialogs and gets the part. She remains, to this day, the only French artist to sing and talk for the Princess, as both other versions use two different persons. She will sing several times in other Disney productions like The Jungle Book or Beauty And The Beast.

Jean Cussac

Likewise, the Prince's voice is 40 year old Jean Cussac's both in the singing and talking. He also sings the part of the Prince on a record with Christiane Legrand, which is why everyone in the studio was surprised when he offered to sing in the dwarfs' chorus. He changed his voice accordingly and nobody in the audience realized the trick. He worked many times for Disney as a singer or as a musical director.

Claude Gensac en 1962

The 35 year old actress who voices the Queen had started her screen career almost 10 years earlier as Michel Simon's maid in the film The Virtuous Scoundrel [La vie d'un honnête homme] where her salacious boss imagines her topless, serving tea. Claude Gensac shared the screen with Louis de Funès who also played a servant. She became famous in France as the wife of the latter in many films, like the series of Troops movies, or Oscar, Jo, etc. She brings a very aristocratic interpretation, icier than previous actresses in the part of the Queen.

Marie Francey in 1961

Since her voice sounds too young for the second part of the film, 63 year old Marie Francey becomes the voice of the hag. She also was Peg's voice in the French version of Lady And The Tramp and is among the pioneers of dubbing. She was the voice of Bette Davis, Madeleine Carroll, Marlene Dietrich, Gloria Swanson, Thelma Ritter, etc.

Richard Francoeur

Richard Francoeur (or Frankeur), a 68 year old actor then has dubbed many movies too: his chameleon voice enabled him to be the voice of many different actors: refined George Sanders, adventurer Clark Gable or seductive Gary Cooper. Here he becomes Prof (Doc). He also dubbed actor Billy Gilbert, Sneezy's American voice, in the 1942 film: Arabian Nights, as well as Moroni Olsen, the American voice of the magic mirror, in 1944 for Buffalo Bill. Better still, in the 1954 movie, The Far Country, he dubs the actor Eugene Borden, the very one who voiced... Doc in first French version of Snow White! He also voiced Uncle Edgar (Ed Wynn) in Mary Poppins.

Raymond Rognoni

Raymond Rognoni, 70 years old at the time of the dubbing, holds the part of Joyeux (Happy). It isn't his first Disney experience: he is Peter Lorre's voice in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (where Richard Francoeur dubs Paul Lukas), and King Hubert in Sleeping Beauty. Part of the Comédie Française and Chevalier of the légion d'honneur since 1932 for his actions in the favor of child actors for whom he opened a school in Paris where his bust still stands. At the comedy contest of the conservatory, Robert de Fleerswrote about him on July 10, 1922 that he was "a big ball of sincerity and happiness." Could there be a better Happy?

Jean Daurand

Atchoum (Sneezy) is probably among the most familiar faces for a 1962 audience. In fact, Jean Daurand, 49 at the time of Snow White, is invited almost monthly on their TV screen since 1958 in the part of inspector Dupuy in the famous police series The Last 5 Minutes ["Les 5 dernières minutes"], a part that he will let go only in 1973. This series had started live and you could catch a glimpse of the actors changing clothes and running to assume their positions between scenes. The last episodes was broadcast in 1996! That's how popular it was!

Léonce Corne

68 years old in 1962, Léonce Corne is a familiar face and a familiar voice on the small and the big screen. That same year, he plays with Jean Gabin in The Gentleman From Epsom [Le Gentleman d'Epsom], but his figure appears in many French classics like We Are All Murderers [Nous sommes tous des assassins] by André Cayatte, Daybreak [Le jour se lève] by Marcel Carné, Father Goriot [Le père Goriot] by Robert Vernay, The Woman Who Dared [Le ciel est à vous] de Jean Grémillon, ou The Mystery of The Yellow Room [Le mystère de la chambre jaune] by Henri Aisner. In the dubbing department, he is Groucho Marx's French voice and did many parts in films by Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, etc.

Georges Hubert, 56 years old in 1962, is about to record his most famous role: he will be Q's French voice in the James Bond series. He also dubbed many parts in famous productions: The Ten Commandments, The Wrong Man, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, etc. In animation, he will be among the cast of Tintin and the Lake of Sharks. He also works for Yves Allégret, Pierre Colombier, Jean Renoir, and many others.



Now that a new main title is created, French artists can be credited, which hadn't been done before, even for the American actors.

Some of them are not listed though:

André Valmy

André Valmy, Walter Matthau's French voice (The Odd Couple) as well as Robert Mitchum's, is 43 when he gets the part of the hunter. He also does secundary parts in films for Henri Decoin, Yves Allégret, Henri-Georges Clouzot, André Hunebelle, Raymond Bernard, Christian-Jaque... The list of dubs he did is impressive. From Sissi to Saturday Night Fever or even Jaws, it is unlikely that a French moviegoer has never heard him. In animation, he is part of the cast of The Rescuers Down Under where he is Percival McLeach, and French children born in the eighties remember his character of Vitalis in the Japanese TV Series Homeless Child Remi, from Hector Malot's novel.

Serge Nadaud

Serge Nadaud, 56 years old in 1962, has played under the direction of Claude Autant-Lara, Julien Duvivier, Jean Boyer, but his voice work remains more important: he also sometimes directs dubbing sessions. He plays the part of the magic mirror. He also worked several times for the Belgian animation studio Belvision and played the villain Rastapopoulos in Tintin and the Lake of Sharks [Tintin et le lac aux Requins].He also was the voice of M in the James Bond films and was Spencer Tracy's French voice, but that is only a sample of his immense work.


On the poster (see above) designed in the Jean Fourastié workshop, the film is called an "admirable masterpiece". Athos film is the name of the company that releases the film that year. The characters are stylized and the tag line mirrors the makeover that the film just got: "Snow White comes back younger than ever!"

Other posters will also be used like a horizontal format where the Prince carried the young girl away in his arms under the eyes of the dwarfs (see above). The design of a 1958 American poster where Snow White, surrounded with dwarfs is drawn more faithfully to her film design is also recycled on newspaper ads.

Lobby card

A set of 20 lobby cards is offered to theater owners.

The film comes out on September 19, 1962 in 5 theaters in Paris. Here are the numbers of tickets sold during the run:

	1st week	2nd week	3rd week	4th week	5th week	6th week	Total
Madeleine (721 seats)	11,085	21,156	12,248	6,252	5,235	7,556	63,532
Mercury (500 seats)	8,170	16,700	11,260	6,500	5,750	8,370	56,750
Images (789 seats)	14,100	24,400	14,550	7,740	8,060	8,500	77,350
Bretagne (850 seats)	15,897	29,080	17,601	8,747	7,940	-	79,265
Max Linder (804 seats)	9,300	15,631	11,330	7,030	6,524	8,490	58,305
TOTAL (3,664 seats)	58,552	106,967	66,989	36,269	33,509	32,916	335,202

The film then comes out for a second exclusivity on February 1st at the Cinémonde Opéra (370 seats) and at the Royale and sells 9,986 tickets during the first week. The Cinémonde Opéra then sells 5,645 more in the second week, then 5,105 in the third, etc. And a total of 359,865 tickets are sold in 10 weeks in Paris alone during the exclusivity. 12 more neighborhood theaters still show the film after that and on March 22, 1963, the distributor reveals that 509,458 tickets have been sold.

Storm in Paris

Once again, the release of Snow White is greeted here by a lot of white snow! The temperatures are amazingly low and during the first week, people tend to stay at home. On the TV news of December 17, the storm that fell on Paris is illustrated by an image of one of the film's ad that fell on the pavement because of the extreme wind. But an article in Le Film Français says that in spite of these awful weather conditions, in terms of ticket sales, "it's never been seen before".
The film also comes out in 50 provincial towns! Here are some figures (not complete) :

	1st week	2nd week	3rd week	4th week	5th week	Total
L’intendance (Bordeaux – 350 seats)	4,951	8,907	4,655	2,376	2,123	23,012
Cinéac (Lille – 840 seats)	10,994	-				38,716 tickets for FF110,402.50 in both theaters
Régent (Lille – 510 seats)	17,206	11,273	6,521	3,266 (FF9,469.50)
Variétés (Marseille - 1.100 seats)	6,670	-	-	-	-	6,670
Le Paris (Toulouse - 580 seats)	6,391	9,275	5,170	4,982 (FF14,980.25)	2,703 (FF8,474.50)	26,357 (FF89,820.50)
Lyon (Le duo - 250 seats)	4,243	5,816	4,146	2,276	-	62,830 tickets in both theaters
Lyon (Le star)	10,350	15,554	10,158	5,236	5,051
Toulon (Gaumont -1300 seats)	12,650		-	-	-

From November 17, 1962, at the Childhood Salon, Snow White was already there with the dwarfs: the same dwarfs costumes are found with a new Snow White on the Champs Elysées on December 7, for the Christmas celebration of the US embassy, where our friends entice the dazzled children around them to visit their country.

Salon de l'enfance

To promote the film, a partnership is made with Europe N°1 radio station which airs 5 or 6 messages a day for a month to ask the audience to go to the Champs-Élysées where a big contest of children's drawings is organized to the profit of the "40 millions de lumières" organization (40 million lights) : 50 stores each exhibit one drawing and sell 100.000 lights with a Snow White ballot paper for the best drawing. Those who list the best drawings in the order eventually chosen by the jury will win, just like the young artists, a trip to Disneyland - Hollywood. The presence of Snow White is announced and she will present gift to the injured children of the hospital of Garches. This event is also announced with a trailer that runs in 200 theaters from November 15. Europe n°1 receives 30,000 drawings. On Monday December 24, a cocktail at Maxim's is organized to exhibit the best of them. Among the members of the jury, there is Maurice Chevalier, sportsman Michel Jazy, artist Jean Carzou, poster designer Raymond Savignac, illustrator Jean Bellus and journalist Louis Merlin.

A new ally, not available in 1951, will help tremendously in the promotion of the film: television.
In fact, since November 5, 1961, Pierre Tchernia has created the show "L'ami public n°1" (Public Friend #1) on what is then the only black and white French television network. That very first episode opens with an instrumental version of the silly song, and the magic mirror appears at the eight minute.

The soup sequence

On December 7, 1962, in the show "Cinq colonnes à la une", a television report announces that "Snow White comes back" and offers a priceless document: a glimpse of the actors recording the new French version of the sequence when Snow White meets the dwarfs, after which, Pierre Tchernia brings back a 4 minute scene of Snow White which isn't in the final cut: the soup sequence. Naturally the scene isn't finished and is in English, but Tchernia briefly explains the action over the soundtrack.

On December 23, 1962, Snow White makes the cover of Télé Magazine (TV Guide) which proudly announces 4 Snow White related shows this week!
This Snow White festival begins that day at 2.30 pm, with the Tousistitis (spelled "Twistitis" in the program), a group of singing kids who perform in "Télé Dimanche" ("Sunday TV") where you can also see and hear Caravelli and his magical violins accompanying Lucie Dolène singing Snow White songs.

An instrumental record by Caravelli has actually been released, without Lucie Dolène's singing. At the Wednesday page, an ad for this record gives a list of the tracks: Sifflez en travaillant, un sourire en chantant, Un jour mon Prince viendra and Heigh Ho.
Another record will follow with both Caravelli and Lucie Dolène this time, just like in the show. The cover uses the same drawing as on the poster.In it, she sings Je souhaite, un chant, Un jour mon Prince viendra and Un sourire en chantant. Despite the fact that she is ow the official voice of the character, she sings reorchestrated versions of the songs, with alternate lyrics, this is not the original soundtrack of the film, which has never been released in France.

One of the drawings from the François Périer storybook album is used to illustrate the cover of a record of songs from the film by singer Christiane Legrand, accompanied on some titles by Jean Cussac. These songs will be used many times on contemporary and later records  and will even appear in 1963 (without crediting the singers) on an American record "Snow White in French and English" which alternates American songs by Tutti Camarata and French versions by Christiane Legrand.

You can also purchase the Touistitis record with Sifflez en travaillant and Heigh Ho (pronounce "ayo") on it.

At 12.30 pm on Thursday 27, La séquence du jeune spectateur (The sequence of the young spectator), a show by Claude Mionnet presented by a puppet, deals with two movies: The Girl And The Legend starring Romy Schneider and "a really special film, a wonderful fairy tale" Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. On the program is also an ad for Le Journal de Mickey (Mickey's newspaper) which publishes a comic adaptation in color.

On December 29, at 8.30 pm, Pierre Tchernia presents Snow White for 15 minutes.

Walt Disney & Pierre Tchernia

On December 31, 1962, L'ami public n°1 follows Pierre Tchernia in his trip to California where he was invited at the Disney studios and Disneyland. The report shows him with Clarence Nash Clarence Nash, animators and Walt Disney himself. We are treated to 6 minutes of Snow White discovering the cottage and singing Whistle While You Work.

That same day, at 8.45, Isabelle Aubret (which had won France's third victory at Eurovision singing contest this past March) sings, disguised as Snow White, "Un jour mon Prince viendra" in the show "La grande farandole".The show opens with the seven dwarfs who are none other that the hosts Roger Pierre & Jean-Marc Thibault (a famous French comic duo), with Maurice Biraud, Jean-Claude Pascal (winner of the 1961 Eurovision contest for Luxembourg), Jean-Pierre Cassel, Gilbert Bécaud and Pierre Tchernia !

Isabelle Aubret releases a record of Snow White songs conducted by Gilbert Le Roy.

I mentioned it before, on December 9, Le journal de Mickey the first episode of the comic adaptation of Snow White. It is rather graphically rather similar to the 1938 version, but the adaptation is different. For instance, the meeting with the Prince does not involve a bucket anymore but he still goes to jail, a concept meant for the film but eventually abandoned.

A new storybook record is also record that year: an adaptation od Jean Baitzouroff, it is Dany Robin who tells the story on this recording which will be reedited many times with various covers. Sylvine Delannoy (The Bride Wore Black) is the Princess, Claude Nollier (Moulin Rouge) plays the Queen and Gaëtan Jor plays Grincheux (Grumpy), Atchoum (Sneezy) and the magic mirror. The remaining parts are held by François Timmerman, Roland Roessler (or Roland Koessler) and Fred Descamp (or Fred Descamps). Christiane Legrand's songs (see above) are mixed into the story. Funny detail: the animals on the first page are actually Bambi and Thumper.

These same songs are released in the US, alternating with Tutti Camarata's for the album Snow White in French and English.

In 1964, a new edition of the first recording of the story of Snow White surfaces again: after its initial 1938 release on two 78 rpm discs, then its 1955 reissue on a 45 rpm, now a 33 rpm offers the story as told by Adrien Lamy starring Elyane Célis on its flip side. On the A side of the disc is the story of Alice in Wonderland starring Marie-Claire Marty.

In 1967 comes yet again a new version of the story told by Claude Nicot with Anna Gaylor as Snow White and Monique Martial as the Queen. The story starts like the film "il y avait une fois...". The illustrations are the same as in the Hachette book of 1951 in the "albums roses" collection. At the end of the story, the same recordings of Heigh Ho and Sifflez en travaillant sung by Christiane Legrand are offered.

In 1968, it is Caroline Cler who narrates the French version of the story "Les sept nains et la mine de diamants" (The seven dwarfs and the diamond mine). She does all the roles. On one of the drawings, the dwarfs hold sheet music entitled "You're never too old to be young", a song originally conceived for the film but one that went unused. It the American version of the disc, the dwarfs do sing that song as well as Music in Your Soup, another deleted number.

The records are not the only things that make the magic of the film last through the years. Extracts regularly appear on TV, now with the new French version.The magic mirror hosts a show on January  2, 1964  called "À nous l'an 2000" (The year 2,000 is ours).

S.V.P. Disney

For Christmas that year, a new concept will last until 1989 ! S.V.P. Disney proposes young viewers to call the show and to choose from a list, the extract of the Disney film that they want to see. The host of the show, of course, is Pierre Tchernia.

Mary Poppins Premiere

Amateurs of Disney still are treated to the show L'ami public numéro 1 on a regular basis and in the October 3, 1965 show 4 minutes of the silly song are presented. In the same show, Snow White herself attends the premiere of Mary Poppins and meets Walt Disney himself there. The commentator reminds us that the last big world premiere happened in 1937 for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The day after the death of Walt Disney, a short version of the soup sequence is broadcast in the show "Panorama, le magazine de l'actualité télévisé" on December 16, 1966, this time with a presentation by Walt Disney, interviewed by Pierre Tchernia. Twenty seconds of the silly song and a homage follow.

On December 30, 1966, for S.V.P. Disney, one of the first film chosen is, as often, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs and 5 minutes and 40 seconds of the discovery of the cottage are shown. On December 24, 1967, we have 4 minutes of the silly song.

On December 10, 1967, L'ami public n°1 opens with a brief extract of the frog clock ringing. But the amateurs of the film will have more: an amazing 6 minutes and 20 seconds follow with the Queen ordering the hunter to kill the Princess, the flight through the woods and the song With A Smile And A Song.
On March 31, 1968, Pierre Tchernia offers 3 minutes of Snow White in L'ami public numéro 1 with an animal theme: its is the song Whistle While You Work where so many animals help the heroin.
On October 13, 1968 : Pierre Tchernia offers the soup sequence again. We then get 1 minute and 25 seconds of the song I'm Wishing.



On December 25, 1968, it's time for S.V.P. Disney again and the show opens with a shot of figurines of the dwarfs. Pierre Tchernia is not surprised that "each year, the number one requested film is Snow White". And he offers the scene in the mine, but he explains that, since the film is so in demand during the holidays, all available French copies in Paris are now in movie theaters so all that's left is an English copy. For once, the dwarfs will sing in English on French TV.
This little speech proves that the film, even without a national release since 1962, is still occasionally shown in some theaters, especially at Christmas.
On December 25, 1969, we get the Whistle While You Work sequence. Surprisingly, it is actually the first French version that is presented. A late appearance for such a rare track, now!
On December 25, 1970, it has become a habit of seeing an image of Snow White behind the show's title card. Once more, "an enormous majority" of ballots for Snow White are satisfied by 3 minutes of the silly song.
On December 25, 1971, Lucie Dolène is once again the French voice of Snow White on Whistle While you Work for 4 minutes.
On December 25, 1972, for the first time, in spite of of a three minute extract of With A Smile And A Song, Snow White is not the first requested film. Pierre Tchernia explains that by the arrival of many great new features like The Jungle Book, and also by the fact that "Snow White may be somewhat forgotten since its last release", but he has good news: we will get to see her again (or maybe discover her) for Christmas 1973, an important year for the Disney studios who celebrate their 50th anniversary.

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That's all for today folks!