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Site created 12/15/97.
page created: 12/15/08
 Back to Page Two... NOTE: The scans below are the property of Robert Siegel and The Digital Bits, and may not be reposted without permission. Copyright of the images belongs to the respective studios. In addition, please note that all the information contained within the text is taken from ORIGINAL studio press materials, which may contain some errors. |
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Sleeping Beauty (Continued)
Disney, for the first time, sent out several of the animators to the big-city show houses to meet audiences and in the premier cities to make a small presentation before the run of the film. Highway signs were rented in 24 American cities for large 24-sheet posters using the poster art, so that anyone driving down the major highways couldn't miss the colorful promotional posters (these 24-sheet posters today would have a value in the tens of thousands of dollars, as only a limited amount were produced). Concurrent to the first run of the film, Eyvind Earle's magnificent landscapes of fable were exhibited in some of the country's leading art museums. In Los Angeles and New York, there were special night showings which were promoted as "Be a Sleeping Beauty," in which awards were given for costumes designed by the public and worn to these special showings. [Continued below...] |
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Disney also created doll cut-out contests, exhibits in several large museums, a series of children's books, lingerie, and hundreds of other items for a promotion that Disney had never done on such a large scale before. Letters were sent to all theater managers who ran the film on how to present the picture, with the precise time to open the curtains, on the specs and settings for the stereophonic sound, levels of each channel, and for the first time requested that theater owners not let people in after the first frames of the film began in order not to disrupt the audience already present. This was done in later releases like Ben Hur. Also on these spec sheets for the theaters was a packet of promotional information urging all theater managers to use any business in their city or town for tie-in promotions and to get the word out that this was truly a major animation Disney event.
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   Promotional items and comic books. |
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When Sleeping Beauty was released to theaters for the first time, it was issued in 35mm and 70mm versions. The 70mm version was accompanied by a six-channel stereophonic track. Some Cinemascope-compatible prints were issued with 4-channel stereophonic sound and some 35mm prints were issued in mono for theaters that were not equipped for stereophonic sound. Unfortunately, the film on its initial release earned $3 million dollars, with Disney losing half of its investment. Hard work prevailed on promotion with everything from comic books to albums to displays in children's clothing departments at many of the nation's leading clothing stores. It has been noted that the promotion of this film was done at a cost never before paid by the Disney company. It was a troubled time for the Disney Studios who, because of the low intake, were on the brink of bankruptcy. Since that time, the film has earned Disney a fortune in returns from re-issues and video releases and is today hailed as one of the best of the Disney classics, bringing in more than twenty times the production cost and in the end, considered a very successful picture.
The film would gather some award nominations. George Bruns was nominated for Best Scoring of a Motion Picture but lost to Andre Previn for Porgy and Bess. The film was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album, but again lost to Porgy and Bess, a Samuel Goldwyn Production. Finally, the film was nominated for Best Musical Entertainment featuring youth by the Young Artists Awards, but this was in 1980 with a re-issue. Again it lost, this time to The Nutcracker Fantasy. When the film was released, however, critics all over the world commended Disney for his wonderful work on the picture, including raves from such publications as Hollywood Reporter, Variety and The New York Times. [Continued below...] |
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The film was reissued many times by the Walt Disney Company for a new generation. Later major re-issues occurred in 1970, 1979 and 1986. The first home video was released the same year, following the theatrical reissue in 1986. For home video, the first time Sleeping Beauty was released was in 1986 on both VHS and laserdisc followed by a restoration and released in those 2 formats again in 1997. The final release was on DVD in 2003 as a Disney special edition 2 disc collector's edition.The castle for Sleeping Beauty has become a symbol of Disney used in their theme parks, on their new DVD and Blu-ray promotions and trailers. [Continued below...] |
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  The Sleeping Beauty castle. |
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While completing this column, as I was filing the Sleeping Beauty materials back into storage, I found this letter inside one of the film's pressbooks. Obviously sent to exhibitors during the first release of the film, I decided this letter had to be part of the column, it is so nostalgic. The letter was not in great shape, so I scanned it, and cleaned off many of the folds, creases and stains that came from years of storage. The text part of the letter was fading badly and so I re-typed the text exactly as was written, otherwise the letter is exactly the same as the original, the only change being the text re-typed.
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