They Made the Magic: Scotty Mattraw

Scotty Mattraw was born on October 19, 1880 in New York.  A character actor, Mattraw appeared in may movies from the silent pictures to 1940.  Some of his pictures included The Thief of Bagdad, Babes in Toyland (1934), Wee Willie Winkie, and Grapes of Wrath.  Mattraw provided the voice of Bashful for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Mattraw died November 9, 1946.

Destination D - 75 years of animation - Hearing Voices

 The next panel was Hearing Voices: a Salute to Disney Voice Artists.  What a collection of talent!

Bill Farmer talked about landing the role of Goofy.  He treated the audience to a little Romeo and Juliet - Goofy style.  The first time he preformed the voice was in 1987 for a D-TV Dogone Valentine show.

Up next was Lisa Davis the voice of Anita in One Hundred and One Dalmation.  Lisa's early career included a role in Zsa Zsa Gabor's 1958 Queen of Other Space.  She was always in the back because she was also a blond and Zsa Zsa was not to fond of her.  This allowed her to perfect the distinctive voice of Zsa Zsa's.  Lisa got called to read for Cruella (she pulled out her Zsa Zsa's voice).  However, halfway through reading she realized that she was more Anita and asked Walt if they could switch roles.

David Frankham provided the voice for Sgt. Tibbs in One Hundred and One Dalmatians.  He was called into to meet with Woolie Reitherman.  Fankham auditioned for Winnie the Pooh, Sword and the Stone and Robin Hood, but alas wasn't right for the parts.

Kathryn Beaumont provided the voice for Alice and Wendy.  Early in her career she was in Esther William's On a Island With You.  She talked about the differences working at MGM and then coming to Disney.  At Disney the head of the studio was part of the team, not at all like MGM.

Dickie Jones was not able to make the presentation.

Stich's voice was provided by Chris Sanders.  at the base he is a villain but he becomes a hero.  Sanders mused that Stich wouldn't be invited to the heroes party, nor to the villain's party.

The last panelist was Bruce Reitherman who played Mowgli and Christopher Robin.  The last name should look familiar - his father was animator Woolie.  As a boy, Bruce payed a Paige boy in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and was an original Little Rascal.

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They Made the Magic: Marion Darlington

With a Smile and Song would not have been complete without Marion Darlington.  The actress was known for her ability to make birds sing and was hired by Disney to work on Snow White and the Seen Dwarfs, Cinderella, So Dear to My Heart, and Pinocchio.  She appeared in the 1942 film Obliging Young Lady in an uncredited role of bird lover and in 1953 she provided the whistiling solo for Bright Road.

They Made the Magic: Jim MacDonald

John James MacDonald (Jim or Jimmy) was born May 19, 1906 in Dundee, Scotland but grew up in Philadelphia.  In 1927 he moved to California and worked as an engineer.  His first career was in music as a drummer on the Dollar Steamship Lines.  This lead to an interest in percussion instruments and then in sound effects using musical and non-musical sounds together.  He received a call between cruises in 1934 to record music for a Mickey Mouse short at the Disney Studios and his career with Disney lasted over forty years and is mostly notably known as the voice of Mickey Mouse, beginning with Mickey and the Beanstalk.
He provided the yodeling for The Dwarfs Yodel Song, the whistling, and the sneezing.  MacDonald related in  Funnyworld number 18 to Michael Barrier:
In the early days, way back onto Snow White, they had the Fraunfelder family, a Swiss family, and they did a lot of the yodeling for the Dwarfs.  I played in the band; I played jugs and ocarina and different things.  We had a little five-or six-piece group, and I remember that Art Smith played the clarinet without and mouthpiece and all these oddball things, and we made the sound of that organ.  It was a very cute and funny sound for the organ, and when Walt hear it, he said, "That's great.  Now, this is a hpapy little group, they should be signing.  Maybe they could yodel." And he looked at me.  "Have you ever yodeled?" I said, "No, Walt."  He said, "Go on down to the stage and try it." - Walt's People Volume 7
He did the test yodel and the Fraufelders did the official cut, but when scenes changed, rather than bringing in the Fraufelders, MacDonald would fill in.  The same thing happened with Sneezy's sneezes.  Billy Gilbert did the Sneezes but when they needed to make a change, they called MacDonald.
MacDonald was the head sound effects man.  When asked what the most difficult sound he had to make was, he replied it was the sound of a spider web shimmering.  He also voiced chipmunk, Bruno and Gus/Jaq in Cinderella, Dormouse in Alice, Wolf in Sword and the Stone, Bees in Winnie the Pooh, and Humphrey the Bear.  You can 'see' MacDonald in Fantasia: his silhouette is visible playing the timpani.  Additionally, he was the drum player in The Firehouse Five Plus Two.
He retired in 1976 but returned to help with several projects including the rerecording of Fantasia and voicing the dragonfly in Rescuers.  MacDonald passed away in 1991 and named a Disney Legend in 1993.

They Made the Magic: Adriana Caselotti

Adriana Caselotti was born May 16, 1916 to an opera family in Connecticut.  The family moved to Italy so her mother could tour with a company, so her early education was completed in Italy.  Upon returning to the states, Caselotti didn't speak English, so she began learning the language and began singing lessons.  She had a few small roles before being chosen over Denna Durbin as the voice of Snow White.  149 girls auditioned for the part and she was surprised that, being older (18), she was given the  role.  Her high pitched voice was very popular in keeping with the operatic qualitiy valued at the time.
The story goes that the studios called Adriana's father, a voice teacher in Los Angeles, to ask if he had any girls that might be right for the part.  Caselotti had answered the phone and interrupted the conversation suggesting herself and singing a few bars, and the studios man said to come on in.  Upon arriving at the audition Caselotti found out Snow White was about 14 years old, so she 'adjusted' her age and claimed to be just 16.  Frank Churchill was convinced after hearing Caselotti sing Someday My Prince Will Come by sight reading the music.  Walt Disney agreed but was worried that things didn't just happen that easily and wanted to hear other girls (he didn't see the girls in order to avoid influencing his decision).  After this audition, it took a whole year before Caselotti was casted.
In order to gain some experience, she voiced a small part in the Tortoise and the Hare.  She was paid $960 dollars for the role.
Caselotti recaled years later that Harry Stockwell (voice of the Prince) had called her and suggested they go to the premire.  They didn't have tickets but they figured it wouldn't be an issue.  After arguing with the girl at the door, they ended up sneaking in!
This role however, became a professional burden as Walt Disney had her under contract.  She wasn't to preform other roles, in order to not spoil the effect of Snow White.  For example, Jack Benny requested her as a guest on his show, and Caselotti happily agreed, but the studio denied the show permission to have her appear.  In 1938 she appeared on Lux Radio Theatre as Snow White and did have a line in the Wizard of Oz soundtrack and a brief appearance in It's a Wonderful Life.  By the 1950's she was voicing the character in theme parks, television, and promotional events.  In 1983 she was recorded for the wishing well in Disneyland, recreating that same magic from 40 years earlier.
By 1987 she began to receive recognition for her work (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 50th anniversary).  However when Snow White received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she wasn't invited.  She like she had before she showed up anyway.  This time she began singing those famous songs earning the cheers of the crowd until she was ushered into the ceremony.
She passed away in 1997.

They Made the Magic: Moroni Olsen

Happy birthday to Moroni Olsen born in 1889.  A busy character actor in over one hundred movies, he was the voice actor for the Magic Mirror in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  In order to get the correct effect for the mirror, Olsen had his head inside a box with an opening for the microphone, thus creating an echo chamber.
He was born in Ogden, Utah.  His career began with his own touring company and he eventually ended up on Broadway but would return to California to perform in the the Pasadena Playhouse.  For a complete list of roles, see IMDb.  He passed away in 1954.

They Made the Magic: Roy Atwell

Roy Atwell was born May 2, 1878.  He worked in vaudeville, appeared in 20 Broadway productions, stared in silent short films, and a few when sound came about.  He was well known on the radio singing and writing songs.  He provided the voice of Doc for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  Some of Doc's well known traits are based off of Atwell's act in vaudeville; spoonerisms (swapping first syllables of words) and malaprops (mispronouncing words so they have a different meaning).  Atwell passed away in 1962.

They Made the Magic: Harry Stockwell

Harry Stockwell was born April 27, 1902 in Kansas city, Missouri.  He sang in nightclubs and eventually landed in some Broadway shows.  His film debut was in 1935 in Strike Up the Band.  He provided the singing and speaking voice for the Prince in Snow White.  He also played Curly from 1943-1948, replacing the original actor in the stage production of Oklahoma!  He continued his career in film into the seventies.  Stockwell was father to Dean and Guy Stockwell.  He died on July 19, 1984.