Sadly, due to Covid19, this years Disney on Ice event at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena has been cancelled. With colourful memories of previous shows in abundance, Andy Howells looks back to when Snow White headlined the Ice shows in the 1960s!
In recent years, Disney fans of all ages have been enthralled by the Disney on Ice shows which have toured the UK. Characters from Cars, Finding Nemo, Frozen as well as Mickey Mouse & friends have graced arenas for sell-out performances and given magical recreations of the Disney films.
Pages from the 1962 programme of Tom Arnold Ice Presentation of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs at Granby Halls, Leicester
Tom Arnold’s 1960s Ice Show
However, the magic of Disney stories was also skating across venues back in the 1960s. Theatrical Impresario Tom Arnold struck a deal with Walt Disney to reproduce the classic animation, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs to play several UK venues including Wembley, Brighton and Leicester.
Choreographed by Ross Taylor, Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs featured Jacqueline Du Bief as the Queen, Douglas Breniser as The Prince and Sue Park as Snow White. Among the Seven Dwarfs was future Star Wars actor Kenny Baker as Dopey. Kenny would later play R2D2.
Pages from the 1962 programme of Tom Arnold Ice Presentation of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs at Granby Halls, Leicester
Show Memorabilia
Visitors to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had the opportunity to purchase a souvenir programme, glove puppets and an EP record featuring music from the show at the venues Snow White stand.
The production also made it on to a Pathe newsreel in 1965 and in January 1966, highlights were broadcast on BBC1 from a Wembley Stadium performance.
The featured programme features Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs run at The Granby Halls, Leicester. The show ran for 4 weeks from Monday February 12, 1962.
Read on: Disney On Ice Reviews and Features
-
Disney on Ice at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena reviewed by Rachel Howells, April 2019
-
Andy Howells Interview with Disney on Ice’s Elsa – Sophia Adams
-
If you have any memories of attending this production, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at entertainmentsouthwales@gmail.com