"1940 ended with two critical and soon-to-become classics costing the Disney Studio. Much needed profits were not rolling in. A war overseas threatened worldwide film distribution, not to mention the threat of American involvement."

As Mickey was evolving, the company was too, and 1939 was showing the studio was prepared to tell the world new stories and show new ways to tell them… but was the world ready?

"Snow White is as exciting as a Western, as funny as a haywire comedy. It combines the classic idiom of folklore drama with rollicking comic-strip humor.”

"Keep them wondering. Let ‘em call it ‘Disney’s Folly’ or any other damn thing, as long as they keep talking about it..."

"... eventually a public that Walt knew best would prove just how wrong his critics were."

"I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things, based on the real, unless we first know the real." - Walt Disney, 1935

"Walt was right: You can’t top pigs with pigs. However, a temperamental duck has serious staying power."

"It hit at a psychological moment, in 1933, when everybody actually had a Big Bad Wolf at their door. It wasn’t intentional on our part, we just took it and made it as a subject!”

"Colors on a screen that had, up until now, shown shades of black, white, and gray, were shining with the green tops of trees and fiery reds and oranges of fire against a blue sky."

"Through the adventures of one Mouse, Disney had been building a stable of characters. Of course, they didn’t always start out as the characters they became..."

"After all, he had two successful series and a top animator in Ub Iwerks – what could possibly go wrong?"

"Walt proved once again that he knew his audience well. The Silly Symphonies were a hit. Mickey was taking off even more...

"Although not in any way, shape, or form a complete detail of what happened during or after those fateful New York meetings, I felt it best to let Walt Disney tell the story himself..."

"Walt still strived for quality in all he produced, but the focus of the shorts had shifted into the animated gag side of the spectrum, and it had become apparent that something new was needed."

"Much like the years before, as would be expected of a company in its fledgling years, 1926 was a year of change for the Disney Brothers Cartoon studio."

"Aside from the business and stress of turning out these features, something else was blooming at the studio in ’25: a workplace romance."

"That was a big experience for a youngster... It was wonderful and there again was Walt with his stories and his direction."