Most people would have thought it a little strange – in fact even I thought it a little strange. As I approached Adriana Caselotti at the Hollywood Collectors Show on June 24, 1995 to purchase an autograph, she began singing to me Someday My Prince Will Come. Of course this wasn’t quite as bizarre as it sounds if you know that Adriana Caseloti provided the voice for none-other-than Snow White in Walt Disney’s very first animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Now as a professed Disneyphile, this is an incredible memory to have, even though it was a bit strange and off-putting at the time.
What’s more, Ms. Caselotti was an exceptionally kind lady. While almost all of the other celebrities at the show were only charging $5.00 for their autographed photos, she was charging $10. I have little doubt that her agent had upped her prices due to her legendary status. But I think she felt a little bit guilty about it. After I purchased the photo below, she said “Oh, I smudged it – let me give you another one” and she signed a second photo and handed it off to me. To this day, I have yet to find that smudge.
The ‘smudged’ photo
Not sure what these photos were originally used for if Disney wanted to keep her a secret
I wasn’t with Bob or anyone I knew at the time, so I didn’t get a photo taken with Adriana Caselotti – which I thoroughly regret. She passed away a year and a half later in January of 1997. Incidentally, she had virtually no other film career as Walt Disney, hoping to keep her identity a mystery, owned the rights to her voice and wouldn’t let her appear in any other film or radio program…except for one little one. She’s the voice in The Wizard of Oz singing “Wherefore art thou, Romeo” during If I Only Had a Heart.
How sweet.
Celebrities and autographs from the 1995 Hollywood Collectors Show will continue…
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