>I've received a request for help from a former exchange student in
>Germany on behalf of her friend who is writing a master's thesis on the
>transformation of four fairy tales into animated features, with
>particular emphasis on Walt Disney, namely Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella,
>Snow White, and The Little Mermaid. She is interested in Disney's own
>understanding of these films and information such as why Sleeping Beauty
>preceded other stories, and would like to know whom she might contact at
>Disney for archival information.  If someone could provide answers to
>any of these questions and/or references to analyses of these films in
>the secondary literature, I'd appreciate it. Animation is not a special
>interest of mine, but I'll pass on the information. My e-mail address is
>[log in to unmask]
>Thanks,
>Janis Solomon

Yippee!!  A question *I* can answer! :)

You can have her call David Smith at the Disney archive -- he's the head
guy there, but there are *things* to think about when you call Disney for
information on Disney.

You also might want to refer her to a new book by Robin Allan, which has
just been published by John Libbey -- Walt Disney and Europe: European
Influences on the Animated Feature Films of Walt Disney (ISBN 0253213533
-- $25 in the US).  It's excellent.  Another idea: I run a free e-mail
list for Animation Journal at e-groups ([log in to unmask]) and
through it she can contact a wide range of animation scholars, including
Robin.  If you want to join, you can go to my web site:
http://www.chapman.edu/animation.  There you'll find information on
Animation Journal, which I publish, including a means for joining the
list quite easily.

BTW, one issue of Animation Journal contains a lengthy review of
animation studies literature that might be useful, though only a small
portion relates to Disney.  I'm not going to plug my own book . . . (but
you can read about it on my web site).  ;)

Good luck! --

Maureen Furniss
Editor, Animation Journal

----
Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite