80 years of crossing: looking for Shanghai Disney in the literature of the Republic of China

As early as the 1930s and 1940s, there was a "Disney Hot" in Shanghai: Disney cartoon characters frequently appeared in various newspapers, magazines, books and advertisements in Shanghai; "Walt Disney" became a scrambled report. Successful people; Shanghai's major cinemas ushered in the Disney animation boom; Mickey Mouse and Snow White have become the advertising spokespersons of major brands in Shanghai...

It is reported that the above exhibition includes "Mickey Mouse and Shanghai local stars", "long comics: Mickey Mouse travels to the beach", "17-year-old Zhang Ailing: On the future of cartoon painting", "With Disney: Wan Haoming's creation of cartoons and other topics. The exhibition will last from June 13th to July 11th.

Now we may wish to go through an 80-year traversal to find Shanghai Disney in the Republic of China literature.

Disney first boarded the beach

Shanghai was in the golden age of the film industry in the 1930s. At that time, the "Walt Disney" appeared in the Shanghai media. There were many different names: Warner Dixon, Walt Disney, Hua Di Di Si Nai, Walt Disney, Waldis and others. foot.

And those cartoon characters that we are familiar with today have other names at the time. For example, Mickey Mouse was once called "Mickey Mouse", Snow White called "Snow Girl", and Donald Duck was called "Tang Duck" and "Don" Slave duck" or "Duck Donner".

The above picture shows that at the time, "Liangyou" magazine first introduced Disney and his Mickey Mouse. In the January 1932 issue, the pictorial used a full-page picture to introduce Mickey Mouse as the most popular star in the United States, and took the opportunity to use "Mickey Mouse and Pluto to watch "Liangyou" together" to cover the cover of their own magazine.

"Liangyou", 1932-01-01

Let's take a look at this photo news on The China Press on December 24, 1936, which introduces Mr. Disney and his cartoon image greeting Christmas. At this time, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie and other classic cartoon characters have appeared.

"Mainland News", 1936-12-24, A3 version

In the book industry, Shanghai Zhonghua Book Company published the book "Mickey Mouse Drifting" in Shanghai in 1936. According to the above statistics, at least 12 kinds of Disney books published in Shanghai before 1950, including cartoon picture book translation, re-creation based on film content and homemade comic books.

Among them, Mickey Mouse is the ancestor of cartoons. The picture books and books about it are also the most. Currently, there are "Mickey Mouse Drifting" (1936), "Mickey Mouse Pearl" (1939), and "Mickey Mouse Circus". (1939), "Mickey Mouse Open House" (1947) and so on.

Disney Book

"Dy's Success" is popular among the media

It is reported that after Mickey Mouse entered China, all kinds of newspapers and magazines paid great attention to Dick's "Secret of Success" and rushed to publish it. The titles of "famous cartoon painters", "great producers", and "the great heroes of the film industry" are not uncommon.

The above picture shows dozens of articles about the secrets of Walt Disney's success in the Shanghai Journals in the 1930s and 1940s. With the Mickey Mouse series of animations in the Shanghai cinema, every time a new film is successful, there will be Walt Disney's "successful learning" discussion in newspapers and magazines. Even his life, personalities, professionalism, personal hobbies, Disney couples, etc. have become the object of media analysis and reporting.

"Declaration", 1941-05-16, 12 edition

Electroacoustics, Vol. 5, No. 36, 1936

The Movie, No. 76, 1940

"Snow White" has become the new favorite of advertising

On December 21, 1937, Disney's first animated feature film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was released in the United States. Half a year later, on June 2, 1938, the film officially landed at the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Nanjing Grand Theatre.

According to the "Report", the Lido Grand Theatre, the Grand Shanghai Theatre, the Ping An Theatre, the Nanjing Grand Theatre, and the Xi'an Grand Theatre were respectively more than 52,000 people, more than 30,000 people, more than 30,000 people, and more than 25,000 people. More than 20,000 people have sold their seats in the top five theaters in Shanghai. Citizens never tire of it, "Snow White" created an unprecedented box office in Shanghai.

In the media reports at the time, I would like to see such a title: "Snow White has broken the highest record and earned 7 million yuan." "Snow White is in China, and the audience has a record of more than 400,000." According to the report, "Snow White" set the box office champion of Shanghai in 1938, and the fare was once raised from 3 yuan to 8 yuan. At that time, the average monthly salary of a worker was only about 14 yuan.

Electroacoustics, 1939, Vol. 8, No. 29, p. 1204

It was also the Christmas of the year. The "Declaration" published a picture of Ni Changmin's comic book "Snow White's Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea". Snow White holds the lotus incarnation and He Xiangu, together with her seven dwarfs, "the Eight Immortals Cross the Sea." The researcher in the above picture analyzes that the comic book author may only be a kind of humorous juggling psychology. However, the characters in this cartoon are combined with the combination of Chinese and Western styles, which justifies the social and cultural ecology of the Chinese and Western cultures in Shanghai.

"Snow White's Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea", "Declaration", 1938-12-25 14th Edition

As Snow White's image is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, she has also become the target of the advertisers: such as Snow White, singles, fruit plates, cigarettes, spices, wool, watercolor albums and so on.

Take Snow White Powder as an example. Merchants will combine Snow White's "Snow White" image with the metaphorical meaning of women's whitening. The advertisement said: "Snow White powder has great effect to correct all defects on your face, and it will make you like Snow White." "Snow White powder removes body odor and often licks two That is to say, the fragrance of the fragrance, the women of the era can not be prepared, divided into three kinds of white and white rose meat."

Snow White Advertising, "Declaration", 1938-10-10, 46th edition

In addition, after the "IP" of Snow White achieved great success in Shanghai, Chinese film dealers put the Chinese version of "Snow White" on the agenda. "China Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was filmed by the then Guolian Company. The film side invested a lot of money and invited the well-known child star Chen Juanjuan to star. In Shanghai's "Damei Weekly" in 1940, there was such a record: "National United Company filmed a very novel new film - "Chinese Snow White", starring Chen Xuejuan, starring Snow White, Han Langen, Yin Xiuzhen, Hong Jingling... For Wu Yonggang, at the Shin Kong Grand Theater."

On the eve of the release of the Chinese live-action film "Snow White", a large poster was posted at the entrance of the theater, and the image of Snow White and 7 dwarfs was released in front of the public and the words "China's first fairy tale film" were printed.

"China Snow White" stills "Damei Weekly", 1940, No. 78, p. 6

Dispute the Disney movie footage

The researchers in the above picture found that although the prototypes of Disney's stories are the characters in the world famous fairy tales, the "Declaration", "Wen Wei Po", "Xinmin Evening News" and so on will still introduce them according to the contents of Disney movies. The report will mention the new characters, the actors participating in the show, the age of the viewers who are suitable for viewing, etc., and will warm up the film in Shanghai soon afterwards.

Even though Disney's animation works may not be officially screened in Shanghai, Shanghai's major media will still publish a lot of information and behind-the-scenes stories about these works. For example, in the 1941 "Declaration", an article entitled "The Knights of the Dragon" was published:

"In this film, Walter Dessin personally 'leaked face' performance, this is the first time.

There are common similarities between Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Boluo Dog, Goose Mother, Ding Ding Niu, Mermaid, .... They are all the "players" who participated in the performance in "Knights of the Cavaliers".

When the Donald Duck walked into the technical room, he often played as a horse. In other words: Clarence, who had the pronunciation of the Donald Duck, was originally a horseman.

When Waldes was resistant to painting, he used only three fingers and one big thumb. It is said that this can save a lot of time. It is true that practice makes perfect.

In the film, you can hear the effect of the most beautiful sound. On the occasion of the sound, you will wear the clouds and crack the clouds, which is unexpected. ”

"Declaration", 1941-08-31, version 12

"Declaration", 1946-6-23, 3 edition

Movie derivatives are loved

Disney films were sold at the box office in Shanghai, making the film's derivatives popular with the public. For example, the scores of "Snow White" and "Pinocchio" are read and sung in the public. People can buy Snow White and 7 dwarf books and toys, Snow White fruit bowl and other items in the bookstore. In addition, the hot stamping papers of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoons have also become the production targets of the merchants. The citizens are very happy with the manual activities such as drawing and coloring of Disney animated characters.

Snow White score

Drawing and coloring of Disney cartoon characters