Disney Legends - Ilene Woods
Not long ago I made a Disney Legends post detailing the life of Adriana Caselotti, the original voice of Snow White. A lot of the classic princesses had very unique, gentle, beautiful voices that matched their respective characters perfectly. A voice that comes to mind when thinking about Disney princesses is the one and only Ilene Woods, voice of Cinderella.
The Beginning of Cinderella
The Walt Disney Studios were entering the Silver Age of their animation eras, trying to pick back up where they left off before the war. The films that were released during the wartime era, which included Fun and Fancy Free, Make Mine Music, and The Three Caballeros, did not perform the way the studio hoped. It was crucial that their next few animated feature films were perfect and embodied the charm Snow White produced. They came up with 2 ideas: Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella. Walt had done Cinderella previously at his old studio Laugh-o-grams, but he now had the tools and the money to make it into a big production. As work was being done on both of these films, Cinderella progressed faster, and ended up being released on February 15th, 1950.
Sketches from the production of Cinderella by Marc Davis. Image from: https://d23.com/gorgeous-art-making-1950s-cinderella/
The Production of Cinderella
Mack David, Jerry Livingston, and Al Hoffman were the lead song-writers for the film. They wrote “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo”, “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, “Sing, Sweet Nightingale”, and “So This Is Love”. David and Livingston approached their friend Ilene Woods in 1948 to sing the demo of these songs for them, to present to Disney. Walt auditioned over 300 applicants for the role of Cinderella, but none of them were exactly what he was looking for until he heard Ilene’s voice on the tracks. It was then that he called her and offered her the role, even though she hadn’t formally auditioned.
“I didn’t know Disney was casting for the voice of Cinderella. I found out indirectly by doing a favor for two friends who wrote the music.”
Ilene Woods. Image from: https://www.amazon.com/Ilene-Woods-Voice-Cinderella-photo/dp/B00CBLNLFC
Ilene Wood’s Life Before Disney
Ilene’s birth name was Jacquelyn Ruth Woods, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. When she was a little girl, her mother was enthusiastic about placing Ilene into classes for the arts. Singing, dancing, and acting as a child eventually lead her to getting her first major radio show job at 15 years old, starring on the The Philco Hall of Fame. Eventually she got her own network show called The Ilene Woods Show. Through her career in radio in the 1940s she met many established entertainers, including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Jack Carson, and more.
During WWII, Woods had the opportunity to sing for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Harry Truman. She sang on the Perry Como Show in the 1950s, as well as the Arthur Godfrey Show and Garry Moore’s show.
Ilene Woods, age 15. Image from: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/150729918755348701/
The Cinderella Recording Sessions
In an interview with the Walt Disney Family Museum, Ilene recalled how her days at work would be spent recording for Cinderella. Her and the producers would spend hours in the studio, sometimes take up the whole day, trying to get takes of dialogue and music to sound perfect. She said that Walt would come in at the end of the day and make one suggestion for improvement, and it would make the entire recording sound much better.
One suggestion that ended up changing one song entirely, was adding over-dubbing to the song “Sing, Sweet Nightingale”. In the late 1940s, the technology had just been introduced to add harmonies over tracks, and Walt wanted Ilene to sing her own harmonies for the song. He already had the idea of the bubbles floating around the room, with a new tone coming from each. It was a chance Walt wanted to take and it ended up having a great return.
“That’s the way [Walt] was. When he said something could be done, nobody questioned him.”
Ilene Woods. Image from: https://www.alux.com/highest-paid-disney-voices/3/
The Premiere of Cinderella
In the documentary From Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella, Ilene recalls her sitting in the theatre watching the film for the first time with her 3-year old daughter. As soon as “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes” began playing, her daughter got up and yelled “that’s my mommy!”.
Cinderella ended up becoming more successful than Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Adjusted for inflation, Cinderella made $263,591,415 in the box office and Snow White made $184,925,486 in the box office. The whole studio thought it was a success, including Ilene.
Walt Disney began his own music publishing company that year, so that he could publish the Cinderella album under his own label. After the premiere, the album stayed #1 for the entire year, and sold over 750,000 copies. The soundtrack was also nominated for 3 Academy Awards, including Best Original Song, Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, and Best Recording.
Ilene Woods’ Life After Disney
In 1972, Woods officially retired from show business, but did make appearances every once in a while. She became a spokesperson for the United Cerebral Palsy telethons. In 1982, she became a portrait artist, something she always had a passion for.
In 1990, Woods sued Disney for $20 million after friend and voice of Sleeping Beauty, Mary Costa, had filed a lawsuit against the company for the re-release of the videocassette tapes that featured her voice. According to a Washington Post article published in 1990, it says her contract in which she signed in 1948 stated Disney could not sell “…copies of the movie for sale to the public”. It is currently unknown whether she won the lawsuit or not.
Despite the contractual complications, Woods commended her time with the Disney company during many interviews as she got older. She developed Alzheimer’s Disease, which caused her to not remember her time as Cinderella. Though there aren’t many credible sources, it has been rumored that her nurses would play “A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes’, and it would make her feel calm and peaceful. Ilene passed away on July 1st, 2010, at the age of 81.
Ilene Woods. Image from: https://disneydetail.me/2013/05/05/may-5-2/
Cinderella and her carriage. Image from: https://insidethemagic.net/2020/04/cinderella-carriage-wax-warmer-coming-soon-ky1/
“Cinderella, I think was one of my favorite stories, and I think my having gotten the part was a Cinderella story in itself, because it’s being part of a legend. There’s nothing quite like that.”
Reference list:
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/jul/19/ilene-woods-obituary
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jul-03-la-me-ilene-woods-20100703-story.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6p107f7PA0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMngvFH3q8M
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042332/awards
