History of Cinderella

Cinderella is a Princess with a past. This past includes both Disney and non-Disney material, as the story of Cinderella that we know and love from the Disney film was adapted from a previously written story. The first version of Cinderella came from a French film produced in 1899 by Georges Melies.

Cinderella also happens to be the Princess with more film credits than any other Princess… simply because of all the remakes of her famous story. Everyone loves a good 'rags to riches' story and Cinderella is proof of that. A mistreated young woman makes good and marries a Prince. This story is famous in one version or another worldwide.

Walt Disney's first experience with Cinderella was in 1922 when his own Laugh-O-Gram studios produced a seven-minute version of the film on December 6.

The full-length feature film was based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault in the writings "Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passé". Walt Disney's Cinderella appeared on February 14, 1950 and is now considered one of the biggest classic Disney films of all time. In this film Ilene Woods was the voice of Cinderella.

One interesting fact about our beloved Princess Cinderella is that she almost wasn't made into a Disney film. The Walt Disney film venture for Cinderella was considered very risky. This film cost between 3 and 4 million dollars to produce and if it Cinderella would have failed at the box office the Walt Disney Studio would have failed right along with the film. Fortunately Cinderella was a huge success for Disney.

Cinderella Castle appears as the main focal point for Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and at Tokyo Disneyland.