The Ada Richter Snow White song book for piano dates from 1955. Licensed through the Bourne Company, it contains a total of 21 pages. Measures 12" x 9". Original retail price $1.50.



A story page proceeds the table of contents.





This "Snow White" number is one of several unused songs created for the film by Larry Morey and Frank Churchill. Even though it's not in the motion picture, the piece still finds its way on occasion into the movies' published sheet music.



Rear cover with advertisement for another songbook arranged by Ada Richter, Walt Disney's Classics.



Ada Richter (1900-1988) was a teacher, composer, lecturer, and songbook author. Learn more about her at the University of Maryland Archives.

Adriana Caselotti's showstopping "Some Day My Prince Will Come" is one of the many touching highlights from Snow White. Composed by Frank Churchill with lyrics by Larry Morey, the song is ranked #19 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest songs in movie history.

Over the years, the tune has been performed by both jazz and pop artists alike. First covered by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in 1957, the American jazz pianist was inspired to record the song for his Dave Digs Disney album after hearing the original on one of his kid's Disney records. Other jazz greats followed including Miles Davis whose 1961 arrangement included a sax solo by John Coltrane. Modern day recordings continue like that of Venetians Radu and Violeta Zaplitnii.

Pop covers include Diana Ross and The Supremes (1967), Sinéad O'Connor (1988), Tanya Tucker (1996), Barbra Streisand (2001), Tiffany Thornton (2009) and quite a number of others. Some are welcome renditions of Adrianna Caselotti's original. Others nearly make me ill. But who am I to judge?


Here's a cross section...

First published in the US at the time of the film's original release, the Souvenir Album contains nine songs credited to Frank Churchill and Larry Morey--eight from the movie soundtrack (not "Dig-A-Dig-Dig"), and one additional, "Snow White". Licensed by Irving Berlin Inc. Softcover.



This 50-page softcover measures 8.75" x 11.25" and includes the sheet music (3-4 pages each), illustrated red boarders, and 14 B+W plates. A numbering error within the table of contents was missed by an editor before publication.



"Whistle While You Work", pp.4-5 + 8-9.



"One Song", pp.18-19.



"The Dwarfs' Yodel Song", pp.28-29.



"Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum", pp.38-39.



A couple ads for Mickey Mouse/Silly Symphony songbooks on the last pages.



Back cover.




Beginning in 1944, the songbooks were licensed by Bourne Music Publishers, Inc. The red-tinted pages were not present in later printings, and the table of contents error was corrected.




"Whistle While You Work", pp.4-5.



"Heigh-Ho", p.10.



"Snow White", p.27.





A Children's Simplified Edition was also published, first by Irving Berlin, later by Bourne. Green-colored cover. Only 26 pages instead of 50.



Early printings still included the red-tinted backgrounds.



Simplified versions of the songs.



On the back cover, Dopey has a green shadow instead of gray.

One of the ways in which 1938 audiences could prolong the Snow White enchantment after their cinema experience was through music. Sheet music back then is analogous to what mp3 downloads are today. If you liked a tune from the film, you'd buy it...in the form of a songbook. Then you could learn to play and sing it yourself. And the Frank Churchill and Larry Morey songs sold like hotcakes.

Sheet music was usually produced for vocal and piano accompaniment, but there were also chord notations for guitar, ukulele and banjo too. In the US, the selections were first sold individually, 3-4 pages per songbook (not including covers); The front featured the song title at the top with an illustration below of Snow White singing and dwarfs on instruments. The back would often have a few bars from other musical numbers available for purchase.

"One Song" front and back covers.



Pages 2-5, the sheet music.



The songs were initially published by Irving Berlin, Inc. who controlled the rights to the material. Later the Bourne Music Company took over, and they still own them to this day.



Other sheet music available in the series was cataloged on the cover at the lower left. Depending on what printing you have, the lineup changes. This particular volume lists twelve tunes--the original nine from the film, the two deleted numbers, and an unrecorded piece called, "Rub-A-Dub-Dub".



In a later printing of "One Song", the back cover features sample bars from two of the other titles.



On the front, eight songs are listed from the film (no "Dig-A-Dig-Dig"), plus an unrecorded piece called "Snow White".



Stamped inside is an ASCAP logo not seen in the earlier "One Song" book.




In the 1938 Snow White pressbook (p.18), an advertisement for the songbooks mentions that five numbers will be published by Irving Berlin. Yet in the photo, the last book looks as though it has twelve songs listed on the cover. Clearly plans were in the works to release more songbooks.



The song titled "Snow White" made it into the 1944 pressbook (p.4) along with eight others.



The "Snow White" songbook front cover. The back cover has three sample tunes.




Two examples of "I'm Wishing" with slightly different lists of songs; back cover same as above.




"With a Smile and a Song". Advertisement for Mickey Mouse/Silly Symphony songs on back.



Another "With a Smile and a Song", this one is imprinted with the ASCAP logo on an inside page.



Still another with the three sample songs on rear cover.




"Whistle While You Work". Same back cover as above.








"Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum".




"The Dwarf's Yodel Song".



Special thanks to the Michael Filippello Collection for providing most of these images.