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Dopey Background information Feature films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Who Framed Roger Rabbit Television programmes House of Mouse Video games Park attractions Snow White's Scary Adventures Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams Actor Actress Animators Vladimir Tytla Fred Moore Frank Thomas Shamus Culhane Les Clark Voice Eddie Collins Performance model Eddie Collins Designer Inspiration Vaudeville comedians Awards Character information Other names Personality Appearance Occupation Miner Affiliations Goal Home Cottage of the Seven Dwarfs Friends Snow White, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy Enemies The Queen Minions Likes Dislikes Powers and abilities Weapons Fate Typical Saying

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Dopey is the youngest of the seven dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He is often the butt of the other dwarfs' jokes, and his silly, playful actions often annoy the pompous Doc and the short-tempered Grumpy. He is not dumb, but merely acts like a toddler or a dog. Though he occasionally wimpers, laughs or hiccoughs, he does not talk. Dopey is the most popular of the seven dwarfs among audiences. Eddie Collins performed live-action reference and provided any vocal work needed for the character.

Contents 1 Appearances 1.1 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1.1.1 Working at the Mine 1.1.2 Finding Snow White 1.1.3 In the Cottage 1.1.4 The Finale 1.2 Theme park appearances 2 Behind the scenes 2.1 Character creation 2.2 Animation 2.3 Abandoned concepts 2.3.1 Doc and Grumpy's fight 2.3.2 Music in Your Soup 2.3.3 You're Never Too Old 2.3.4 Building a bed for Snow White 3 Critical response 4 References

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

[edit] Working at the Mine

Dopey is first introduced, with his seven companions, at the Dwarfs' Mine. His job is to sweep up the diamonds thrown away by Doc. At one point Dopey pretends that two diamonds are his eyes, much to Doc's disapproval. Dopey is the last dwarf to lead the mine, and walks at the back of the line as they sing Heigh Ho on the way home, attempting to keep in step but failing.

[edit] Finding Snow White

When the seven dwarfs reach their cottage, they think that a monster has taken up residence in their house. They sneak into the cottage and search the room. At one point, Dopey and Happy see something cooking on the fire. Happy is about to try it when Grumpy stops him, suspecting that it is "witch's brew". The dwarfs note that the cottage has been cleaned. They decide that whatever is in the cottage is upstairs, and Doc declares that one of them must go upstairs to chase it out of the house. Dopey is elected, and Doc, his hand shaking, gives Dopey the candle. Dopey is so terrified upon entering the bedroom that, when he hears a noise coming from the beds, he screams and rushes downstairs. The other dwarfs think that he is the monster and rush outside, locking the door. Dopey falls into the kitchen and emerges from the cottage covered in pots and pans. When the other dwarfs see him they still think that he is the monster, and start hitting him. When they realise that it is Dopey, they decide that they must get rid of the monster once and for all, and enter the bedroom. They are about to strike whatever is sleeping in their beds when they realise that it is the princess, Snow White. Grumpy begins to complain, and Doc attempts to silence him, but Snow White is woken up. She manages to match the name at the foot of each bed to the correct dwarf, identifying Dopey sixth.

[edit] In the Cottage

Eventually it is agreed that Snow White will clean and cook for the dwarfs if she is allowed to stay. She prepares soup for them, but demands that they wash first. The dwarfs reluctantly march outside; first, Dopey goes in the wrong direction; then, he bumps into the door. Eventually he goes to the trough. Here, the dwarfs, led by Doc, wash themselves, while singing Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Dwarfs' Washing Song). Grumpy refuses to wash, but the other dwarfs, led by Doc, manage to drag him to the water and wash him thoroughly. As they are doing this, Dopey attempts to get the soap; it keeps slipping out of his hands, and eventually he swallows it by mstake. Later that evening, after supper, the seven dwarfs entertain Snow White with The Silly Song; to begin with, Dopey plays the drums, but he later stands on top of Sneezy to bring him to Snow White's eye level, and dances with the princess. Sneezy sneezes, causing Dopey to shoot up onto one of the rafters. After they finish the song, the dwarfs listen to Snow White sing Some Day My Prince Will Come, which sends every dwarf, except the stubborn Grumpy, into a dream-like state. Doc declares that Snow White will sleep in the bedroom upstairs, and the dwarfs must sleep downstairs. Dopey leans his head on a single feather to sleep, and Sneezy uses his rear-end as a pillow.

[edit] The Finale

The next morning, as each dwarf leaves, he is kissed by Snow White. When Dopey is kissed, he eagerly runs around the back and through the house to receive another. While the dwarfs head to the mine, the Queen, as the Witch, makes her way to the cottage, knowing that only Snow White will be at home. Upon her arrival at the cottage, the animals sense danger and, after attempting to drive her away, rush to the mine to fetch the dwarfs. When they discover that the Queen has found Snow White, the dwarfs rush home to find that the Witch has succeeded in poisoning the princess and is about to leave. The dwarfs chase the Witch into the mountains, and she reaches a cliff. She attempts to crush the dwarfs with a boulder, but a flash of lightning causes her to fall from the cliff and be crushed by the boulder herself.
The seven dwarfs mourn Snow White's death; Dopey is seen sobbing on Doc's shoulder. The dwarfs find her to be so beautiful, even in death, that they fashion a coffin from glass and place her inside. The Prince arrives, and the dwarfs part so that he can approach Snow White. He kisses her, breaking the spell of the Sleeping Death, and the dwarfs cheer. Before Snow White leaves with the Prince, she kisses each dwarf on the forehead.

[edit] Theme park appearances

The Seven Dwarfs, played by cast members in large masks, appear in Disneyland's Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams. They walk in a long line, coming before the Princess and "Big Six" float. Dopey has also been known to make appearances at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Hong Kong with Snow White at his side, mainly because he is the most popular of the seven. They also appear as animatronics, performing The Silly Song, in Snow White's Scary Adventures.

[edit] Behind the scenes

[edit] Character creation

Walt is so aware of the fact that it would be easy to make Dopey imbecilic and he doesn't want that because it's not funny - he just wants him childish - appealing. It's elusive, but Walt always seems to have a way of seeing it so that it's right. —Story Meeting Notes from December 9, 1936[1]

An armature of each dwarf was constructed as reference for the animators. Perce Pierce, one of the storymen working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was particularly active in creating the characters of the dwarfs^[1]. Dopey's personality and role were finalised quite late in the process. After someone suggested that Dopey should move like burlesque comedian Eddie Collins, Collins himself was filmed performing actions for Dopey. This helped to define the character's personality^[1].

[edit] Animation

Though designing the dwarfs was relatively easy, animating them proved to be difficult, as the animators, already finding human figures difficult to animate, now had to animate 'ill-formed' human figures. Vladimir Tytla noted that the dwarfs should walk with a swing to their hips, and Fred Moore commented that the dwarfs had to move a little more quickly to keep up eith the human characters^[2].

In order to establish Dopey's character during the march home in Heigh Ho, George Stalling noted traits specific to the character, to be taken into account in the animation:

Dopey tries to keep in step, skips to keep in step, then stumbles and is out of step again —Studio meeting notes[2]

An armature of each dwarf was constructed as reference for the animators.

[edit] Abandoned concepts

[edit] Doc and Grumpy's fight

A sequence which was fully animated was ultimately cut as it was felt to detract from the story. Following Snow White's promise that she will cook gooseberry pie, all dwarfs cheer and agree that she can stay. The deleted sequence begins when Grumpy disagrees and scolds his fellows for weakening at the mention of gooseberry pie. Doc confronts Grumpy and a fight ensues, which Grumpy appears to be winning , until the other dwarfs try to pry him away. Snow White reminds them of how scary the forest will be for her if she has to leave, and Grumpy finally agrees that she can stay until she has made the gooseberry pie. The entire sequence can be seen on the second disc of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Platinum Edition DVD.

[edit] Music in Your Soup

After the song Bluddle Uddle Um Dum, in which the dwarfs wash themselves, they sit down to eat the soup with Snow White and eat by slurping very loudly. When Dopey tries to use his spoon to eat the soup, he swallows the spoon by mistake. With Happy's help, Dopey manages to cough up both the spoon and the soap swallowed earlier. The scene was cut as it was not felt relevant to the story.

[edit] You're Never Too Old

You're Never Too Old was originally to be sung by the dwarfs to Snow White. It was ultimately cut, because the subject of the song did not seem relevant to the story, and replaced with The Silly Song.

[edit] Building a bed for Snow White

A scene was storyboarded and partly animated in which the dwarfs hold a meeting to decide on a gift for Snow White. Sleepy's idea for a bed is ultimately agreed upon. Dopey's job is to collect fabric and bring it to Happy. Most of what Dopey collects is pulled from the clothes of the other dwarfs themselves. This causes Happy to laugh so much that Dopey snatches some fabric from under Happy's jacket.

[edit] Critical response

Despite being coceived later in production, Dopey proved to be the most endearing and beguiling of the dwarfs^[2]. Dopey's appeal proved the success of silent characters in feature films, and prompted the studio to make Gideon silent in Pinocchio^[3]. At one point, Dopey was even considered for the title role in The Sorceror's Apprentice in Fantasia before Mickey Mouse was chosen. However, many of Dopey's traits remain, including the long, floppy sleeves and playful attitude^[4].

[edit] References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation"
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Bob Thomas, "Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast"
3. ↑ Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, "The Disney Villain" (Hyperion, United States, 1993) ISBN 1-56282-792-8
4. ↑ Robin Allan, "Walt Disney and Europe" (Indiana University Press, Indiana, 1999) ISBN 0-253-21353-3