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Happy Background information Feature films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Television programmes House of Mouse Video games Park attractions Snow White's Scary Adventures Actor Actress Animators Vladimir Tytla Fred Moore Shamus Culhane Les Clark Voice Otis Harlan Performance model Designer Inspiration Awards Character information Other names Personality Bubbly, cheerful Appearance Rotund, with prominent white eyebrows Occupation Miner Affiliations Goal Home Cottage of the Seven Dwarfs Allies Snow White, Doc, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy Enemies Queen Minions Likes Dislikes Powers and abilities Weapons Fate Quote

[Source]

Happy is one of the seven dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Happy is a very fat, jolly fellow, with a bubbly personality.

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 References

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

[edit] Working at the Mine

Happy is first introduced, with his seven companions, at the Dwarfs' Mine. He, Bashful, Sneezy and Grumpy dig to unearth diamonds from the tunnels. The diamonds are taken by Sleepy to Doc, who discards the worthless diamonds for Dopey to sweep away. Doc is the first to hear the alarm, and alerts the other dwarfs that it is time for them to go home. Happy walks behind Grumpy as the dwarfs sing "Heigh Ho".

[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 Happy fifth.

[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. 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. Later that evening, after supper, the seven dwarfs entertain Snow White with "The Silly Song"; to begin with, Happy sings a verse to Snow White and appears to lead the yodeling. 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. Happy sleeps in a cupboard.

[edit] The Finale

The next morning, as each dwarf leaves, he is kissed by Snow White. 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; tears stream down Happy's face, and he is silent. 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 actors in large masks, appear in Disneyland's Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams. They walk in a long line, coming before the Snow White float. They also appear as animatronics, performing "The Silly Song", in Snow White's Scary Adventures.

[edit] Behind the Scenes

[edit] Character Creation

Happy was originally conceived as a more comically tragic character, as is indicated by the first draft of the story in November 1935: Happy's favorite foods is Soup, and Gooseberry pie.

After saying a few words, Happy's jaw slips out of place, changing his diction. His elbows, ankles, knees also have a habit of slipping out of their sockets. The dwarfs are alwas putting him together with a loud report. It is funny to the eye, but especially funny because of the painful psychology behind it. Happy grinds away and sputters gaily even as the beads of pain pour from his brow. At moments of tragedy, Happy always comes forth with a Pollyanna proverb so out of key with the situation that the other dwarfs jump on him. For example: (Snow White lies on the floor, dead) Happy: (Wiping tears from his eyes. Grins foolishly) All's well that ends well (or) Everything will be all right in the end. —First story draft for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, made in November 1935.[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 Happy'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:

Happy has a rollicking, rolling movement that is all rhythm. When he comes to a tree stump, he hops over it in a graceful manner. —Studio meeting notes[2]

An armature of each dwarf was constructed as reference for the animators.
Les Clark was responsible for the animation of Snow White dancing with Doc and Happy. Clark found this task difficult but reputedly accepted and completed it without argument. Snow White's movements and decrease in size as she moved further from the camera were dictated by the filmed footage of Marge Champion, though Doc and Happy were drawn without the aid of live-action reference^[3].

[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 "Bluddle Uddle Um Dum", in which the dwarfs wash themselves, they sat down to eat the soup with Snow White and ate 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 felf relevant to the story.

[edit] You're Never Too Old

"You're Never Too Old" was originally to be sung by the dwarfs, led by Happy, 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] References

1. ↑ Robert D. Field, "The Art of Walt Disney"
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Bob Thomas, "Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast"
3. ↑ John Canemaker, "Walt Disney's Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation" (Disney Editions, United States, 2001) ISBN 078686496-6