Meet Marge Champion: The Model For Snow White

Marge Champion was hired as a teenager to be the model for Snow White. Walt Disney sent his scout to her father's dance studio and she was amongst three chosen, and eventually, became the real Snow White. A young girl's dream role, she was dressed as Snow White and danced and posed for animators who echoed her movements in their drawings for the animated 1937 movie.

When Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was produced, it was known as Disney's Folly because it was the first full-length animated movie ever made. Walt Disney went ahead and made it despite the controversy. He spared no expense and the movie went on to become one of Disney's most famous movies, to make plenty of money and to help create the Disney Studio we all know and love today.

How much was Marge Champion paid for being the model for Snow White? Does it seem adquate? Marge Champion is the REAL LIFE Snow White.

• BORN: (September 2, 1919)
• MARRIED: Thrice
• MOST FAMOUS FOR: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• OTHER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Blue Fairy in Pinocchio, Dancing Hippo in Fantasia. Dance movies with husband included Lovely to Look At (1952), Show Boat (1951), Everything I Have Is Yours and The Marge and Gower Champion Show (1957).

There are currently almost 300 pieces of memorabilia featuring on eBay here featuring Marge Champion! Some are new, some are used and some are vintage.

Marge Champion is known today as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. It appears that she was not subject to the restrictions that Walt Disney placed upon the young lady, Adriana Caselotti, who was the voice for Snow White. I suppose, since Snow White is an animated movie, it would be virtually impossible to recognize the real life actress from her movements as an animated character, whereas Ms. Caselotti's very distinctive voice would have been quite noticeable if one heard it in another film. She was reportedly paid $10 a day for her modeling and dancing work.

Anyway, Ms. Champion went on to further success. She was used as a model in three Disney movies, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and Fantasia. She later became legendary for her dance work with her second husband as a dance team for MGM during the 1940s and 1950s. They made several films including Roberta, Lovely to Look At, Show Boat and Everything I have is Yours. In 1957, they had a sitcom called The Marge and Gower Champion Show.

Ms. Champion has also co-authored two books, Catch the New Wind and God is A Verb. Considered 'retired' now she works as both a dance teacher and a choreographer in New York. In 1982 she made a guest appearance in the television series Fame in which she played a prejudiced ballet teacher and in 2001, she was in a Broadway revival of Follies.

Marge Champion will forever be remembered as the model for Snow White, an iconic Walt Disney character.

Marge Champion As Snow White on a fantastically remastered blu-ray disc or DVD.

"One of the brightest nuggets from Disney's golden age, this 1937 film is almost dizzying in its meticulous construction of an enchanted world, with scores of major and minor characters, each with a distinct identity.

When you watch Snow White's intricate, graceful movements of fingers, arms, and head all in one shot, it is not the technical brilliance of Disney's artists that leaps out at you, but the very spirit of her engaging, girl-woman character.

It's a crowning achievement and should not be missed." -Tom Keogh

Click here to order your copy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from Amazon.

So what do YOU think? Did Walt Disney ROB Marge Champion when he paid her $10 per day?

justholidays: Aren't $10 in the beginning of the last century $200 or even much much more today?

Susan Deppner: Ten dollars a day actually sounds generous for that long ago.