This is the first of a multipart series inspired by the hit movie musical “Wicked–Part 1.” This series will be about musical theater, fairy tales, and fantasy in general.

Hello, this is Chris Young. Welcome to Episode 81 of Contemplating Life. Happy New Year, and welcome to the first episode of season 3. I didn’t think we would get this far, but here we are.

When I first came up with the idea for this episode, I thought it would be a one-off episode and not part of a lengthy series. Having written 2300 words and barely scratched the surface. It’s evidently the beginning of a longer series. Probably 3 or 4 episodes. That’s great. I like having rich topics to explore, and apparently, I’ve hit a bigger vein of storytelling treasure than I originally anticipated.

This series is inspired by the hit movie musical “Wicked–Part 1” which my sister Carol and I just watched a few days ago on a digital download. This series is going to be about musical theater, fairy tales, and fantasy in general.

Although it’s embarrassing to admit, fantasy has always played a role in my life, from my earliest memories to the present.

I had an imaginary friend named Dopey when I was about three or four years old. He was named after the seventh dwarf from Disney’s 1937 film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” In the film, Dopey never speaks, which I suppose makes him a convenient subject for an imaginary friend.

My parents were concerned this was an indication that my disability was not just physical. Perhaps I had some mental or psychological issues. They took me to see a child psychologist who tested me. She assured them that I was fine mentally. I was highly intelligent, and that imaginary friends were normal, especially for gifted children with vivid imaginations. My lack of opportunity to interact with other kids also made it more likely that I would invent a playmate.

According to the lore I invented, my friend Dopey drove around in a small metal pedal car. Perhaps I’d seen such kids’ vehicles on TV or in the Sears Christmas catalog. Realizing that my feet were not strong enough to pedal such a vehicle, Dopey was a manifestation of my desire to be able to power a wheeled vehicle myself. This fantasy would not be fulfilled until I was 10 years old when I got my first motorized wheelchair. At the time, I don’t think I yet had a manual wheelchair. My parents didn’t purchase it until I was nearly 5 years old. Up until that, they just carried me around.

Another early memory is that I was extremely shy and reluctant to participate in physical affection. The constant demands to give my grandmothers and great-aunts hugs and kisses were often met with protests from me. At one point, I distinctly recall claiming that I had no kisses to give. It was as if they were a tangible entity that could only be dispensed when supplies were available. I further explained that Dopey was my supply source, and I could not share what had not provided for me. By the way, I was not talking about Hershey’s Kisses. I meant real kisses. Furthermore, I did not imagine that Dopey had to kiss me before I could pass it along. That was not my relationship with him. We were just buddies. It was simply that, somehow, he was a mysterious source of my ability to give kisses.

Over the decades, I’ve tried to analyze this bizarre memory that, somehow, a kiss was in limited supply and had to be obtained from a source. I’ve not been able to uncover the logic behind it. No wonder my parents thought there was something mentally wrong with me.

One clue in my quest to uncover the source of this strange connection between Dopey and kissing came several years ago. I don’t recall when. I saw a clip from Snow White where the dwarfs were going off to work. As they go out the door, Snow White kisses each of them on the top of their head. When it is Dopey’s turn, he attempts a kiss with his lips. Snow White grabs him by his big ears and forces the kiss on his head. He runs over to the cottage window, climbs back in, and exits the door again to get a second kiss. Again, he puckers his lips, is grabbed by the ears, and receives another peck on the forehead. On his third attempt, he is unsuccessful in getting anything but a stern look from Snow White. This is the only connection I’ve ever found between Dopey and kisses. Apparently, he was a horny little dude. No wonder he was a role model for me. I have no idea if it’s the source or inspiration of my bizarre idea that my imaginary friend provided me with kisses to give.

I’ve given a lot of thought to how children are forced to give hugs and kisses to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. For decades, I’ve seen many children who were reluctant to give physical affection to adult relatives. This seems especially true for male children.

What are we teaching our children by this practice? The way I see it, we are telling them that people in authority, especially adults over children, have the right to demand physical affection from us, and we are powerless to stop it. What precedent does this set in their young minds? How many victims of child sexual abuse were raised in an environment in which it was mandatory to give hugs and kisses to adult relatives?

Most abusers were abused as children. But even if one was not abused as a child, doesn’t this plant the seed that could lead them to justify pedophilia later in life? How many spousal abusers and victims of spousal abuse were taught at an early age that physical affection could be forced upon an unwilling participant? The same is true for any sexual abuse or manipulation by someone in authority over someone powerless to say no, such as employer/employee and teacher/student relationships.

Obviously, not everyone who was forced to give grandma a kiss turned out to be an abuser or victim of abuse. But how and why did such practice become common without consideration of its possible consequences?

Fortunately, I’ve been blessed in that I have never faced even a hint of possible abuse. This is especially comforting because I know that disabled people are at higher risk than the average population.

Anyway, moving along. Back to Snow White and my fantasy life.

Part of the mystery I want to solve is how I was aware of the Snow White characters in the first place.

I don’t think my parents or grandparents took me to see the 1958 rerelease. It would’ve made a memorable impression on me as my first film. As previously reported in this podcast, I’m confident my first movie was at the drive-in and was likely either “Ben Hur” or one of the early Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animated action films. I’m confident the first Disney film I saw was Mary Poppins in 1964. The first animated Disney film I saw was “The Jungle Book” in 1967. Both of these were at the Lafayette Road Drive-In Theater.

I wondered if perhaps I became aware of the characters from the weekly Sunday night TV show “The Wonderful World of Disney” hosted by Walt Disney.

I created my own controversy over the title of the show. I remember it as “The Wonderful World of Disney.” Both Wikipedia and IMDb say that it was originally titled simply “Disneyland.” That’s no problem. But IMDb says its real name was “The Magical World of Disney.” I was ready to concede that IMDb was right and my memory that it was wonderful versus magical was in error. Perhaps it was an incident of We have the Mandela effect. I even wrote and recorded part of this episode, claiming that I was wrong. The problem haunted me. I went looking through YouTube and found episodes of the show as far back as 1958. Clearly, it was titled “The Wonderful World of Disney.” Not “The Magical World of Disney.” Granted, the show was full of wonder and magic, but I’m confident I had the title right all along.

I tried googling when and if the 1937 Snow White aired on TV. Many Disney classics were aired in edited versions on the Sunday night Disney show. My research indicates that Snow White did not make its television debut until March 6, 2010, on the ABC Family Channel and a few days later on the Disney Channel.

For decades, I believed Snow White had made its theatrical premiere sometime in my early childhood in the late 1950s. I did not realize it was as old as 1937. Wikipedia reports its first re-release was in 1944 to help Disney Studio get over a financial slump during World War II. Subsequent releases were in 1952, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1983, 1987, and 1993. I was three years old in 1958, which is probably when I first became aware of it. I know I had many children’s books in the Little Golden Books series featuring Disney characters. I specifically recall a much beloved Christmas book featuring the Disney chipmunk characters Chip and Dale. A quick search of eBay revealed that, indeed, there was a Disney Snow White Little Golden Book. Of those that I browsed online, they did not show the scene of Dopey stealing extra kisses.

In addition to Disney’s Chipmunks Chip and Dale, I was also a huge fan of Alvin and the Chipmunks and their 1958 record “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late).” Recently, my 22-year-old home health aide was shocked to learn that Alvin and the Chipmunks dated back to when I was three years old.

You are off-topic again, Chris. Get back to Snow White.

I recall that my Aunt Jody drew seven portraits of the dwarfs, which we framed and hung on my bedroom wall for many years. They were drawn in crayon. My guess is that they were traced from a coloring book. She would have been in her late teens at the time.

According to Wikipedia, the 1993 re-release of Snow White was the first time in history that a feature film was digitally scanned, restored, and then copied back to film.

In October 2023, in celebration of 100 years of Disney, a new digitally restored version was released in 4k UHD Blu-ray format. It had been painstakingly restored from an original Technicolor negative over several years. That 4k version was also released to Disney+ streaming and is available now.

The first time I can guarantee I have seen the entire 1937 Snow White was today – January 6, 2025, when I watched it on Disney+ streaming. I was very impressed with the quality of the restoration. The quality of the hand-drawn animation also blew me away. I can’t recall any other hand-drawn animated film I’ve ever seen that could compare with what I watched today. It is absolutely stunning.

The story of Snow White, as we know it today, originated as a German fairy tale passed down by oral tradition. It was eventually published in 1812 in the first edition of Grimms’ Fairy Tales and revised into its final form in 1854. There is much scholarly debate about the origin of the tale.

What is it about this story that makes it a timeless classic? It’s a love story between a prince and a princess. It’s a story of longing. It’s a story of hope. It’s a story of evil expressed by vanity, envy, persecution, and hatred. It’s the story of Snow White’s kindness towards the dwarfs and their hospitality, loyalty, and protectiveness towards her. It celebrates the diversity of the dwarfs, each with their own distinct personalities embodied by their names. It is a story of the Resurrection and salvation.

We need allegories in the form of fairy tales like Snow White. They provide a proven, timeless way to contemplate life.

I encourage you to check out the linked Wikipedia articles on Snow White for more details about the Disney adaptation and the original telling of the folktale by the Brothers Grimm.

In our next episode, I explore my relationship with another classic fairy tale and my introduction to Broadway musicals. This is all in service of our journey to the Emerald City and the origin of the alleged Wicked Witch, Elphaba.

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