Snow White meets a fan at the opening of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic” at Norman Rockwell Museum, June 8, 2013. Photo ©Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Thanks to all who came out for our festive evening gala celebrating the opening of the exhibition, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic. It was truly an enchanted evening, with original art, dinner (courtesy of SOMA Catering), dancing (courtesy of the John Sauer Quartet), and a live auction to support Norman Rockwell Museum. In keeping with the theme, the Museum’s grounds were literally transformed into the look of a storybook, with special effects courtesy of Limelight Productions.

Marge Champion dances with Norton Owen, Jacob Pillow’s Director of Preservation, at the opening of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic” at Norman Rockwell Museum.” Photo ©Norman Rockwell Museum. All rights reserved.

Special thanks goes to our guest of honor, dancer/choreographer Marge Champion, who delighted attendees with her stories of serving as the live reference model for Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when she was just a teenager. Now age 93, it all came full-circle for Champion, as the evening also marked her father, Ernest Belcher’s birthday (she got her start performing for his dance school many years ago in Los Angeles).

In the coming months, the Museum will hold many other exhibition-related programs (watch this space for details). Organized by the Walt Disney Family Museum with Lella Smith, Creative Director of The Walt Disney Company’s Animation Research Library, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic will be on view at Norman Rockwell Museum through October 27, 2013.

View a collection of photos from our Enchanted Evening Gala on Norman Rockwell Museum’s Facebook page.

“Norman Rockwell’s Enchanted Evening,” Rural Intelligence