Musical Monday: So This is Love

Cinderella may not have the same dark panache as other Princess movies, but it undoubtedly had one of the more likeable leading characters.  It is therefore hard to believe that Cinderella was subject to a particularly troubled production by Disney standards, having at least eight people heavily involved in the development of the story.  While these numerous writers played a valuable role in developing the Cinderella character, Cinderella's likeability can also be attributed to her voice actress, Ilene Woods.

Of course, Ilene Woods is a stage name.  Her real name was Jaqueline Ruth Woods.  She was born in 1929, and her mother worked behind the scenes of film sets.  Jaqueline herself had dreams of becoming a schoolteacher, but had eventually followed her mother's footsteps and pursued a career in cinema.

Whoever deserves the most credit for Cinderella's likeability, in the end, she became Walt Disney's favorite Princess, because her work and her efforts to get somewhere struck a chord with Walt, who had to deal with an unpredictable father and had struggled with being recognized in his early days as an artist.

She sang multiple songs for Cinderella, such as this one, So This Is Love, a romantic ballad between Cinderella and Prince Charming.

This would be the first duet between a Disney Princess and a Prince (though sadly not the first Prince with personality of his own; that wouldn't be a thing until Sleeping Beauty's release around 1959, nine years after the release of Cinderella).  It was originally meant to show her dancing on a cloud to symbolize how she felt from looking into his eyes, but this was changed because, barring the talking mice and the fairy Godmother, Cinderella has fairly few fantasy elements and Disney wanted to keep it that way.

Her life leading up to her death was truly a sad story: She developed Alzheimer's Disease, and not only forgot that she sang this song, but forgot that she ever voiced Cinderella in the first place.  However, she liked another Cinderella song, A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes, and would take comfort every time she heard it play in the nursing home, and it was played as often as possible until her death in July 1, 2010.