Historical Footnote
With "Grand Canyonscope" and continuing through 1956, Disney started filming his cartoon releases in the CinemaScope process. However, not all theaters were equipped to show the then-new wide-screen format. Because of this, and because there was no way (at the time) to convert wide-screen (aspect ratio 2:1) to standard screen (aspect ratio 4:3), Disney had to film each cartoon twice. This required that two sets of backgrounds had to be made for the different formats (no change in animation). It also required some changes in dialogue (In the CinemaScope version, Ranger Woodlore tells the crowd to "Spread out folks, this is CinemaScope", in the standard screen version, Woodlore says "Spread out folks, it's a big canyon.") The different versions were then distributed by separate distributors (Wide-screen by Buena Vista, Standard screen by RKO, which also required different sets of title cards). This state of affairs continued until RKO's distribution contract with Disney expired at the end of 1955. The extra cost of making duplicate backgrounds, plus the extra film and processing needed for the separate prints pushed the cost of the cartoons to the $100,000 mark ("Lady and the Tramp" was also given this treatment). This, plus the competition from television, would force Disney to shut down the shorts program at the end 0f 1956.
