The Life of Hans Christian Andersen

In the early 1940s, Disney developed plans for a biography film based on the life of Danish authour Hans Christian Andersen. The portions depicting Andersen's life were to be shot in live-action, while intertwined segments that depicted his fairy tales were to be animated At one point, Disney considered forming a partnership with MGM Studios, asking them to handle the live-action segments, while they worked on the animated ones. However, due to Walt Disney's concern that audiences would not like the tragic endings often found in Andersen's stories and the company's financial straits brought on by WWII, the project was shelved.

Segments
Animated segments based on Andersen's fairy tales that were developed for the film included the following:

The Little Mermaid-Based on the story of the mermaid who falls in love with a human prince, the artwork for this sequence was designed by Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen who also worked on some of the segments for Fantasia.

The Little Fir Tree-Adapted from the story about a little tree who wishes to become a Christmas tree, but evidently gets chopped up for firewood instead.

Through The Picture Frame-The story of a little boy who goes into a painting to rescue the young princess featured therein, the artwork for this sequence was later used for a 1944 Little Library book of the same name.

The Emperor's Nightingale-Set in Aincent China, this sequence was to have told the tale of an Emperor who is charmed by the voice of a tiny nightingale, but forgets about it once he is presented with an exquiste, mechanical one.

The Steadfast Tin Soldier-Adapted from the story of the Tin Soldier and Paper Dancer that fall in love but meet an untimely end in a fireplace, the artwork for this segment was designed by storywoman Bianca Majolie who worked on various shorts throughout the 30s and 40s, including Fantasia's The Nutcracker Suite.