Walt Disney started planning for this movie in the 1940s. After World War II, Disney sent several artists to Ireland for background material. Walt Disney visited Ireland in December of 1948 and publicly announced the production of this film, then entitled simply, "The Little People". It would be another decade before the film was actually made. Walt Disney had seen Albert Sharpe in a stage production of "Finian's Rainbow" in the 1940s and kept him in mind for the role of D ...[Read Story ]