RKO's newsreel crew goes into the Disney studios to offer a quick look at how SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES was put together, and the impact of its opening. The big movie came out in December of 1937. This short subject some time in 1939. How is that news?
It was not the first time that a puff piece was offered as news and it certainly was not the last. It wasn't even the first time film audiences were offered a view of how cartoons were made. That honor may belong to WINSOR MCCAY, THE FAMOUS CARTOONIST THE THE N.Y. HERALD AND HIS MOVING COMICS from 1911, although If you wished to claim that I've overlooked or failed to recollect some earlier effort..... well, it happens.
Nowadays, if a movie plays in the theaters for two months, it's a solid hit. In those days, movies would play for years, starting at a few big-town movie palaces where they drew top dollar, then on through second-run theaters, neighborhood houses, and then on a long circuit. At 18 months of age, SNOW WHITE was just getting into the long circuit of the smaller cities, and RKO figured this was a good way to tell the audiences it was coming.