Cinderella

Imagine the elements of the fairy tale: a glass slipper, a pumpkin that turns into an elegant carriage, a beneficent fairy godmother and, at its center, a destitute girl who triumphs over her wicked stepfamily when she is carried off by a gallant prince. Cinderella is the world's best-known and most loved fairy tale. The Cinderella story has reappeared in various incarnations over the years because of its underlying message, especially involving beauty. Because everyone feels like an ugly duckling at some point in his or her life, it has given the underdogs of society a source of hope. However, the story had been around - in many different tongues, in many different variants - long before Hollywood got its mitts on it. In fact, at least 350 versions of the tale exist, starting with the one recorded by Tuan Ch'eng-shih of China in the middle of the ninth century. Around 1697, French author Charles Perrault wrote another famous rendition of the rags-to-riches story. Perrault's 'Cinderella' includes the now-familiar fairy godmother, pumpkin carriage and animal servants. Most Western renditions, however, have omitted Perrault's ending, in which Cinderella finds husbands for her stepsisters. During the 1800s, the Grimm brothers, whose grandfather and great grandfather were ministers in the German Reformed Church put their own spin on the folk legend. Cinderella was produced for television three times. Over the decades since the invention of motion pictures, literally hundreds of films have been made that are either direct adaptations from, or have plots loosely based on, the story of Cinderella. The famous ones were Cinderella (Animated, 1950), Ever After, A Cinderella Story and last one Ella Enchanted. There is also a movie called Cindrella Man, which has Russell Crowe in it, but the movie is not related to Cinderella in anyway. There is also a Hard rock band named Cinderella.