Welcome back to Disney Stuff. Please keep your comments coming. I’ve sincerely been enjoying our dialogues on that Disney Stuff that we all seem to collect and accumulate. Lately, I’ve been focusing on particular pieces rather than entire collections. I’ve been exploring how individual items can bring back a memory or a particular Disney moment that I might have experienced. Today, I’m going to stay in that vein, but I’m going to go back in time quite a bit. This piece of my ever-expanding collection is not from something I experienced firsthand, but something I wish I had experienced. I recently purchased a program to the original theatrical release of the Disney classic Fantasia.
The cover of the program from Fantasia's original theatrical release. ©1940 Walt Disney Productions.
It’s hard to explain to my kids or my students what the movie-going experience was like for previous generations. I certainly wasn’t around for the golden age of movie palaces, or the release of Fantasia. I am fortunate (and old) enough to have seen a few movies as a child in some of the great New York movie houses before they were torn down. I remember animated shorts prior to films and I’m pretty sure I’ve experienced an actual intermission or two. That’s when the movie going experience was just that: a real experience. The atmosphere in the theater was almost regal; as if to say “Something really important takes place here!”
Walt Disney, obviously, understood this notion, perhaps more than anyone else in Hollywood history. He was always looking to push the envelope and give his viewers what he felt was a new and exciting experience at the movies. He took his artwork seriously and hoped that the audience did as well. Walt hoped to take things to yet another level in 1940 with the release of Fantasia. Fantasia was to be an event, not just a trip to the movies. To quote Walt from the program:
“In a profession that has been an unending voyage of discovery in the realms of color, sound and motion, Fantasia represents our most exciting adventure. At last, we have found a way to use in our medium the great music of all times and the flood of new ideas which it inspires.”
Walt's personal message to his audience, and a thank-you to his coworkers. ©1940 Walt Disney Productions.
Fantasia would challenge what people thought about music, animation, and their natural synergy on the screen. It’s something Walt had worked on for many years to perfect and Fantasia was the culmination of that work. Reserved seating, full bound printed programs like this one, no on-screen credits, and more speakers than had ever been fit into a movie house, were some of the things that accompanied Fantasia in its initial release. It was more of a concert than a film. Both Walt and the great conductor Leopold Stokowski wanted to bring the great music to the masses and have them experience it in a whole new way, or as it has been described in Disney lore: “seeing music and hearing pictures.”
The program has quotes from Walt and Leopold and descriptions of each of the film’s segments. There are full color illustrations from the film and some great character sketches in the margins. The program also has behind the scenes photographs and anecdotes from the making of the film and highlights its technical innovations, such as the newly developed Fantasound process. It’s a pretty classy looking presentation with nice muted colors, subtle illustrations, and plenty of information. It is also valuable to have credit lists of the animators and directors for each unique segment in the film. I’ve seen plenty of these particular programs online for sale; some pricier than others depending on condition. I was able to secure mine for around $35. Considering it's almost 70 years old, I think it's in pretty good shape. I've seen more pristine copies for $99.
The credit page from the Nutcracker Suite segment of Fantasia. ©1940 Walt Disney Productions.
I can imagine sitting in one of the great movie palaces of the time, dressed for a night on the town, looking through the program and wondering what new feat of wonder Walt had in store for me. I wish I could have been there on opening night. That’s what a collectible like this does for me. It provides me with a peak into another era, when a film like Fantasia was being presented in all it’s glory and being given the respect that it deserves.
The “behind the scenes” section of the program shows several of the sequence directors at work. ©1940 Walt Disney Productions.
You readers in Los Angeles are very fortunate to have The El Capitan Theater, where Disney holds limited engagements of their classics to coincide with their DVD release. Perhaps when they re-release Fantasia on DVD in 2010, they will look back to Walt’s original vision and give us all a treat. They could also roll it out to the few remaining movie palaces still functioning in most major cities. They could even reprint the original program, and give this classic and innovative film the respect that it truly warrants. I know I’d be in line on opening night, hoping to catch a glimpse of what it must have felt like back in 1940 to be in the audience watching what would turn out to be one of Walt Disney’s greatest artistic triumphs.
I’ll see you next time with some more of that great Disney Stuff.
