Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” was released into theaters for the first time 85 years ago today.
Giddy with the success of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937), which became a surprise hit – the highest grossing feature up to that time (soon to be supplanted by “Gone with the Wind”) – and hoping to reinvigorate the popularity of house brand Mickey Mouse – Disney spared no expense in the creation of this bold, beautiful, mind-bending, slightly pretentious, occasionally kitschy experimental enterprise, engaging Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra to record the film’s soundtrack (mostly at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music) and, during its initial run, displaying it in special road show productions featuring souped-up “Fantasound” surround audio. This was the first feature film to be released in stereo. It ran in one venue in New York for a solid year. At a point, Disney even toyed with the idea of pumping different scents into the theater, but he must have realized it was all becoming a little too Scriabinesque.
Eventually reality caught up. “Fantasia” was a money-loser from the start. The war in Europe cut off any possibility of overseas revenue, and it became apparent that the film would have to be reissued, with cuts, in standard format, in regular theaters, if the studio hoped to make any of its money back. As it was, it didn’t turn a profit until 1969. I suspect it was the same crowd that was buzzing to “2001: A Space Odyssey” that finally pushed “Fantasia” into the black. When adjusting for inflation, it is now the 23rd highest-grossing film in the United States. There aren’t any studios, and very few classical record companies, that would make that kind of investment in the future anymore.
I venture to guess most people who were lucky enough to see “Fantasia” in the cinema, back in the days before home video brought an end to its regular theatrical reissues, were charmed to see Stokowski shake hands with Mickey Mouse. Even so, this is the moment that became seared into many an impressionable memory. And I know I loved it.
https://vimeo.com/110409508
There’s also at least one discarded sequence from the film that was completed, but then cut to keep the length down. It involved cranes and Debussy’s “Clair de lune.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcpamvLB2JU&t
You may be aware, it was Disney’s original vision to swap out sequences with new material every few years. However, this was not done until 1999, with the release of “Fantasia 2000.” Regardless of what you may think of that film, with its gallery of celebrity talking heads and James Levine stepping into Leopold Stokowski’s extra-large shoes, it lacks the resonance of the 1940 original. In any case, the project having gone stagnant for six decades, I have a hard time accepting the new stuff as canon!
Glancing at the reissue schedule, I must have seen “Fantasia” for the first time in April 1977. I would have been ten years-old, and as I suggest, Chernabog coming out of that mountain floored me. I would have assumed that I was younger, but then I was a sensitive child. The last time I saw “Fantasia” in the theater must have been 1990.
In 1982, the soundtrack was re-recorded in digital sound with Irwin Kostal conducting. Thankfully, a restoration in 1990 put Leopold back on the podium. Now, of course, I own the film on home video. But nothing beats the dreamy experience of viewing “Fantasia” in a theater.
In more recent years, it’s joined the ranks of movies regularly shown at symphony orchestra concerts with live musical accompaniment. But until they clone Stokowski, I’m good. That said, if it meant introducing a young person to “Fantasia,” I’d go. I might even take them to “Fantasia 2000.” I would be thankful for any opportunity for someone to experience classical music as I did at such an impressionable age.
A big thanks to Walt, Stoky, and Chernabog. And happy 85th, “Fantasia!”
Tag: Leopold Stokowski
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Stokowski Wagner Parsifal Good Friday Spell
On Leopold Stokowski’s birthday, a transcendent performance of the “Good Friday Spell” from Wagner’s “Parsifal”
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Stokowski: Genius or Madman?
It takes a thief to catch a thief, and it takes a madman to interview Leopold Stokowski. Here is Leopold, the craziest dinner guest since Andre Gregory in “My Dinner with Andre,” being interviewed by the pianist-eccentric Glenn Gould. Gould was famously summed-up by conductor George Szell as “That nut’s a genius!” Stokowski himself was always an artist who thrived at the intersection of genius and charlatan. That said, even at his whackiest, Stokowski reminds us that a broken clock is still right twice a day. When he’s at his best, I don’t care if we’re talking about clocks or sausage, the rest is merely casing.
Beethoven is not really the first composer I think of when I think about Stokowski. Stokey was often most in his element when sculpting music with more overtly coloristic effects. But here he and Gould collaborate on Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto in 1966. Unsurprisingly, for those familiar with the concerto, it’s an ear-opener, with Stokey doing his best to will the orchestra to grandeur, while Gould plays whatever the hell he feels like.
Video of 85 year-old Stokowski rehearsing Beethoven’s “Leonore Overture No. 3”
From the same sessions, rehearsing Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”
Some of my favorite Stokowski footage is in the movie “Carnegie Hall” (1947), in which he conducts a movement from Tchaikovsky’s 5th Symphony. Just when you think his hair can’t get any bigger, he overachieves. The director, Edgar G. Ulmer, cut his teeth in German Expressionist cinema, and it shows. In America, he directed “The Black Cat,” with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and the film noir “Detour.”
The wild hair, the dove-like hands, the faux middle-European accent (he was the son of an English-born cabinet-maker of Polish heritage), Stokowski knew how to work a crowd. He also knew his way around a score. Despite his protestations in the Beethoven rehearsal footage at the link above, Stokey was not averse to looking past whatever could be gleaned of a composer’s intentions, if it meant realizing his own glorious visions.
He could be controversial, to be sure, and he was not difficult to parody. But he was also magnetic and, at his best, a true magician. In common with Oscar Wilde, Stokey knew there is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Happy birthday, Leopold Stokowski!
Shaking hands with Mickey Mouse in “Fantasia” (1940)
Parodied in “Long-Haired Hair” (1949)
Introduced by Burns & Allen in “The Big Broadcast of 1937”
Introduced in a snood around the 3:30 mark in “Hollywood Steps Out” (1941)
With Deanna Durbin in “One Hundred Men and a Girl” (1937)
With Marian Anderson and Princeton’s Westminster Choir
Conducting Debussy at 90
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Fantasia 1940 Disney’s Risky Masterpiece
Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” was released into theaters for the first time on this date in 1940.
Giddy with the success of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937), which became a surprise hit – the highest grossing feature up to that time (soon to be supplanted by “Gone with the Wind”) – and hoping to reinvigorate the popularity of house brand Mickey Mouse, Disney spared no expense in the creation of this bold, beautiful, mind-bending, slightly pretentious, occasionally kitschy experimental enterprise, engaging Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra to record the film’s soundtrack and, on its initial run, displaying it in special road show productions, featuring souped-up, “Fantasound” surround audio. This was the first feature film to be released in stereo. It ran in one venue in New York for a solid year. At a point, Disney even toyed with the idea of pumping different scents into the theater, but he must have realized it was all becoming a little too Scriabinesque.
Eventually reality caught up. “Fantasia” was a money-loser from the start. The war in Europe cut off any possibility of overseas revenue, and it became apparent that the film would have to be reissued, with cuts, in standard format, in regular theaters, if the studio hoped to make any of its money back. As it was, it didn’t turn a profit until 1969. I suspect it was the same crowd that was buzzing to “2001: A Space Odyssey” that finally pushed “Fantasia” into the black. Adjusting for inflation, it is now the 24th highest-grossing film in the United States. There aren’t any studios, and very few classical record companies, that would make that kind of investment in the future anymore.
I venture to guess most people who were lucky enough to see “Fantasia” in the cinema, back in the days before home video brought an end to its regular theatrical reissues, were charmed to see Stokowski shake hands with Mickey Mouse. Even so, this is the moment that became seared into many an impressionable memory. And I know I loved it.
Apologies for posting it in two parts, but “Fantasia” was reissued and “restored” a number of times over the years. This one I know sports Stoky’s original audio.
The soundtrack also features Princeton’s Westminster Choir (heard at the end of the second clip, cut off during the segue into Schubert’s “Ave Maria”).
There’s also at least one discarded sequence from the film that was completed, but then cut to keep the length down. It involved cranes and Debussy’s “Clair de lune.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRIm48bNTYc
You may be aware, it was Disney’s original vision to swap out sequences with new material every few years. However, this was not done until 1999, with the release of “Fantasia 2000.” Regardless of what you may think of that film, with its gallery of celebrity talking heads and James Levine stepping into Leopold Stokowski’s extra-large shoes, it lacks the resonance of the 1940 original. In any case, the project having gone stagnant for six decades, I have a hard time accepting the new stuff as canon! That said, I’m thankful for anything that introduces people to classical music.
Glancing at the reissue schedule, I must have seen “Fantasia” for the first time in April 1977. I would have been ten years-old, and as I suggest, Chernabog coming out of that mountain floored me. I would have assumed that I was younger, but then I was a sensitive child. The last time I saw “Fantasia” in the theater must have been 1990.
When is the last time Disney rolled the dice on a project like this? It’s sad that the studio that gave us “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Treasure Island,” “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” and “Mary Poppins” has turned into such a pop cultural meat grinder. Now the owner of Marvel, Lucasfilm, the Jim Henson Company, and 20th Century Fox (among others), Disney is more powerful than ever. And still, it keeps feeding off the bottom of the tank. These days, I find reality far more disturbing than a demon on Bald Mountain.
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Ernest Bloch’s American Rhapsody on KWAX
Just in time for Independence Day, Princeton’s wretched refuse washes up on the teeming shores of KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon. And in common with this week’s subject on “The Lost Chord,” I love and revere my adopted country as only an outsider can.
We’ll have music by immigrant-turned-naturalized-American-citizen, Ernest Bloch – who died in Portland, less than two hours north of Eugene, home of KWAX, in 1959. Bloch, born in Switzerland, is probably best remembered for his music on Jewish themes, including the rhapsody for cello and orchestra, “Schelomo,” the suite for violin and piano “Baal Shem,” and the humanitarian oratorio, “Sacred Service.”
With a rise in anti-Semitism in Europe, Bloch decided to make the United States his permanent home. His epic rhapsody, “America,” was written, according to the composer, “in love for this country, in reverence to its past, in faith in its future.” He dedicated the work to Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman.
Bloch first conceived the idea for the piece in 1916, as his steamer entered New York Harbor. The conflict of the First World War gave further impetus to the composition of what he envisioned as an American anthem, but it wasn’t until 1925 that the work began to take concrete form.
For modern listeners, it’s possible that this symphony in all but name crosses the line at times into the Realm of Hokey, with its quotations of “Pop Goes the Weasel” and “Yankee Doodle” – it is certainly a time capsule – however, Bloch’s heartfelt conviction and his love for his adopted country remain palpable.
Hear Bloch himself, full of patriotic fervor, introduce this homage to his adopted land. Leopold Stokowski conducts the Symphony of the Air. I hope you’ll join me for “Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue,” now in syndication on KWAX!
See below for streaming information.
Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)
Stream them here!
Bloch was also interested in the visual arts, especially photography, and developed a close friendship with Alfred Stieglitz:
Ernest Bloch and Alfred Stieglitz: Photography, Music and the Soul
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