WALT DISNEY'S FILM 'FANTASIA' IS FIRST RELEASED

Today, The Grandma is resting at home. The weather is cold, and she has been watching some films. She has chosen Fantasia, the Walt Disney Production that was first released, on the first night of a roadshow at New York's Broadway Theatre, on a day like today in 1940.

 

Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced and released by Walt Disney Productions, with story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer and production supervision by Walt Disney and Ben Sharpsteen.

The third Disney animated feature film, it consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the film's Master of Ceremonies, who introduces each segment in live action.

Disney settled on the film's concept in 1938 as work neared completion on The Sorcerer's Apprentice, originally an elaborate Silly Symphony cartoon designed as a comeback role for Mickey Mouse, who had declined in popularity. As production costs surpassed what the short could earn, Disney decided to include it in a feature-length film of multiple segments set to classical pieces, with Stokowski and Taylor as collaborators.

The soundtrack was recorded using multiple audio channels and reproduced with Fantasound, a pioneering sound system developed by Disney and RCA that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereo and a precursor to surround sound.

Fantasia was first released as a theatrical roadshow that was held in 13 cities across the U.S. between 1940 and 1941; the first began at the Broadway Theatre in New York City on November 13, 1940. While acclaimed by critics, it failed to make a profit owing to World War II's cutting off distribution to the European market, the film's high production costs, and the expense of building Fantasound equipment and leasing theatres for the roadshow presentations.

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Since 1942, the film has been reissued multiple times by RKO Radio Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution, with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. When adjusted for inflation, Fantasia is the 24th highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S.

The Fantasia franchise has grown to include video games, Disneyland attractions, and a live concert series. A sequel, Fantasia 2000, co-produced by Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney, was released in 1999.

Fantasia has grown in reputation over the years and is now widely acclaimed; in 1998 the American Film Institute ranked it as the 58th greatest American film in their 100 Years...100 Movies and the fifth-greatest animated film in their 10 Top 10 list.

In 1990, Fantasia was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

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Fantasia opens with live action scenes of members of an orchestra gathering against a blue background and tuning their instruments in half-light, half-shadow. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage (also in half-light, half-shadow) and introduces the program.

The first roadshow opened at the Broadway Theatre in New York City on November 13, 1940.

The Disneys had secured a year's lease with the venue that was fully equipped with Fantasound, which took personnel a week working around the clock to install.

Fantasia was ranked fifth at the 1940 National Board of Review Awards in the Top Ten Films category.

More information: Houston Symphony

We keep moving forward,
opening new doors,
and doing new things,
because we're curious
and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

 

Walt Disney

MICKEY MOUSE: THE SYMBOL OF WORLD ENTERTAINMENT

Walt Disney is drawing Mickey Mouse

The Jones are still in Disney World Paris enjoying the magic world of entertainment. Today, the family has met Mickey Mouse, the most popular character of this wonderful saga.

Mickey Mouse is a funny animal cartoon character and the mascot of The Walt Disney Company. He was created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney Studios in 1928. 

An anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves, Mickey is one of the world's most recognizable characters.

More information: Biography

Mickey first appeared in the short Plane Crazy, debuting publicly in the short film Steamboat Willie (1928), one of the first sound cartoons. He went on to appear in over 130 films, including The Band Concert (1935), Brave Little Tailor (1938), and Fantasia (1940). 

Mickey appeared primarily in short films, but also occasionally in feature-length films. Ten of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1942. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mickey Mouse in black and white

Beginning in 1930, Mickey has also been featured extensively as a comic strip character. His self-titled newspaper strip, drawn primarily by Floyd Gottfredson, ran for 45 years. Mickey has also appeared in comic books such as Disney Italy's Topolino, MM Mickey Mouse Mystery Magazine, and Wizards of Mickey, and in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996) and others. He also appears in other media such as video games as well as merchandising and is a meetable character at the Disney parks.

Mickey generally appears alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck and Goofy, and his nemesis Pete, among others. Though originally characterized as a mischievous antihero, Mickey was rebranded over time as an everyman, usually seen as a flawed, but adventurous hero. 

In 2009, Disney began to rebrand the character again by putting less emphasis on his pleasant, cheerful side and reintroducing the more mischievous and adventurous sides of his personality, beginning with the video game Epic Mickey.

More information: Pop History Dig

Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Disney studio for Charles Mintz, a film producer who distributed product through Universal Studios. 

In the spring of 1928, with the series going strong, Disney asked Mintz for an increase in the budget. But Mintz instead demanded that Walt take a 20 percent budget cut, and as leverage, he reminded Disney that Universal owned the character, and revealed that he had already signed most of Disney's current employees to his new contract. 

Mickey Mouse's silhouette

Angrily, Disney refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Disney was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff but determined to restart from scratch. 

The new Disney Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and a loyal apprentice artist, Les Clark, who together with Wilfred Jackson were among the few who remained loyal to Walt. One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

Throughout the earlier years, Mickey's design bore heavy resemblance to Oswald, save for the ears, nose, and tail. Ub Iwerks designed Mickey's body out of circles in order to make the character simple to animate. Disney employees John Hench and Marc Davis believed that this design was part of Mickey's success as it made him more dynamic and appealing to audiences.

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Mickey's circular design is most noticeable in his ears. In animation in the 1940s, Mickey's ears were animated in a more realistic perspective. Later, they were drawn to always appear circular no matter which way Mickey was facing. This made Mickey easily recognizable to audiences and made his ears an unofficial personal trademark. The circular rule later created a dilemma for toy creators who had to recreate a three-dimensional Mickey.

Mickey Mouse with a renewed version

In 1940 Mickey appeared in his first feature-length film, Fantasia. His screen role as The Sorcerer's Apprentice, set to the symphonic poem of the same name by Paul Dukas, is perhaps the most famous segment of the film and one of Mickey's most iconic roles. 

The segment features no dialogue at all, only the music. The apprentice -Mickey-, not willing to do his chores, puts on the sorcerer's magic hat after the sorcerer goes to bed and casts a spell on a broom, which causes the broom to come to life and perform the most tiring chore—filling up a deep well using two buckets of water. When the well eventually overflows, Mickey finds himself unable to control the broom, leading to a near-flood. 

After the segment ends, Mickey is seen in silhouette shaking hands with Leopold Stokowski, who conducts all the music heard in Fantasia. Mickey has often been pictured in the red robe and blue sorcerer's hat in merchandising. It was also featured into the climax of Fantasmic!, an attraction at the Disney theme parks.

More information: CNN

Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence. 

He was a means to an end. 

Walt Disney

THE DONALD DUCK'S FIRST APPEARANCE IN A CARTOON

Donald Duck

Donald Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor shirt and cap with a bow tie. Donald is most famous for his semi-intelligible speech and his mischievous and temperamental personality. He has appeared in more films than any other Disney character, and is the most published comic book character in the world outside of the superhero genre.

Donald Duck rose to fame with his comedic roles in animated cartoons. Donald's first appearance was in 1934 in The Wise Little Hen, but it was his second appearance in Orphan's Benefit which introduced him as a temperamental comic foil to Mickey Mouse. Throughout the next two decades, Donald appeared in over 150 theatrical films, several of which were recognized at the Academy Awards. 

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In the 1930s, he typically appeared as part of a comic trio with Mickey and Goofy and was given his own film series in 1937 starting with Don Donald. These films introduced Donald's love interest Daisy Duck and often included his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. After the 1956 film Chips Ahoy, Donald appeared primarily in educational films before eventually returning to theatrical animation in Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983). His most recent appearance in a theatrical film was 1999's Fantasia 2000. Donald has also appeared in direct-to-video features such as Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004), television series such as Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006–2016), and video games such as QuackShot (1991).

Donald Duck with his nephews

The origins of Donald Duck's name may have been inspired by Australian cricket legend Donald Bradman. In 1932 Bradman and the Australian team were touring North America and he made the news after being dismissed for a duck against New York West Indians. Walt Disney was in the process of creating a friend for Mickey Mouse when he possibly read about Bradman's dismissal in the papers and decided to name the new character Donald Duck. Voice performer Clarence Nash auditioned for Walt Disney Studios when he learned that Disney was looking for people to create animal sounds for his cartoons. Disney was particularly impressed with Nash's duck imitation and chose him to voice the new character.

Beyond animation, Donald is primarily known for his appearances in comics. Donald was most famously drawn by Al Taliaferro, Carl Barks, and Don Rosa. Barks, in particular, is credited for greatly expanding the Donald Duck universe, the world in which Donald lives, and creating many additional characters such as Donald's rich uncle Scrooge McDuck.

More information: Supercartoons

 It doesn't matter how much you have. 

It all means nothing if you are not happy with yourself.

Donald Duck