“FANTASIA” Re-visited . . . 66 years later

In 1941 I was living in New Jersey and my oldest sister treated me to a day in the “Big Apple” for my 8th birthday. The Radio City Music Hall was our destination and the featured movie was “Fantasia”. I wrote a blog about that amazing experience last July.

Recently, on a trip to our local Goodwill store (where I purchase most of my books) I came across a tape of the original version of that wonderful movie. For a mere 99 cents I was transported back to that magical day 66 years ago when Mary and I were glued to our seats and I don’t think we missed one note that was played.

Now as I sat in my living room, watching the movie alone, I couldn’t help but compare that time and now. The ending was especially poignant. It contained two songs…”A Night on Bald Mountain” by Mussorgsky and “Ave Maria”. As the narrator said, “It points out the disparity between the profane and the sacred”, or, more simply put... the difference between good and evil.

In 1941 we, as a nation, were not yet aware of the atrocities that were being perpetuated against our Jewish friends. We were naïve in many ways, but the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th set our nation in motion. We joined in to fight World War II and the opinion of many a scholar is that it was the last of the “honorable” wars.

The final scene in “Fantasia” is the one pictured above…it, too, seems almost naïve, but is a lovely rendition of a stylized mountain with the sun’s rays radiating toward the heavens. Whatever happened to that sense of hope and rejuvenation?

Here we are 66 years later...mired down in a preemptive war that is robbing us of our most valuable assets...our young people, our resources and our standing in the world. I pray that we can turn this around before it’s too late.



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