“FANTASIA” at the Radio City Music Hall…1941

Yesterday my son Mark told me that he had just seen a wonderful documentary on the life of Walt Disney and he wondered if I had enjoyed the original movie, "Snow White".  I reminded him that it came out in 1937 and that I was just 4 years old then.  However I do have a wonderful Disney memory that happened a few years later. I hope my long time blogger friends will forgive me for reposting about it …

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My oldest sister, Mary, gave me the gift of a lifetime in 1941. It was my 8th birthday and her treat was an enchanted afternoon at the world-famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City. We were there to enjoy the live stage show and the ground-breaking Disney musical, “Fantasia”.

The movie portrayed cartoon characters performing their skits to classical music. Leopold Stokowski conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra and I sat entranced as the music wrapped around me. It literally felt like I was being carried up and into the movie that was enfolding.

I particularly remember “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” featuring Mickey Mouse as an aspiring magician who gets himself into and out of a bunch of predicaments. “Fantasia” never became a box office success but it was an enormous treat for me and I loved it.

However, the memory that burns the brightest happened at the finale of the live stage show. Two comedians were sparring with each other and playing to the audience. At the end of their performance they came close to the front of the stage and one man said, “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here”. His partner chimed in with, “and I thank you from my bottom, too” ... while proceeding to turn his back on the audience, dropping his pants and "mooning" the lot of us.

How shocking! How crude! How DELIGHTFUL!! My virgin 8-year-old ears were burning but I thrilled to the naughtiness of it all. I couldn’t wait to get home to share the experience (in great detail and with many embellishments) with all my young friends.