“FANTASIA”
In 1941 my oldest sister gave me a wonderful present for my 8th
birthday. She
took me to
the world-famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City to see
a
live stage show performance
and the introduction of Disney's
ground-breaking movie,
the
musical, “Fantasia”.
The
movie portrayed cartoon characters performing their skits to
classical music. Leopold Stokowski conducted the Philadelphia
Orchestra and I sat in a trance as the music wrapped around me. It
literally felt like the music was carrying me 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. At one sequence he is practically over-run
by a battery of brooms carrying buckets of water
“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
AFTER
the movie was over.
Two
of the live stage
show performers
returned to say goodbye to us but instead they began
sparring with each other.
Finally one of the men came
to the front of the stage and after
he'd apologized for his partners actions he said,
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here”.
Quickly
his
partner rushed
to the front and loudly 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!!
posted by Goldendaze-Ginnie at 10:39 AM
5 Comments:
That's really wild and crazy! I remember seeing the first Fantasia movie when I was a young adult and fell in love with the music soundtrack. I loved Rites of Spring music and all of that music, as well as the video accompanying, including that Sorcerers Apprentice you described. I saw a remake of it some years later that had a few variations I didn't like as well as what I remembered. A few years ago I even bought a DVD of the original I had seen, but some how watching it was just not quite the same. I still love all that Fantasia music! It's a fantastic film.
Wow, that extra performance was a shocker. I bet you were the hit of the playground retelling that experience.
I got to go to the Radio City Music Hall at about the same age but it was to watch Jack Benny perform. The place was huge and we were so far back, if the sound hadn't been good we wouldn't have known who he was.
Sue saw the movie and just told me she loved it. It’s the only one she remembers seeing as a kid. I used to read The SORCERERS APPRENTICE TO THE KIDS WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG AND I WAS MUCH YOUNGER TOO.
Sorry about slipping into caplocks, and I apologize for not typing over them.
I'm surprised there wasn't as much outrage as there was when Rites of Spring itself first premiered in 1913, and not as part of a soundtrack.
Lol. Hilarious! Great story! Fantasia indeed.
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