November 13: Fantasia and Van Gogh

On 13 November 1940, Walt Disney Productions released Fantasia. The production started with a cartoon version of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, staring Mickey Mouse. Disney decided to use the conductor Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, to conduct the music for the short.

Walt Disney’s ultimate goal had become to release The Sorcerer’s Apprentice as a feature film, but with only symphonic music for audio. Disney even went as far as to create a brand new speaker system designed for the highest quality sound. This new system was called “Fantasound.” It truly was a breakthrough in the audio production world and the birth of stereophonic sound. “Music you hear, and pictures you see” Disney once described it, working with Stokowski to fuse the animation with the orchestra. But both men realized that one piece would not be enough and development continued until the film had eight segments.

As the creation and release of the film moved forward, however, expenditures were going through the roof, expanding its budget to 2.28 million dollars. Because of the high cost of production, the price of renting concert halls, and the expense of installing the Fantasound equipment, the movie was unable to turn a profit on its debut.

Fantasia actually did not start making a profit until almost 30 years after its first presentation. Today, the film has pulled in 83.32 million dollars. Although the film’s debut proved disappointing, the film is now seen as a flagship in the animation industry, and a noted turning point in motion picture history.

This is not the first time that a work of art failed to reach its potential promptly. In fact, famous painter Vincent Van Gogh only sold only one picture in his lifetime. Two weeks before Van Gogh’s suicide, he painted a portrait of his attending doctor, Dr. Gratchet. Van Gogh painted two versions of the portrait in June 1890; one of which went to auction in May 1990. This painting sold to a Japanese businessman named Ryoei Saito for 82.5 million dollars, making it one of the most expensive paintings ever sold.
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–Benjamin Robert Puninske

Photo Credit: Mickey Mouse greets Leopold Stokowski, a screen capture from Fantasia. (top) Van Gogh’s portrait of Dr. Gratchet that sold for 82.5 million dollars.

Meet the Author: Benjamin Robert Puninske

This is my second year at Schoolcraft College. I am currently taking math and science courses here, although my major is undetermined. My main hobby is music, and I spend almost all of my free time playing the piano and performing live with my band. I also enjoy cooking, dancing, beaches, particle physics, dogs, cats, and jazz.

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Schoolcraft College Student
Categories: American History: Modern
Tags: movies, United States

12 Responses

Tabitha Watkins says:

13 November 2012 at 9:28 pm

I’m shocked Fantasia is one of the highest grossing films for Disney. Not many people you hear talking about this film, but it deserves a lot more credit than it does. The animation is absolutely beautiful, and don’t get me started on the choreography with the music! Did you know that the absolute highest grossing disney movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, followed by 101 Dalmations then Fantasia? Snow White was the first film to ever have a soundtrack recording album released. Snow White was released on February 4, 1938 and made $6,017, 914 opening weekend. All together Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs grossed a whopping total of $184,925,485! Wow, what an accomplishment for Walt Disney!

— Tabitha Watkins

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Tiffanie Jones says:

13 November 2012 at 9:37 pm

The Romans were entertained with orchestras and games during ancient times. It took a while for the Romans to make up what today we call a stage and at first the stage was made from wood, later on made from stone, also known as the Colosseum. There were three doors that led to the stage; brother, temple, and hero’s house. After the stone stage was built containing the three doors, it was structured to fit thousands of Romans and two wings on each side along with a roof. Most comedies were played during these times, and tragedies were rare but if in play, they used only one door called ” the temple”. Though this may not pertain to Disney’s ‘Fantasia’ or Van Gogh, it shows entertainment throughout the world and it’s life moving on.

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James Key says:

15 November 2012 at 10:48 pm

Interestingly enough, many common scientific beliefs today took centuries for the world at large to accept them. While Galileo made his theories known during his lifetime, they were hardly adopted. Because he believed in a heliocentric universe and published work advocating that the earth revolved around the sun, he was convicted of heresy by the Inquisition and was sentenced to house arrest in 1633, where he would stay until his death in 1642. Although several non-geocentric models had existed since 390 BCE, Galileo challenged the churches model and was punished for suggesting the earth may not be the center of the universe. It took until 1822 (189 years) for the College of Cardinals to concede that the earth does in fact revolve around the sun, and another 170 years for pope John Paul II to admit that earth’s position is not fixed in the heavens. A Gallup poll conducted in 1999 showed that 18% of Americans still believed the sun revolved the earth and, in 2000, John Paul officially apologized for the way the church treated Galileo. This show’s that while many ideas may have idealogical credence, sometimes they do not reach the mainstream for centuries, and many great thinkers did not receive recognition during their lifetime.

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Christopher Nichol says:

18 November 2012 at 4:15 am

For it’s time, ‘Fantasia’ must have been a wonderful experience to behold back in the 1940’s. As someone who loves films and takes a lot of appreciation to them, I heavily enjoyed reading this. Adding onto what Tabitha Watkins has said, you could argue and say that ‘The Avengers’ could be one of the highest-grossing Disney movie ever, considering Disney bought Marvel. Van Gogh being a really famous painter, I wasn’t aware that he legitimately only sold one painting in his lifetime and it ended up being one of the highest-grossing ones as well!

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Corey Kelly says:

27 November 2012 at 12:11 pm

Walt Disney had actually intended on releasing multiple versions of Fantasia. After the initial release of Fantasia didn’t go so well, the ideas for its sequels were put away. That is until the late 1970’s when animators began developing a new version of Fantasia called Musicana. Musicana was intended to be a modern version of Fantasia. It was supposed to show music and art inspired from cultures from all over the world. After years of developing artwork, Disney Studios were unsure of the outcome of a Fantasia-like film and shut the production down.
A sequel to Fantasia was eventually released in 1999 called Fantasia 2000. Fantasia 2000 was completely different from the idea of Musicana. It featured music performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and celebrity guests such as Steve Martin and Bette Midler.

-Corey Kelly

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Megan Villareal says:

5 December 2012 at 3:27 pm

Fantasia was a ground breaking movie, it was ahead of its time and indeed was under appreciated when it first was released. However it has proved itself to be a groundbreaking film and holds up to today’s audience even though there has been huge advancements in the film making technology. It’s as if the Disney films never grow old. Even in the more recent film Sorcerers Apprentice filmmakers revisited the scene with the mops and made it more contemporary by animating real mops. It is very difficult for me to think about any movie franchise that is so well loved and timeless as Disney.

– Megan Villareal

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david collins says:

5 December 2012 at 4:55 pm

Vincent Van Gogh remains my favorite painter, artists like him and Rembrandt, who blurred the line between painting and sketch with the rigidity of the brush strokes, thick over-loaded brushes and raw emotion pathed the way for modern art. Vincent had just sold his first painting and was hailed by the critics as a genius with paint, but within a week after painting what some call his most epic painting, “Wheatfield with crows” the man who had accomplished it killed himself. People say that it was a cry of frustration that we would never realize his dream in painting, while others argue that it was a shout of triumph that he’d actually done it. Van Gogh’s landscapes express more about the conventions of art, rather than his mental state in my opinion. He takes control in his life long quest to junk the entire convention of landscape painting. Altering perspective allowing the observer to wonder confidently across the canvas, not over emphasizing any one point as transfigured above the rest, much like Pizarro did with his impressionistic landscapes, and who, de facto, tutored Van Gogh for some time. What Van Gogh wanted for his paintings is not just for them to be seen, but to make people feel, “deeply and tenderly” as stated in one of his many letters to his brother Theo. He wanted people to feel the Sun on their face as it exploded across the sky, he wanted people to feel the rigidity of the peasants who ate from the same fields with which they put their hands to work with in, and a death in the middle of the day, in a field of wheat where the Sun flooded everything in a light of pure gold. He got what he wanted, people all across the world revere his paintings not merely as expensive but as priceless. Works with so much emotion that feeling erupts from the bounds of what can aptly be described as a “soul”. I’ll leave with that, so in the words of Van Gogh;

A handshake forever yours,
David

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Austin Henson says:

8 December 2012 at 2:03 am

Their are many movies that do not succeed at first but take off later. After reading up on the subject i realized some of my favorite movies such as fight club, and Boondocks Saints did poorly during the opening weeks. Boondocks saints is now known as a cult movie now and a sequel was released. Reading these articles has made me realize that a good quality idea, product, theory will eventually be recognized for what it is. Time is the true battle.

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Trevor Corn says:

9 December 2012 at 5:35 pm

Well, Disney wasnt known for its soundtracks in the 1940’s so releasing a film with its “catch” being entirely on sound wasnt really well thought out. In fact, many laces in which the film was being shown didnt have the proper equiptment in order to actually hear the difference in Fantasound, as it was essentially sound with false distance.
Van Gogh on the other hand, sold one of his paintings, The Red Vineyard, for 400 Francs, which in current currency, would be roughly 430 dollars. He was nearing the end of his life when he sold it, but the answer as to why is not known. Overall Disney had started making a sound based animation, but the costs became too large and he decided to make a film instead. Van Gogh simply sold a one of his hundreds of paintings.

Though I do doubt that if Disney wasnt so well known, the film wouldnt have made really anything at release, much like Van Gogh.

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Hina Gandher says:

9 December 2012 at 11:17 pm

Five years after “Fantasia” was released, Walt Disney began working with surrealist painter Salvador Dali on a short film called “Destino”. It was quite some time until the film was released, however, due to financial stress to the Disney company in the World War II era. It was not until 2003 that the short film was released. The film is six minutes long and have only music. It was nominated for the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and has won many awards. Although scheduled and cancelled for two DVD releases, “Destino” has yet to hit the small screen. It can, however, be viewed on the internet website Youtube.

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Clarissa Berg says:

9 December 2012 at 11:51 pm

I remember when I first watched one of the Fantasia movies ( Fantasia 2000). At first, I was a bit scared being I was only seven years old, and half of the things shown within the movie puzzled me with much confusion. With Van Gogh’s painting, I love the colors that were used in this painting, and the technique that was put into it with using lines to create a somewhat real piece of work. I am not surprised this painting was sold for. Looking at this painting shown, it makes me wonder how accurate the Van Gogh painting was of his doctor.

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Alan Hammell says:

10 December 2012 at 12:02 am

After starting and sharing the idea for Fantasia, Disney decided it needed a way to bring its sound across the viewer without having to have a live symphony in theater. After hundreds of drafts, and countless models, the Disney creators came up with the first Mach system, which included three frontal speakers, with one centered, and two rear speakers installed in the corners of the theater. After modifying the system six times, they found the staff was having difficulty setting up and operating this highly technological system thus they designed a simpler system composed of 3 frontal speakers and completely modified tone rectifier, this was called the Mach VI system. This system was used and improved many times until the final system was developed by Disney engineers C. A. Hisserich and Tickner, thus ending up with the Mach X system, which was virtually automatic and required no manual switching of channels.

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