Did you ever wonder how Disney came to be? The big strong films that made it how it is today? The heartbreaking bombs that changed things up in the company? The great evolution it took to where it is now? Well this is a story of how Walt Disney anim...
Now, before we jump onto the next movie, let's step back a bit to 1936. It was a simpler and ambitious time at Disney's. They were still the top Hollywood studio making cartoons, and they were on their way to make history with their first feature-length film.
However, the only downside to all this was that the popularity of Mickey Mouse was dwindling. While he may had his moment of glory after the release of Steamboat Willie, people were starting to lose interest in the mouse as Disney began bringing out more characters that had a stronger personality than Mickey like Donald Duck.
Not to mention that Snow White and the dwarfs were just around the corner to become the next biggest celebrities. Even within the studio, the crew was more interested in making cartoons with the duck than with the mouse. Walt wasn't prepared to let his favorite creation be forgotten.
So in order to spice up interest in Mickey with his artists and writers, he decided to create a special cartoon, one that would truly mix animation with music
Of course, Disney had done this many times before, especially with the Silly Symphony cartoons where his team experimented with characters, colors, effects, and especially having the visuals pair up with the soundtrack. However, this would be a little more different. The music wouldn't be matched with slapstick comedy, wacky sound effects, and funny voices. The cartoon would feature animation that followed the music, and that's it. Walt even found the perfect story for it, which was the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe poem The Sorcerer's Apprentice with the orchestral piece based on the poem by Paul Dukas
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The story is about an apprentice who wanted to try out the magic of the sorcerer he works for while he was taking a break. But when practicing on a broom, the situation got quickly out of hand when the apprentice doesn't know how to stop the magic
One day, Walt was eating at Chasen's in Hollywood and met famed conductor Leopold Stokowski
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The two had a nice chat and Walt brought up his Sorcerer's Apprentice idea, which got Stokowski very intrigued, and thus began the collaboration of two entertainment giants. When composing the music, Stokowski got so into it that he spent three hours one night perfecting his score with his orchestra. However, that sense of perfectionism came with a big price, quite literally in fact.
