110-556: Hewlett or Hewletts may refer to: Bill Hewlett , an American entrepreneur Hewlett (surname) Hewlett Johnson (1874-1966), English clergyman, Dean of Manchester and Dean of Canterbury Hewlett Thompson (born 1929), Anglican former Bishop of Exeter Hewlett, New York , a hamlet and census-designated place Hewletts Creek , a stream in North Carolina Hewlett House (Cold Spring Harbor, New York) , on
220-618: A 11,000 sq ft production sound stage built at Disney's Burbank studios in 1940. It was subsequently dedicated to the film. The on-screen musicians were not the Philadelphia Orchestra but in fact local players, with Disney sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald on timpani and composer Paul Smith on violin. Taylor's introductions were filmed in August 1940, with Howe returning as cinematographer. Howe adds visual energy with brief flashes of colour projected onto some instruments as
330-540: A brain tumor in 1925. Hewlett received his bachelor's degree from Stanford in 1934, a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from MIT in 1936, and a post-masters engineering degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1939. He joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity during his time at Stanford. Hewlett attended undergraduate classes taught by Fred Terman at Stanford and became acquainted with David Packard . Packard and he began discussing forming
440-496: A company in August 1937, and founded Hewlett-Packard Company as a partnership on January 1, 1939. A flip of a coin decided the ordering of their names. Their first big breakthrough came when Disney purchased eight audio oscillators designed by Hewlett which were used for the production of the film Fantasia . The company incorporated in 1947 and tendered an initial public offering in 1957. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were proud of their company culture which came to be known as
550-542: A contest at the studio for a title that produced almost 1,800 suggestions, but the favorite among the film's supervisors was Fantasia , an early working title. Horne said: "It isn't the word alone but the meaning we read into it." From the beginning of its development, Disney expressed the greater importance of music in Fantasia compared to his past work: "In our ordinary stuff, our music is always under action, but on this ... we're supposed to be picturing this music—not
660-525: A contract with Disney that allowed him to "select and employ a complete symphony orchestra" for the recording of The Sorcerer's Apprentice , and was paid $ 5,000 for his services. The three-hour recording session began at midnight on January 9, 1938 at Culver Studios in California, with 85 Hollywood musicians. When production costs surpassed $ 125,000, as much as four times greater than the average Silly Symphony , Disney and his brother Roy , who managed
770-401: A copy of the entire conversation for review. As selections were considered, a recording of the piece was played back at the next gathering. Disney did not contribute much to early discussions; he admitted that his knowledge of music was instinctive and untrained. In one meeting, he inquired about a piece "on which we might build something of a prehistoric theme ... with animals". The group
880-408: A custom horizontal camera crane was built that accommodated glass panes four feet wide, with the artwork painted on them, so they could be shifted out of the way as the camera tracked through. Workers shot continuously for six days and nights, but following processing they discovered the camera was fitted with the wrong type of lens and had photographed the track, stands, and themselves. Three days into
990-457: A distance. A ninth channel provided a click track function for the animators to time their drawings to the music. The optical sound film stock was stored in a truck outside the Academy, as keeping the highly flammable material inside the wooden basement posed a fire risk. In the 42 days of recording 483,000 feet (147,000 m) of film was used. Disney paid all the expenses which included
1100-526: A live concert series. A sequel, Fantasia 2000 , co-produced by Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney , was released in 1999. Fantasia has grown in reputation over the years and is now widely acclaimed as one of the greatest animated films of all time ; in 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it as the 58th greatest American film in their 100 Years...100 Movies and the fifth greatest animated film in their 10 Top 10 list. In 1990, Fantasia
1210-472: A music score pinned to his desk to work out the choreography so he could relate the action to the melody and the counterpoint, "those nasty little notes underneath ... so something has to be related to that". The studio filmed professional dancers Joyce Coles and Marjorie Belcher wearing ballet skirts that resembled shapes of blossoms that were to sit above water for Dance of the Flutes . An Arabian dancer
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#17327829836211320-422: A profit from its $ 2.28 million budget after its return to theaters on December 17, 1969. The film was promoted with a psychedelic-styled advertising campaign, and it became popular among teenagers and college students who reportedly appreciated it as a psychedelic experience . Animator Ollie Johnston recalled that young people "thought we were on a trip when we made it ... every time we'd go to talk to
1430-933: A record previously held by Gone with the Wind . Its eight-week run at the Fulton Theatre in Pittsburgh attracted over 50,000 people with reservations being made from cities located one hundred miles from the venue. Engagements were also held at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco for eight months, the Hanna Theatre in Cleveland for nine weeks, the Majestic Theatre in Boston ,
1540-451: A school or something, they'd ask us what we were on." The release is also noted for the removal of four scenes from The Pastoral Symphony over racial stereotyping. Fantasia was issued on a regular basis, typically for exhibition in art houses in college towns, until the mid-1970s. The film was reissued nationwide once more on April 15, 1977 (the same year as Stokowski's death), this time with simulated stereo sound. This edit featured
1650-424: A search for a stronger piece to fit the mythological theme, the piece was replaced with sections of Beethoven's sixth symphony. Stokowski disagreed with the switch, believing that Disney's "idea of mythology ... is not quite what this symphony is about". He was also concerned about the reception from classical music enthusiasts who would criticize Disney for venturing too far from the composer's intent. Taylor on
1760-414: A segment's narrative pattern was complete, an overall color scheme was designed to the general mood of the music, and patterned to correspond with the development of the subject matter. The studio's character model department sculpted three-dimensional clay models so the animators could view their subject from all angles. The live action scenes were filmed using the three-strip Technicolor process, while
1870-421: A sound film that was mixed from the nine tracks recorded at the Academy to four: three of which contained the audio for the left, center, and right stage speakers respectively, while the fourth became a control track with amplitude and frequency tones that drove variable-gain amplifiers to control the volume of the three audio tracks. In addition were three "house" speakers placed on the left, right, and center of
1980-563: A year's lease with the venue that was fully equipped with Fantasound, which took personnel a week working around the clock to install. Proceeds made on the night went to the British War Relief Society following the Battle of Britain . Ticket demand was so great that eight telephone operators were employed to handle the extra calls while the adjoining store was rented out to cater the box office bookings. Fantasia ran at
2090-541: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Bill Hewlett William Redington Hewlett ( / ˈ h j uː l ɪ t / HEW -lit ; May 20, 1913 – January 12, 2001) was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard , of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) . Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan , where his father taught at
2200-497: Is seen as an "antidote to serious music." In 1940, Ub Iwerks was re-hired at the Disney studios as a technical supervisor for special visual effects. Among his first assignments was the handshake scene with Mickey Mouse and Stokowski. The scene was produced by filming Stokowski shaking hands in thin air, after which the animators placed drawing paper on top of the photographic print and matched Mickey's actions with his. The animation
2310-792: The Apollo Theater in Chicago , and also in Philadelphia , Detroit , Buffalo , Minneapolis , Washington, D.C. , and Baltimore . Fantasia grossed over $ 300,000 in the first sixteen weeks in New York; over $ 20,000 in the opening five weeks in San Francisco; and almost the same amount in the first ten weeks both in Los Angeles and Boston. The first eleven roadshows earned a total of $ 1.3 million by April 1941, but
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#17327829836212420-465: The Curtis Institute of Music , and each musician was paid a flat fee of $ 10 per hour with principal players receiving as much as $ 400. Westminster Choir College (an Ohio-expatriate conservatory which had recently resettled permanently in nearby Princeton ) was engaged to furnish the sung elements of the film under the supervision of Charles E. Henderson . College-affiliate Julietta Novis
2530-692: The Mount Wilson Observatory , and observed a herd of iguanas and a baby alligator that were brought into the studio. The viewpoint was kept low throughout the segment to heighten the immensity of the dinosaurs . According to Ward Kimball , the animators were "extremely specific on touchy issues". The female centaurs were originally drawn bare-breasted, but the Hays office enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code insisted that they discreetly hung garlands around
2640-482: The New York Philharmonic and agreed that he would be most suitable for the role. Disney did contact Taylor about the project and invited him to collaborate with Stokowski and himself, but by then work on Pinocchio , Bambi , and development on his new Burbank studio kept him too busy to work on the new feature. In a change of plans, Taylor was asked during a call on September 3, 1938, to come to
2750-501: The Philadelphia Orchestra . Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the film's Master of Ceremonies who introduces each segment in live action. Disney settled on the film's concept in 1938 as work neared completion on The Sorcerer's Apprentice , originally an elaborate Silly Symphony cartoon designed as a comeback role for Mickey Mouse , who had declined in popularity. As production costs surpassed what
2860-617: The Toccata and Fugue . Fantasia was re-released in January 1942 at more popular prices with a mono soundtrack, and was placed on the lower half of double bills with the Western film Valley of the Sun . RKO reissued Fantasia once more on September 1, 1946, with the animated sequences complete and the scenes of Taylor, Stokowski, and the orchestra restored but shortened. Its running time
2970-473: The University of Michigan Medical School. In 1916 the family moved to San Francisco after his father, Albion Walter Hewlett, took a similar position at Stanford Medical School , located at the time in San Francisco. He attended Lowell High School and was the 1929-1930 Battalion Commander of the school's Army JROTC program. He was accepted at Stanford University as a favor to his late father who died of
3080-555: The $ 85,000 in production and installation costs of a single Fantasound setup, along with theatres having to be leased, forced Disney to exceed their loan limits. The onset of the Second World War prevented plans for a potential release in Europe, normally the source of as much as forty-five per cent of the studio's income. Up to eighty-eight engagements were outlined across five years, but wartime demands for material limited
3190-663: The Army during World War II as a Signal Corps Officer. He then led the electronics section of the Development Division, a new part of the War Department Special Staff. After the war he was part of a special team that inspected Japanese Industry. Hewlett was a Director for Hexcel Products Incorporated (became Hexcel , founded by his wife Flora's brother in law Roscoe "Bud" Hughes) from 1956 to 1965, and worked on their executive committee. Hewlett
3300-535: The Broadway for forty-nine consecutive weeks, the longest run achieved by a film at the time. Its run continued for a total of fifty-seven weeks until February 28, 1942. The remaining twelve roadshows were held throughout 1941, which included a 39-week run at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles from January 29. Fantasia broke the long-run record at the venue in its twenty-eighth week;
3410-517: The HP Way. The HP Way is a corporate culture that claimed to be centered not only on making money but also on respecting and nurturing its employees. Hewlett was president of the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1954. He was president of HP from 1964 to 1977 and CEO from 1968 to 1978, after which he was succeeded by John A. Young . He remained chairman of the executive committee until 1983, and then
Hewlett - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-623: The National Register of Historic Places See also [ edit ] Hewlett-Packard , a technology corporation Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Hewlett . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hewlett&oldid=941446922 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
3630-517: The RKO distribution logo being replaced with that of Buena Vista Distribution, since RKO had not been part of a release since 1946. It had not been removed earlier as the credit sequence would have required to be re-shot. A two-and-a-half-minute reduction in the film's running time in this version remains unclear in existing records. In 1980, the studio shipped a damaged segment of The Nutcracker Suite to various film restoration companies; each advised that
3740-502: The Seven Dwarfs as the apprentice, but he did not want to dilute the impact of his debut feature and chose Mickey Mouse. Stokowski suggested the cartoon could star "an entirely new personality" that represented "in the mind and heart of everyone seeing the film their own personality, so that they would enter into all the drama and emotional changes of the film in a most intense manner"; Disney rejected this also. In its original form
3850-599: The amplifiers. The illusion of sound traveling across the speakers was achieved with a device named the " pan pot ", which directed the predetermined movement of each audio channel with the control track. Mixing of the soundtrack required six people to operate the various pan pots in real time, while Stokowski directed each level and pan change which was marked on his musical score. To monitor recording levels, Disney used oscilloscopes with color differentiation to minimize eye fatigue. To test recording equipment and speaker systems, Disney ordered eight electronic oscillators from
3960-556: The animated segments were shot in successive yellow, cyan and magenta -exposed frames. The different pieces of film were then spliced together to form a complete print. A multiplane camera that could handle seven levels, three more than the studio's original model, was built specifically for the film. Fantasia has 3,500 feet of multiplane footage, more than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio combined. Disney had been interested in producing abstract animation since he saw A Colour Box by Len Lye from 1935. He explained
4070-464: The animation of the characters. The lead ostrich, Madmoiselle Upanova, is based on Irina Baronova . Hyacinth Hippo, the prima ballerina, was inspired by dancers Marge Champion and Tatiana Riabouchinska and actress Hattie Noel who weighed over 200 pounds (91 kg), the animators studying the "least quiver of her flesh, noticing those parts of her anatomy that were subjected to the greatest stress and strain". Riabouchinska's husband David Lichine
4180-421: The auditorium that derived from the left and right stage channels which acted as surround channels . As the original recording was captured at almost peak modulation to increase signal-to-noise ratio , the control track was used to restore the dynamics to where Stokowski thought they should be. For this, a tone-operated gain-adjusting device was built to control the levels of each of the three audio tracks through
4290-562: The conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra , at Chasen's restaurant in Hollywood and talked about his plans for the short. An enthusiastic Stokowski informed Disney that he liked the piece and offered to conduct for free. Disney's New York representative met Stokowski on a subsequent train journey, and reported the conductor was serious in his offer and "had some very interesting ideas on instrumental coloring, which would be perfect for an animation medium." Disney felt "all steamed up over
4400-528: The details for the segments, and showed greater enthusiasm and eagerness as opposed to his anxiety while starting on the problematic Pinocchio . Clair de Lune was soon removed from the program, and Disney and his writers encountered problems of setting a concrete story to Cydalise . Its opening march, "The Entry of the Little Fauns", attracted Disney to the piece which at first provided suitable depictions of fauns he wanted. On January 5, 1939, following
4510-406: The development of Fantasound, a pioneering stereophonic surround sound system which innovated some processes widely used today, including simultaneous multitrack recording , overdubbing , and noise reduction . Fantasound, developed in part by Garity, employed two projectors running at the same time. With one containing the picture film with a mono soundtrack for backup purposes, the other ran
Hewlett - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-549: The film are used in Dance of the Hours —a thump when an ostrich ballerina falls to the ground and the crash of the palace doors at the very end. The setup used for The Sorcerer's Apprentice was abandoned as Disney and RCA wanted to use a different multi-channel recording arrangement. For the Academy sessions, 33 microphones were placed around the orchestra that captured the music onto eight optical sound recording machines placed in
4730-580: The first eleven engagements, who was given specific instructions regarding each aspect of the film's presentation, including the setup of outside theater marquees and curtain and lighting cues. Patrons were taken to their seats by staff hired and trained by Disney, and were given a program booklet illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa . The first roadshow opened at the Broadway Theatre in New York City on November 13, 1940. The Disneys had secured
4840-476: The first time, and made Fantasia the first theatrical feature film presented in digital stereo sound. The standard recording was used for the film's wide release to around 400 theaters. This time, actor Tim Matheson provided the narration. For its fiftieth anniversary reissue, Fantasia underwent a two-year restoration process that began with a six-month search to locate the original negatives, which had been in storage since 1946, and piece them together. This
4950-476: The general release of Fantasia , but fought their decision to have the film cut. He gave in as the studio needed as much income as possible to remedy its finances, but refused to cut it himself, "You can get anybody you want to edit it ... I can't do it." With no input from Disney, musical director Ed Plumb and Ben Sharpsteen reduced Fantasia to one hour and forty minutes at first, then to one hour and twenty minutes by removing most of Taylor's commentary and
5060-414: The hall's basement, where engineers followed the music in real time and muted microphones when their assigned section was not playing. Each one represented an audio channel that focused on a different section of instruments: cellos and basses, violins, brass, violas, and woodwinds and tympani. The seventh channel was a combination of the first six while the eighth provided an overall sound of the orchestra at
5170-612: The handshake scene were also redubbed, the former by Wayne Allwine , who would do so again in Fantasia 2000 ' s version of the same scene. The 1982 version was reissued from February 1985, which kicked off with a run at the Plitt Century Plaza Theatre in Los Angeles that was fitted with the HPS-4000 digital speaker system. This allowed the digital stereo recording of the Kostal soundtrack to be presented for
5280-538: The hippos and ostriches were based on those by cartoonist T. S. Sullivant . To gain a better idea on the animals' movements, the crew visited Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles. Animator John Hench was assigned to work on the segment, but resisted as he knew little about ballet. Disney then gave Hench season tickets to the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo with backstage access so he could learn more about it. The studio filmed several people in live action to help with
5390-461: The idea of using stop-motion animation. Diagrams of real snowflakes were traced by the Ink and Paint Department, who used a material a little heavier than regular cels, and painted them in translucent white. They were then cut out and placed on revolving spools attached to small steel rails. The mechanics was hidden under black velvet as the snowflakes were moved one frame at a time. The hand-drawn animation
5500-482: The idea" and thought the partnership "would be the means of a success and should lead to a new style of motion picture presentation." He had already begun working on a story outline and wished to use "the finest men ... from color ... down to animators" on the new short that was to be promted as a special and unique film, outside of the Mickey Mouse cartoon series . On December 16, 1937, Stokowski signed
5610-545: The largest private foundations in the United States. Aside from the foundation Hewlett gave millions of dollars to universities, schools, museums, non-profit organizations and other organizations. Stanford University was a large recipient of his philanthropy. Hewlett married Flora Lamson in 1939, and had 5 children with her: Eleanor, Walter, James, William and Mary. They had 12 grandchildren. His wife died in 1977. In 1978, Hewlett married Rosemary Kopmeier Bradford. He
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#17327829836215720-635: The manufacture of a new system that would "create the illusion that the actual symphony orchestra is playing in the theater." Sarnoff backed out at first for financial reasons, but agreed in July 1939 to make the equipment so long as the Disneys could hold down the estimated $ 200,000 in costs (equivalent to about $ 4.4 million in 2023). Though it was not exactly known how to achieve their goal, engineers at Disney and RCA investigated many ideas and tests made with various equipment setups. The collaboration led to
5830-432: The money problem came in ... The compromise was that it finally went out standard with dimensional sound. I think if I'd had the money and I could have gone ahead I'd have a really sensational show at that time. —Walt Disney on the widescreen release in 1956. By 1955, the original sound negatives began to deteriorate, though a four-track copy had survived in good condition. Using the remaining Fantasound system at
5940-437: The music fitting our story." Disney had hoped that the film would bring classical music to people who, like himself, had previously "walked out on this kind of stuff". More than 1,000 artists and technicians were used in the making of Fantasia , which features more than 500 animated characters. Segments were color-keyed scene by scene so the colors in a single shot would harmonize between preceding and following ones. Before
6050-527: The musician's wages, stage personnel, a music librarian, and the orchestra's manager that cost almost $ 18,000. When the finished recordings arrived at the studio, a meeting was held on July 14, 1939, to allow the artists working on each segment to listen to Stokowski's arrangements, and suggest alterations in the sound to work more effectively with their designs. Some solo parts were subsequently recorded in California, still under Stokowski's direction. The Disney brothers contacted David Sarnoff of RCA regarding
6160-415: The musicians tune up, and changes the hues of the side lighting for each introduction for variety. The jam session during the intermission includes a theme from The Pastoral Symphony and "Bach Goes to Town", a jazz tune popularised by Benny Goodman . David Butler points out the significance of the brief interlude, demonstrating to the audience that "these musicians aren't serious all the time" and that jazz
6270-422: The necks. The male centaurs were also toned down to appear less intimidating to the audience. Originally, the segment included a pair of black centaurs who tended to the others, but these were cut from the film in later releases due to their implications of racism. (see § Controversies ). Dance of the Hours was directed by Norman Ferguson and Thornton Hee and was completed by eleven animators. Most of
6380-440: The newly established Hewlett-Packard company. Between the individual takes, prints, and remakes, approximately three million feet of sound film was used in the production of Fantasia . Almost a fifth of the film's budget was spent on its recording techniques. RKO balked at the idea of distributing Fantasia , which it described as a "longhair musical", and believed its duration of two hours and five minutes plus intermission
6490-582: The number of Fantasound prints to sixteen. All but one of the Fantasound setups were dismantled and given to the war effort. Upon acquiring the film's distribution rights in April 1941, RKO initially continued the roadshow booking policy but presented the film in mono, which was easier to exhibit. The combined average receipts from each roadshow was around $ 325,000, which placed Fantasia at an even greater loss than Pinocchio . Disney allowed RKO to handle
6600-508: The original tale. Although Disney had explored the concept of matching animation to classical music since 1928 with his Silly Symphony cartoons, he wanted to go beyond the usual slapstick in those shorts and produce ones where "sheer fantasy unfolds". Upon receiving the rights to use the Dukas piece in July 1937, Disney considered using a well-known conductor to record the music for added prestige. He happened to meet Leopold Stokowski , then
6710-403: The other hand welcomed the change, describing it as "a stunning one", and saw "no possible objection to it". The new feature continued to be known as The Concert Feature or Musical Feature as late as November 1938. Hal Horne, a publicist for Disney's film distributor RKO Radio Pictures , wished for a different title, and gave the suggestion Filmharmonic Concert . Stuart Buchanan then held
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#17327829836216820-451: The others) that were built “to last, not just to make money”. Steve Wozniak , co-founder of Apple along with Jobs, unsuccessfully attempted five times to sell the Apple I computer to HP while working there. The early Apple computers were built with HP parts, under a legal release from HP. Of the missed opportunity, Hewlett reportedly said, "You win some, you lose some." Hewlett served in
6930-656: The podium with Stokowski". The Sorcerer's Apprentice was recorded in a three-hour session that began at midnight at the Culver Studios on January 9, 1938. The venue was chosen as the sound stage at the Disney studio at Hyperion Avenue was too small. Stokowski picked the 85 musicians himself, and felt they would be more alert by working at such a late hour. The session involved a single rehearsal. Engineers at Disney collaborated with RCA Corporation that involved recording with multiple audio channels to allow any desired dynamic balance to be achieved upon playback. The stage
7040-407: The procession figures was so closely drawn, "a difference in the width of a pencil line was more than enough to cause jitters, not only to the animation, but to everyone connected with the sequence." The jittering created on the first shoot led Disney to order a time-consuming and expensive redo. The studio had no camera that moved slowly and continuously enough to film the segment as Disney wanted, so
7150-504: The production of a collar button. Other deleted material included Prelude in G minor and Troika by Sergei Rachmaninoff , and a rendition of "The Song of the Flea" by Mussorgsky, which was to be sung by Lawrence Tibbett . On September 29, 1938, around sixty of Disney's artists gathered for a two-and-a-half hour piano concert while he provided a running commentary about the new musical feature. A rough version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice
7260-466: The program. In 1936, Walt Disney felt that his cartoon studio 's star character Mickey Mouse needed a boost in popularity as newcomers Donald Duck and Goofy had become a new favourite amongst audiences. He decided to star Mickey in The Sorcerer's Apprentice , a deluxe cartoon short based on Goethe's poem of the same name and set to the orchestral piece by Paul Dukas also inspired by
7370-436: The recording that took place across 18, three-hour sessions in January 1982 at CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles, costing almost $ 1.4 million to produce. Five musicians who took part in the 1940 recording performed on the new one. Kostal had the difficult task of pacing his conducting to match Stokowski's, but chose Mussorgsky's orchestration of Night on Bald Mountain instead of the arrangement Stokowski had used which
7480-468: The recording was satisfactory. On January 18, 1939, Stokowski signed an eighteen-month contract with Disney to conduct the remaining pieces with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The main recording sessions took place on April 6, 8, and 12, each three hours in length, at the Academy of Music , the orchestra's home which was chosen for its excellent acoustics . The 90-piece orchestra included some students at
7590-421: The roadshow presentations. Since 1942, the film has been reissued multiple times by RKO Radio Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version. When adjusted for inflation, Fantasia is the 23rd highest-grossing film of all time in the U.S. The Fantasia franchise has grown to include video games, Disneyland attractions, and
7700-438: The segment opened with an overture followed by live action shots of Stokowski conducting in silhouette, filming for which took place in January 1938 with cinematographer James Wong Howe . Layout artist Tom Codrick created what Dick Huemer described as "brilliantly colored thumbnails" from preliminary storyboard sketches using gouache paints , which featured bolder use of color and lighting than any previous Disney short. Mickey
7810-506: The segment, was used instead. This was also the case for a sequence in The Pastoral Symphony , so a duplicate was used. Each of the 535,680 frames were restored by hand with an untouched print from 1951 used for guidance on the correct colors and tone. Theaters that agreed to screen the film were required to install specific stereo sound equipment and present it in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The 1990 reissue also had
7920-446: The shock" of Night on Bald Mountain . Disney did not want much animated movement, but wanted the segment to bring the background artwork to the forefront which became a showcase for the multiplane camera. An early story outline had the segment end with a Madonna presented on the screen with the clouds, but Disney decided against this as he did not want to suggest overly religious imagery. There were ideas of releasing scents throughout
8030-424: The short could earn, Disney decided to include it in a feature-length film of multiple segments set to classical pieces with Stokowski and Taylor as collaborators. The soundtrack was recorded using multiple audio channels and reproduced with Fantasound , a pioneering sound system developed by Disney and RCA that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereo and a precursor to surround sound . Fantasia
8140-555: The sound recording could not be upgraded to a quality suitable for theatre screenings. In late 1981, Disney executives decided to replace the Stokowski soundtrack with a new, digital recording in Dolby Stereo with conductor Irwin Kostal ; president and CEO Ron W. Miller said that the original had degraded and "no longer matched the extraordinary visuals." Kostal directed a hand-picked 121-piece orchestra and 50-voice choir for
8250-466: The story was outlined in a meeting in October 1938, including the creation of the main alligator character, Ben Ali Gator. Its story, direction, layout, and animation underwent several rewrites, yet Disney wanted to present animals perform a legitimate caricature ballet sequence with comedic "slips". The design of the elephants and alligators were based on those by German illustrator Heinrich Kley , while
8360-469: The studio temporarily hired him to produce pencil sketches for the animators to gain inspiration from. Chernabog and parts of the segment were developed further by Danish-born illustrator Kay Nielsen . Tytla conducted research on all the characters he had animated and being Ukrainian , was familiar with the folklore that the story detailed. Actor Béla Lugosi , best known for his role in Dracula (1931),
8470-415: The studio's finances, realised that the short could never earn such a sum back on its own. Roy urged his brother to keep additional costs to a minimum "because of its very experimental and unprecedented nature ... we have no idea what can be expected from such a production." Ben Sharpsteen , a production supervisor on Fantasia , recalled that Disney "saw this trouble in the form of an opportunity. This
8580-536: The studio, a three-track stereo copy was transferred across noise-free telephone wires onto magnetic film at an RCA facility in Hollywood. This copy was used when Fantasia was reissued in stereo by Buena Vista Distribution in SuperScope, a derivative of the anamorphic widescreen CinemaScope format, on February 7, 1956. The projector featured an automatic control mechanism designed by Disney engineers that
8690-517: The studios as soon as possible. He was paid $ 1,440 per week during his one month visit. The program for The Concert Feature was assembled in a series of meetings in September 1938. Disney made story writers Joe Grant and Dick Huemer gather a preliminary selection of music and along with Stokowski, Taylor, and the heads of various departments, discussed their ideas. Each meeting was recorded verbatim by stenographers with participants being given
8800-410: The studios to help select musical pieces for the new film, which was initially titled The Concert Feature . Disney agreed to pay Stokowski $ 80,000 plus royalties for his services. The pair further thought of presenting the film with an on-screen host to introduce each number in the program. Both had heard composer and music critic Deems Taylor provide intermission commentary during radio broadcasts of
8910-399: The theater during Fantasia , including the smell of incense during Ave Maria . The final shot, beginning with a black foreground and a shining white light in the background, measured 217 feet of film; according to Disney historian John Culhane, this was likely the longest continuous scene in animation history to date. Ed Gershman, who worked on the segment, described how the animation of
9020-433: The third reshoot, a minor earthquake rocked the wooden stands and panels that kept the glass panes in place. Rather than carry on with the risk of jittered footage, they started over for a fourth time and completed one day before the film's premiere. The finished film was rushed to New York on a charter plane and spliced into place with four hours to spare. The live action scenes were the first to be filmed inside Stage 1 ,
9130-400: The two, Disney rejected all three. According to Huemer all Fishinger "did was little triangles and designs ... it didn't come off at all. Too dinky, Walt said." Fischinger, like Disney, was used to having full control over his work and not used to working in a group. Feeling his designs were too abstract for a mass audience, Fishinger left the studio in apparent despair, before the segment
9240-420: The widescreen format led to the cropping and reframing of the images. On February 20, 1963, Fantasia was re-released in both standard and SuperScope versions with stereo sound, though existing records are unclear. Its running time was 56 seconds longer than the previous issue which is unexplained. This was the final release that occurred before Disney's (and Taylor's) death in 1966. Fantasia began to make
9350-534: The work done in the Toccata and Fugue was "no sudden idea ... they were something we had nursed along several years but we never had a chance to try." Preliminary designs included those from effects animator Cy Young , who produced drawings influenced by the patterns on the edge of a piece of sound film. In late 1938, Disney hired Oskar Fischinger , a German artist who had produced numerous abstract animated films, including some with classical music, to work with Young. Upon review of three leica reels produced by
9460-481: Was a Director of Chase Manhattan Bank (became JPMorgan Chase ) from 1969 to 1980. Hewlett was also elected to the board of directors for Chrysler Corporation in 1966, a position he held until 1983. Starting in the 1960s Hewlett committed much of his time and wealth towards numerous philanthropic causes. In 1966, William Hewlett and his wife Flora founded the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation , which became one of
9570-574: Was a committed conservationist and avid outdoorsman. As an amateur photographer and botanist, he took many photographs and samples of wildflowers. Some of these were donated to the California Academy of Sciences. Hewlett died of heart failure in Palo Alto, California on January 12, 2001 at the age of 87, and was interred at Los Gatos Memorial Park , San Jose, California . In 1999, the William R. Hewlett Teaching Center at Stanford
9680-529: Was added later. Animation on The Sorcerer's Apprentice began on January 21, 1938, when James Algar , the director of the segment, assigned animator Preston Blair to work on the scene when Mickey Mouse wakes from his dream. Each of the seven hundred members of staff at the time received a synopsis of Goethe's 1797 poem Der Zauberlehrling , and were encouraged to complete a twenty-question form that requested their ideas on what action might take place. Early on Disney considered using Dopey from Snow White and
9790-553: Was also brought in to study the movements for the goldfish in Arab Dance . Jules Engel also worked on the choreography and color-keying for this sequence. To avoid hard ink outlines, new techniques like transparent paint was used on the cels. The snowflakes used in the snowflake fairies sequence was difficult to draw by hand, so a man named Leonard Pickley, from the Special Effects Department, came up with
9900-481: Was also shown that, according to one attendee, had the crowd applauding and cheering "until their hands were red". The final pieces were chosen the following morning, which included Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Cydalise et le Chèvre-pied by Gabriel Pierné , The Nutcracker Suite , Night on Bald Mountain , Ave Maria , Dance of the Hours , Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy , The Rite of Spring and The Sorcerer's Apprentice . Disney had already begun working out
10010-400: Was altered acoustically with double plywood semi-circular partitions that separated the orchestra into five sections and acted as a baffle wall to increase reverberation . Chief Disney sound engineer William Garity was "very disappointed" with the overall results and was unable to have a full complete rehearsal and record the orchestra in separate sections as scheduled, but Stokowski insisted
10120-490: Was based on Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov 's version. The new recording also corrected a two-frame lag in projection caused by the recording techniques used at the time the film was made. The Kostal soundtrack was prepared for the film's reissue from April 2, 1982, which had Taylor's scenes replaced with briefer voiceover narration from Hugh Douglas as the studio felt audiences by now had become "more sophisticated and knowledgeable about music." Mickey Mouse and Stokowski's voices in
10230-425: Was brought in to provide reference poses for Chernabog, but Tytla disliked the results. He then got Jackson to pose shirtless which gave him the images he needed. At one point in its development, the idea of using black cats to represent evil was considered, but Disney rejected it as he thought cats had always been used. The film's program reads that Ave Maria provides "an emotional relief to audiences tense from
10340-491: Was completed, in October 1939. Disney had plans to make the Toccata and Fugue an experimental three-dimensional film, with audiences being given cardboard stereoscopic frames with their souvenir programs, but this idea was abandoned. In The Nutcracker Suite , animator Art Babbitt is said to have credited The Three Stooges as a guide for animating the dancing mushrooms in the Chinese Dance routine. He drew with
10450-555: Was considering The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky, but Taylor noted that his " Le Sacre du printemps would be something on that order", to which Disney replied upon hearing a recording, "This is marvelous! It would be perfect for prehistoric animals. There would be something terrific in dinosaurs, flying lizards, and prehistoric monsters. There could be beauty in the settings." Numerous choices were discarded as talks continued, including Moto Perpetuo by Niccolò Paganini with "shots of dynamos, cogs, pistons" and "whirling wheels" to show
10560-495: Was coupled to a variable anamorphic lens, which allowed the picture to switch between its Academy standard aspect ratio of 1.33:1 to the wide ratio of 2.35:1 in twenty seconds without a break in the film. This was achieved by placing the cues that controlled the mechanism on a separate track in addition to the three audio channels. Only selected parts of the animation were stretched, while all live action scenes remained unchanged. This reissue garnered some criticism from viewers, as
10670-510: Was first released as a theatrical roadshow that was held in 13 cities across the U.S. between 1940 and 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures ; the first began at the Broadway Theatre in New York City on November 13, 1940. While acclaimed by critics, it failed to make a profit owing to World War II 's cutting off distribution to the European market, the film's high production costs, and the expense of building Fantasound equipment and leasing theatres for
10780-410: Was hired to portray Yen Sid for the camera for the animators to use for reference. A sorcerer's robe and hat was bought from a costume rental shop and decorated with stars and crescent moons. An early concept for The Rite of Spring was to extend the story to the age of mammals and the first humans and the discovery of fire and man's triumph. John Hubley , the segment's art director, explained that it
10890-577: Was later curtailed by Disney to avoid controversy from creationists , who promised to make trouble should he connect evolution with humans. To gain a better understanding of the history of the planet the studio received guidance from Roy Chapman Andrews , the director of the American Museum of Natural History ; English biologist Julian Huxley ; paleontologist Barnum Brown ; and astronomer Edwin Hubble . Animators studied comets and nebulae at
11000-705: Was named in his honor. The building is located in the Science and Engineering Quad, adjacent to the David Packard Electrical Engineering Building. Fantasia (1940 film) Fantasia is a 1940 American animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney Productions , with story direction by Joe Grant and Dick Huemer and production supervision by Walt Disney and Ben Sharpsteen . It consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski , seven of which are performed by
11110-447: Was photographed with the Stokowski film inside the camera to create a single negative that combined both sequences. Disney wanted to experiment in more sophisticated sound recording and reproduction techniques for Fantasia . He said: "Music emerging from one speaker behind the screen sounds thin, tinkly and strainy. We wanted to reproduce such beautiful masterpieces ... so that audiences would feel as though they were standing at
11220-418: Was redesigned by animator Fred Moore who added pupils to his eyes for the first time to achieve greater ranges of expression. Most of the segment was shot in live action, including a scene where a UCLA athlete was asked to run and jump across one of the studio's sound stages with barrels in the way, which was used for reference when Mickey traverses through water. English silent film actor Nigel De Brulier
11330-458: Was restored to one hour and fifty-five minutes. This edit would be the standard form for subsequent re-releases, and was the basis for the 1990 restoration. I wanted a special show just like Cinerama plays today ... I had Fantasia set for a wide screen. I had dimensional sound ... To get that wide screen I had the projector running sideways ... I had the double frame. But I didn't get to building my cameras or my projectors because
11440-583: Was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Fantasia opens with live-action scenes of members of an orchestra gathering against a blue background and tuning their instruments in half-light, half-shadow. Master of ceremonies Deems Taylor enters the stage (also in half-light, half-shadow) and introduces
11550-723: Was selected for the soprano solo. Having first encountered the ensemble during his tenure with the Cincinnati Symphony , the Westminster Choir (formerly of neighboring Dayton ) established itself thenceforth as one of Stokowski's longtime collaborators-of-preference. On the sleeve notes of the LP version of the soundtrack, Disney acknowledged the original words were written by Walter Scott , but decided to use original lyrics specially written for Fantasia by American author Rachel Field . The two sound effects heard in
11660-486: Was the birth of a new concept, a group of separate numbers—regardless of their running time—put together in a single presentation. It turned out to be a concert—something novel and of high quality." Ideas to expand The Sorcerer's Apprentice and produce a full-length feature film began in February 1938, when inquiries were made to extend Stokowski's contract with the studio. In August, Disney asked Stokowski to return to
11770-413: Was the first time since then that a print of the film had been prepared using the original negative and not a copy. A new print was formed that was identical to the 1946 version with Taylor's introductions restored but with a new end credits sequence added. As the original opening shots of Rite of Spring could not be found, footage from the Disney educational film A World is Born , which used footage from
11880-433: Was too long for a general release. It relaxed its exclusive distribution contract with Disney, who wanted a more prestigious exhibit in the form of a limited-run roadshow attraction . A total of thirteen roadshows were held across the United States; each involving two daily screenings with seat reservations booked in advance at higher prices and a fifteen-minute intermission. Disney hired film salesman Irving Ludwig to manage
11990-445: Was used for Ben Ali Gator's movements. Night on Bald Mountain was directed by Wilfred Jackson . Its story closely follows the descriptions that Mussorgsky had written on his original score of the tone poem. Chernabog was animated by Vladimir "Bill" Tytla , his design inspired from a pencil sketch by Swiss artist Albert Hurter of a demon sitting atop a mountain unfolding its wings. Despite Hurter never producing animation for Disney,
12100-437: Was vice chairman of the board until 1987. A young Steve Jobs , then age 12, called Hewlett (whose number was in the phone book) and requested any available parts for a frequency counter he was building. Hewlett, impressed with Jobs' initiative, offered him a summer job assembling frequency counters. Jobs then considered HP one of the companies that he admired, regarding it among the handful of companies (Disney and Intel were
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