A Letter from Hollywood

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 21

A Letter from Hollywood

{Specially written for "The Post".)

T^HE inventive genius of Walt Disney A has taken a surprising turn in one of his forthcoming full-length feature cartoons which is now being made in the rambling white frame studios from' which so much magic has come. The film, as yet untitled, is known in the studios as the "Concert Feature," and in it Disney will endeavour to give pictorial value to a balanced musical programme. Deems Taylor, a prominent critic and composer, will supply the commentary to take the place of programme notes The progtamme on which the studio artists and animators are working at present include "Rites of Spring" (Stravinsky), "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (Dukas). "Clair de Lune" (Debussy), "Pastoral Symphony" (Beethoven), "Dance of the Hours" (Ponchielli), "Toccata and Fugue" (Bach), "The Nutcracker Suite" (Tschaikowsky), "Night On a Bare Mountain' (Moussorgsky), and ' "Ava Maria" (Schubert). The plan for this full programme developed out of Disney's -one-reel ot Mickey Mouse as "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which is near completion, and the scope of this ambitious effort was indicated in the scores of drawings which have been prepared for "Rites of Spring," which will last 22 minutes on the screen. The Age of Dinosaurs. The pictures show the early beginnings of life, after comets have whirled in space; then come the age of the dinosaurs, the land under the sea, until the third movement of the music is represented in masses of colour. Changing conditions of the earth show that the dinosaurs could not adjust themselves, and the pictures give glimpses of bones covered by desert sands, the surge of the sea, eclipse of the sun and, finally, the whole world engulfed in earthquake—the end of the age of dinosaurs. The picture is presented; no philosophy is suggested for argument. "Rites of Spring" is the "heaviest" item on the programme and will be followed by the antics of Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer's apprentice; "Clair de Lune" is romanticism in moonlight, and the "Pastoral Symphony" is a fantasy of wood-nymphs and centaurs. "The Dance of the Hours" will provide comedy with an ostrich ballet and a hippopotamus ballet, among other things, and "The Nutcracker Suite" will provide a ballet of the woods—one of those things which Disney does so well; waltzing leaves, toadstools dancing in their coolie hats, and milkweed thistles also stepping it in sprightly manner. "Toccata and Fugue" will probably be the only ab-

Hollyivood.

stract colour fantasy; the patterns will form themselves as the music is. played. The Musical Score. The musical score for the whole oi the programme will be by the, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Leopold Stokowski, who has on several occasions expressed his admiration of Disney's work. But, interesting as this concert feature is likely to be. it will probably not be realeased for a year. At present in the making are "Pinocchio"—the story of a little wooden figure carved by Gepetto and brought to life by the Blue Fairy -— and "Bambi," Felix Salten's exquisite story of a deer who became lord of the forest. In addition to these full-length cartoons there will be the usual supply

stract colour fantasy; the patterns will form themselves as the music is. played. The Musical Score. The musical score for the whole of the programme will be by the, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Leopold Stokowski, who has on several occasions expressed his admiration of Disney's work. But, interesting as this concert feature is likely to be. it will probably not be realeased for a year. At present in the making are "Pinocchio"—the story of a little wooden figure carved by Gepetto and brought to life by the Blue Fairy -— and "Bambi," Felix Salten's exquisite story of a deer who became lord of the forest. In addition to these full-length cartoons there will be the usual supply of "shorts" featuring Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, not to mention the Silly Symphonies. In fact, so many requests have come for Donald Duck features that next year a special campaign will be launched on his behalf. In.one of the "sweat" boxes, as the projection rooms are called, I saw a rough, uncoloured sequence of "Pinocchio.'' in which the little puppet meets the Fox and the Cat and is warned by Jimmy CrickeU his conscience. This sequence is in charge of Tee Hee, who designed all the characters in "Mother Goose Goes Hollywood," and who sat during the filming with his board covered with strips of small drawings as a kind of "score sheet" to be watched during the screening. The Voice. The Fox, who rejoices in the name of Worthington J. Fowl Fellow ("Honest" John) speaks with the voice of Walser Catlett in those persuasive, honeyed tones which belonged to the villains of melodrama days. Dickie Jones provides the voice of Pinocchio and Cliff Edwards (remembered as Ukulele Ike in "Westerns") is the voice of the impish Jimmy Cricket. Christian Rub modelled for Gepetto and Evelyn Venables supplies the voice of the Blue Fairy. Catlett, Rub, and Dickie Jones also did the live actions which helped the artists and the animators in their task. As well •as these characters there is the Cat, which acts as stooge to the Fox; a golfish named Cleo, a kitten called Figaro and a Monstrous Whale. These fuil-length cartoons take a year or more to produce, but it is hoped that with "Bambi" already under way and a new studio building at Burbank, Disney will in future be able to release the films at shorter intervals. CONSTANCE ROBERTSON.