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Bette Middler: Hi. You may not know this, but over the years, the Disney artists have cooked up dozens of ideas for new Fantasia segments. Some of them made it to the big screen this time. But others, lots of others - how could I put this politely - didn't. For example, the Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen drew these sketches for a segment inspired by Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." Here they are, and there they go. Now, Salvador Dali, you know, the "limp watches" guy, he got into the act with an idea that featured baseball as a metaphor for life. How come that didn't work? Makes perfect sense to me. Let's see. Then we had a bug ballet and a baby ballet and for a time, they even considered a sequence inspired by the Polka and the Fugue from Weinberger's "Schwanda the Bagpiper." But finally, a success. The Disney artists wanted to create a short film based on Hans Christian Andersen's wonderful fairy tale The Steadfast Tin Soldier, but they could never find the perfect musical match until now. Here is Yefim Bronfman playing the Shostakovich "Piano Concerto Number 2" and The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
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Penn: [introducing "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"] Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to take a moment, if we may, to talk about a little something we like to refer to as magic.
Teller: [finger quotes]
Penn: Uh, picture this. You're at home, hosting a birthday party for your daughter, and you've just shelled out 50 bucks so some pathetic loser can pull a mangy rabbit out of a flea market hat. At first, you might wonder to yourself, "How did he do that?" But then *you* would probably just dismiss it as some sort of a trick. And you know something? You'd be right! It's just a trick! It's an example of what we laughingly refer to as "stage magic." We're here to tell you that all stage magic is a fraud, a hoax, a sham. It's all based on deception and, yep, *lyin'*! All of it. Sleight of hand...
Teller: [pulling out cards]
Penn: Lies! Transformations?
Teller: [pulls out an axe]
Penn: Fraud! Dismemberment?
Teller: [cuts a fake hand]
Penn: Rip-off! Fake! All are illusions. What we're here to talk about is real magic. We're gonna bring out a guy now who's the real deal, the genuine article. In fact, he taught us everything we know. And he is featured prominently in the next sequence from the original Fantasia, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Y-You know, come to think of it, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a - is, is a little guy who, uh - who never speaks and just kinda messes everything up...
Teller: [cuts Penn's hair]
Penn: [quietly] Like him. And now...
Teller: [interrupts Penn]
Penn: Wha - And now, the...
Teller: [pulls out a rabbit]
Penn: Oh. Hi. Hi, little fella. I gotta - I gotta - And now, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."
Ralph Grierson
Extended Reading
