November 13, 1940: Walt Disney premieres his most epic animated film, Fantasia. It consists of 8 animated segments set to pieces of classical music, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, 7 of which are performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic and composer Deems Taylor acts as the film's Master of Ceremonies, introducing 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 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 (Radio Corporation of America, owners of NBC) that made Fantasia the first commercial film shown in stereo, and a precursor to what became known as surround sound.
Fantasia was acclaimed by critics, but failed to make a profit, due to World War II having cut off distribution to the European market, the film's high production costs, and the expense of building Fantasound equipment and leasing theatres for the roadshow presentations. Since 1942, the film has been reissued multiple times, with its original footage and audio being deleted, modified, or restored in each version.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice segment helped to cement Mickey as the world's favorite cartoon character. Bugs Bunny had debuted 2 years earlier, and had his 1st starring role in A Wild Hare 4 months before Fantasia.
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November 13, 1940 was a Wednesday. Baseball season was over. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NHL season was underway, but there were no games scheduled. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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