This is the sort of educational program I was happy to check out. I’m glad that this and The Implausible Possible are both on Disney+. Hopefully starting tomorrow I’ll return to the world of feature films but shorts and TV episodes are working for me the past few days. Like w/ Implausible, this played on Walt Disney’s Disneyland, a 50’s ABC show which my late mother watched as a kid.
Walt explains to the audience the history of animation, from cavemen painting animals in motion to such 19th century devices as the Thaumatrope and the Zoopraxiscope, to the silent era, to the introduction of “the talkies.” Yes, this is brief compared to the extensive “Early History of Animation” article on Wiki, but it inspired me to look at that article and it was nice to see a Zoetrope and a Praxinoscope in action. Plus, the role of music was demonstrated; an inspired moment was when composer Oliver Wallace (an elderly man by this point who worked on Disney movies and cartoon shorts for many years) had makeup and a wig applied to him to make himself resemble his youthful self and play the organ live for a silent cartoon.
The last part is Walt explaining how they animated The Nutcracker Suite from Fantasia then presented that segment in almost complete form. The novelty is that the program-including that segment-is in black and white. If you think the Wiki articles about animation are a rabbit hole, wait until you read that platform’s articles concerning color television, which programs around the world broadcasted in color, and when color started to become popular by country.
Story might have been of more interest to me and my esoteric tastes than for many on Letterboxd. I'm OK w/ such a designation. Much knowledge was learned last night.
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