And speaking of Disney, December 18th marks Mickey Mouse’s birthday! He turns 87! (Yikes!!) Well, technically, it’s the anniversary of the release of the classic short film Steamboat Willie. 
I just learned this morning that the opening segment, Bach’s Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor, was actually cut from the first re-release of the film, but restored the next time it came out, and has remained ever since. I don’t know of any other segments that were ever cut or added.
They’ve changed other things, as noted. I think furryman has a confused understanding. As far as I know, the zebra centaurs were never cut (and they don’t appear to be “servant girls”, except in that they fan Bacchus – but other non-black centaurs do things for him, too). But there is a little “pickaninny” servant centauress with characteristic hair who polishes some centaur hooves. She was cut out by reframing shots. AFAIK, she’s never been restored to the released version. I’ve clips of her, but only in “bootleg” version and YouTube clips.
The thing that I find interesting is that the movie has been somewhat altered by taking the title card, which originally appearedd at the “Intermission” of the film, and moving it to the beginning. The first tim e I saw it that way was on the DVD release. Every time I saw it in the theater or on VHS, it oppenede with the title card.
I once saw it at Radio City Music Hall, on the big screen. Definitely a good way to see this film.
There’s no way a theater would agree to show a single film like that perpetually. It makes absolutely no economic sense.
But I do believe Disney’s intent was to re-release the film regularly, but with new segments swapped in and out, so older pieces would run alongside new ones, creating its own brand, so to speak. The financial failure of the film in its initial run put an end to that prospect, though.
I’m sure he didn’t mean that one theater would show nothing but Fantasia*, but that the film would be in continuous rotation, with segments being changed in and out.
And it’s not that dumb an idea. It was the 1940s, and sound movies were effectively only about a decade old. Who knew what would work and what wouldn’t?
*It’s not that stupid to play only one film in a theater, either. When Star Wars first came out, one of the three theaters at the Charles Street Cinema in Boston showed the film and nothing else for a solid year.
Across the river in Cambridge, MA, one of the theaters at the Central Square Cinema showed nothing but Phillippe de Broca’s The King of Hearts for FIVE years straight.
Well, obviously it didn’t work. But it was a reasonable thing to try.
Dr. Frank N. Furter would like to have a word with you…
San Diego had a theater that did the same thing! Astonishing! The movie really is that good!
Bad timing on my part. I’ll be visiting the good Mouse until the 10th.
The idea of a movie theater running the same film for years seems absurd. But Broadway plays can run for decades. “Phantom of the Opera” has been running since January 26, 1988 and “Chicago” since
November 14, 1996. Yes, they do business with out-of-towners who want to see a Broadway show while in New York. But you have film versions available.
Ah, for the days of 1940 when classical music was referred to as "longhair music"
I’d love it if Disney could do a third version.
If Disney had thought that if “Fantasia” would run in a theater for years, maybe they thought each major town would only have one or two theaters with a big screen and stereo equipment (a new concept) to play it adequately.
There WAS supposed to be a third, alternately titled Fantasia 2006 or Fantasia World, with a focus on world music. That didn’t pan out, but some of the shorts were completed:
The Little Match Girl, set to Borodin’s string quartet (aka And This Is My Beloved). It’s a special feature on the Little Mermaid DVD. Aside from relocating the story from Denmark to Russia (presumably to be a better fit to Borodin’s music), it changes nothing about the story–not even the ending.
One By One, set to a song by Lebo M which showed up in the Broadway version of The Lion King. Here, it depicts a story of African children in a poor village transcending their surroundings by making and flying beautiful kites.
Lorenzo (sorry, couldn’t find a link to a full version), set to tango music, about a cat who discovers his tail has its own personality.
Destino, a formerly unfinished collaboration between Salvador Dali and Walt Disney that took decades to be realized.