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“When the great Russian composer Modeste Moussorgsky wrote ‘Night on Bald Mountain' he wasn't thinking in general terms," observed Walt Disney. “ He had a specific picture in mind and he intended his music to convey that same picture to the listener. What he actually wished to portray with his music was a Halloween night revel o f witches and goblins."

In animating the images inspired by this forceful music, Walt Disney's Fantasia features one o f the most startling characters in the history o f animation— the immense monster known as Chernabog. Such a monumental figure called for a towering talent, and to bring the demon at the dark heart of the “ Night on Bald Mountain" segment to frightening life, Walt Disney turned to master animator Vladimir “Bill" Tytla.

Bill had studied sculpture in Paris, and his drawings have a sculptural quality, with weight and three-dimensionality, and his animation possesses a power all its own. “The whole thing in animation, as in any of the arts, is the feeling and vitality you get into the work," observed Bill, and his philosophy was certainly reflected in the characters he so masterfully brought to the screen, including Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Stromboli in Pinocchio and the Giant in Brave Little Tailor. “Everything was ‘feelings' with Bill," observed legendary animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. “Whatever he animated had the inner feelings o f his characters expressed through very strong acting."

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