On the following pages the noted animator, PRESTON BLAIR, gives us an unprecedented look at the animation drawings he did of Mickey Mouse as "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’’ in Walt Disney’s ‘Fantasia’. Following also are his comments on live-action research for animation, and he shares with our readers some of the other things he’s learned during a long and distinguished career in animation.
In a short span of twelve years Walt Disney (and his studio) advanced from Mickey in the cartoon “Steamboat Willie” — which is primitive by today’s standards — to Mickey in “Fantasia” as “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”. With the other great Disney classics of that golden era, the film practically came out of nowhere.
Writers claim that “after forty years (now), the animation of “Fantasia” remains unsurpassed. The film looms now as a masterpiece with a cult following ever enlarging all over the world. They say watching “Fantasia” is an awakening, an emotional experience on an unknown higher plateau of consciousness." It is claimed “Fantasia” is psychodelic, a soul trip to another dimension a high point in the art of animated film...”
