Oct 13, 2006 3 min read

FLATWOODS – Flatwoods productions will begin its fall season with “The Musical World of Walt Disney” as arranged by Mac Huff. Performance dates are Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 21-22. All shows will be presented at the Curfew Grange, located at the corner of Route 201 south and Buena Vista Road (across from the cemetery) in Flatwoods.

Curtain times are 8 p.m. Saturday with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday.

For reservations, call 724- 785-6896. Tickets are also available at the door for all performances.

The Flatwoods Fire Department will sponsor a buckwheat and sausage supper from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21. Anyone wishing to help support a great cause can stop by earlier for a great supper.

“The Musical World of Walt Disney” features music from Disney films from 1923 until the present.

Walt Disney was the surrogate father of the “baby boomer” generation as stated by Steven Spielberg in 1986.

He was a man of indisputable wisdom and vision.

He also possessed a remarkable ear for selecting music – both as to how it would work in his films and as to the types of songs that would invariably appeal to the American public at large.

Can you think of a single animated Disney feature that doesn’t immediately associate itself with a song, nor can you think of a Disney song that doesn’t inspire instant recognition of the Disney film from which it originated?

Beyond the technical problems of integrating music and film that Disney and his staff wrestled with and solved, his greatest achievement was elevating music beyond its earlier role of mere accompaniment to the screen action.

The perfection of the synchronization of music and movement, particularly in the cartoons of the thirties, serves as a symbol of the era of American craftsmanship.

Above all, Disney emphasized a sort of wistful optimism in his films, which contributed to the American perception of Disney films as the place where dreams and their fulfillment were within the reach of all dreamers.

The word “dream” in relation to Walt Disney has probably been overused, but it illustrates that Disney was virtually aware that by appealing to people’s strong desire to wish and dream, he would always have a central connection where it counted most – in their hearts.

The “baby boomers” did not necessarily grow up whistling the magnificent themes of Rodgers and Hammerstein or Ira and George Gershwin.

But they had the music and lyrics memorized from “Give a little Whistle,” “Zip A Dee Doo Dah,” “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo,” “When You Wish Upon a Star” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and other musical numbers.

And although Ned Washington, Leigh Harline, Ray Gilbert, Allie Wrubel, Mack David, Al Hofman, Jerry Livingston, Richard Sherman, and Robert Sherman were not generally thought of as household names, their music touched people’s hearts.