They don't make animated films like these anymore, the classic Disney films are absolute masterpieces, and they will live on and never date, remember, a classic never dies
"Peter And The Wolf" is still one of my all-time favorite Disney classics,even though The Wolf's Theme still makes me nervous;especially when he finally appears! Walt Disney was a true genius and the Disney classics like Sleeping Beauty,The Jungle Book and of course Peter And The Wolf will live on forever!
This guys not only talented but that's also music to my ears now! The moment he plays the bird part gets my head bouncing! I wish it would've been heard really fast in the film!
It is Ingolf Dahl playing Prokofiev. He is one of the most brilliant musicians I have ever known, teacher of Michael Tilson Thomas, and assistant to Stravinsky. The resemblence is fascinating.
To set the record straight, Prokofiev met Disney on 28 February 1938. His English was good enough for a discussion on a projected animated film version of Peter and the Wolf. Prokofiev stayed in Hollywood longer than planned due to the unexpected interest shown in him. Not only was he a guest at the Academy Awards, Paramount approached him to write a film score. Alas, his timing was (again) terrible, having to forsake the bright lights of Hollywood to return to his family in Moscow. Thereafter, he wasn't permitted to travel abroad again.
This is actually from a 1957 Disney television program where they "recreate" when Disney met Prokofiev in 1938. This would explain why they have the names of the Disney characters that are not found in other recordings of PATW and the video is in color and seems rather staged for the time. According to wikipedia, Prokofiev visited Disney in LA and played a piano version (as noted here) for inclusion in the original Fantasia, released in 1940. Due to the war, the production was delayed and added to the animation Make MIne Music in 1946.
Actually Prokofiev lived in the States for a few years after leaving Rusia in 1917 and spoke quite fluent English - I've heard a recording of an interview he gave in English.
Prokofiev visited Disney some time before the release of Make Mine Music in 1946. This was clearly filmed in the mid-1950s or later. Walt is visibly the same age, and they were unlikely to have filmed and edited a meeting between the two if they weren't planning on including it in the movie. if it wasn't intended for release, but for posterity, they wouldn't have used the difficult and expensive color film. The lookalike is very good, though.
Prokofiev did, in fact, travel to the US in 1938 and did visit the Walt Disney Studios and other movie studios. The fellow portraying him in this video is an actor/musician who bears a very remote resemblance to the composer. Prokofiev was offered $2,500 per week, a colossal sum at the time, to write film scores in Hollywood. The offer was made by Vernon Duke's agent. Prokofiev turned it down, preferring the inspiration he got living in Russia.
Remebering this since I was a child. I now have great grands, however, at least once a year I need to revisit this story for some reason. I used to go downtown to hear the actual recording. Now I settle to connect to the story. Once heard on PBS the whole orchestration equivalent of this obsessional story.
I wish I could say because I met Prokofiev and that's how I know, but that wouldn't be true. My reasons are, 1) in the intro here Walt refers to "the late Prokofiev" meaning he had already died, but 2) Walt appears the same age in the intro and in the recreated meeting. 3) According to biographers, Prokofiev had lived in the U.S. and spoke some English. 4) This guy keeps his face toward the piano, but lots of photos and some video of the real Prokofiev exist. When you compare, what do you think?
I searched on the internet and confirmed that this was a recreation with an actor playing the composer. I'm betting the soundtrack isn't played by Prokofiev either. A thousand pities.
Ingolf also wore wire-rimmed spectacles. He was a fine pianist, as you can hear (that is, he is not acting as if playing the piano). He taught at USC, and was a prolific composer. Many of his works are still in the repertory.
This 1956 recreation of Disney's 1938 meeting with Prokofiev is cool, but google the story of how Natalya Sats came up with the idea in 1936 and got the composer interested. Had Disney's cartoon version been made pre-war, it undoubtedly would have been better than what was released in 1946. The 1995 Chuck Jones TV special is very good, and this is the version I show my elementary school students...
Composer Sergei Prokofiev, while touring the West in 1938, visited Los Angeles and met the real-life Walt Disney. Prokofiev performed the piano version of “Peter and the Wolf” for "le papa de Mickey Mouse", as Sergei described him in a letter to his sons. Walt was impressed, and considered adding an animated version of “Peter and the Wolf” to “Fantasia”, which was to be released in 1940. Due to the war, these plans fell through, and it was not until 1946 that Disney released his own version of “Peter and the Wolf”. It is unknown if Prokofiev, by that point behind the Iron Curtain, was aware of this.
This is fabulous! Are you sure that isn't Prokofiev himself? That is a *great* pianist! The way he played the music, it seemed to me that this was the composer himself. Does someone know for sure? Di
@M3town3 - Unfortunately it's not really Sergej Prokofiev, just a pianist they hired. Looks a lot like Prokofiev though. You can see video of the real Sergej here... watch?v=BVgwaFUfBu8 Or search for it using "Prokofiev plays and talks about his music" uploaded by bramley88.
When this episode (Where Do the Stories Come From?) was released on Walt Disney Treasures: Your Host, Walt Disney, it was in black & white. It's a really pity that Disney often neglects to seek out colour elements of their programs. It makes seeing clips like this all the more enchanting :)
Every time I Hear "Peter and the Wolf"'s signature tune"Perer's theme now, I think of Eric "Otter" Stratton from "National Lampoon's Animal House" since that was the tune He always whistled!
This, of course, is not Prokofiev but an actor/musician. Prokofiev could speak and write English quite well. I can't fathom why Walt Disney suggested otherwise.
My source for this info is to be found in numerous biographies. It is also mentioned in the notes of several recordings. You can search it on Google and verify it. Type in "Prokofiev Hollywood Studios".
Now the question is: did Disney had to change his view on Prokofiev during the Red Scare after WWII? Or did he kept his friendship with the Soviet composer even with all this political and ideological turmoil?
Disney was nothing but a "tall tales" storyteller, and if he felt a story wasn't dramatic enough, he'd add a bit of apocrypha to it. After all, Prokofiev's libretto says nothing about Peter's ambition to hunt the wolf from the outset of the story. The original said just that he isn't afraid of wolves in case one happened to come along. But that wasn't good enough for old Walt. Same with Sergei allegedly speaking "little" English, after having lived in the US for several years. Check Wikipedia.
That was definitely NOT Prokofiev. There is very little resemblance between the actor/musician who played him in the film and Prokofiev himself. Both were bald and that's about the only physical characteristic the two shared.
An interesting story but very unlikely. Walt Disney said that he met Prokofiev during the production of Fantasia and Pinocchio. This was between 1937 and 1940. Prokofiev returned to the Soviet Union in 1936 and, as far as I know, he never went abroad again. Also, Walt is right when he says that "Mr. Prokofiev spoke very little English". Prokofiev spent only two years in the United States so his knowledge of English was very limited.
BTW, do you really think the composer had need for sheet music to demonstrate his themes (if indeed he ever did so in the first place?) That's a device for the uninformed. I wouldn't call Disney a racist, however, but I would call him condescending... toward his viewers!! I'm not sure Prokofiev was even in the US in 1938, but I often wonder what the composer thought of Disney's P&tW, since his cartoon version strayed so far from the original "simple, charming story of Peter".
the coment i post back is for the poeple ho canot apreciat the good things in he life like music and walt and really walt is a goo eample of U.S.A. and his people so for all the poeple aout ther ho think this is a lie dont come back plz your yust a lonley person ho thik lifeis not good come back wen u tink all is posible
Because all that old Disney "behind the scenes" stuff was fake. Anything you see today that is "behind the scenes"... whether it be about one of the parks, some TV show, Dancing with the Stars little rehearsal bits where they go to some salsa club for inspiration (or what-have-you)... it's all completely staged.
I read many stories that Walt Disney intentionally loves music and he says that music is one of the main ingredients to his films and films we get today. In an interview with Richard M. Sherman, the composer along side his brother the late Robert B. Sherman, who gave us Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, and the Jungle Book, said that whenever Walt hears a song he says “That’ll work” which means if it works, it works for the film and not markedly. Walt isn’t bored, he listens like a professional movie entrepreneur. If you know what I mean.
This kind of stuff was OK when I was a kid, but I can't stand this staged Disney crap. Are we supposed to believe that Prokofiev came to LA sometime in 1938... two years after returning to the Soviet Union PERMANENTLY... or did Walt make a trip to USSR so that Prok could pitch his little story? That outfit they put Walt in for this "re-creation" looks very much like the one he wore in the photo used on the book WD: An American Original. I doubt Prok even knew of the changes made to his story.
What a load of shit! That guy puts the music down in front of “Prokofiev” (as if he would need it at all) but not until he’s halfway thru the first theme.
Sad that all you can say about Disney is "bigot." You stand alone in all the comments here to disparage Disney. You live in the world of "the glass half empty." The world of the small picture. The world of missing the good to criticize the imperfections. The world of missing life.
They don't make animated films like these anymore, the classic Disney films are absolute masterpieces, and they will live on and never date, remember, a classic never dies
Two masters, a master composer/musician and a master animator/ visionary, doesnt get any better than that!
Are you re-tarded?
the passion the storyteller puts in his explanations!
What a dreamy video. I can watch this over and over again! What a musical genius Prokofiev was!
"Peter And The Wolf" is still one of my all-time favorite Disney classics,even though The Wolf's Theme still makes me nervous;especially when he finally appears! Walt Disney was a true genius and the Disney classics like Sleeping Beauty,The Jungle Book and of course Peter And The Wolf will live on forever!
I'm so happy to have discovered this video. What a wonderful peace of artistic history. Just marvelous.
This is profoundly amazing to hear this pianist’s interpretation of the characters and to watch Walt Disney’s appreciation. Priceless.
First time I have ever seen this clip. Thanks for sharing Serge Prokofiev with Walt Disney. Prokofiev was sheer Genius.
I can watch this 1000 times in a row and never get tired of it!!! =)
This guys not only talented but that's also music to my ears now! The moment he plays the bird part gets my head bouncing! I wish it would've been heard really fast in the film!
I remember when I watched to this video (and the movie, naturally) on the TV in Brazil. Always very good to remember!
What a lucky man Disny was!
It is Ingolf Dahl playing Prokofiev. He is one of the most brilliant musicians I have ever known, teacher of Michael Tilson Thomas, and assistant to Stravinsky. The resemblence is fascinating.
You mean it wasn’t the real Sergei Prokofiev?
Get these on DVD . Walt Disney treasures. They're great!
To set the record straight, Prokofiev met Disney on 28 February 1938. His English was good enough for a discussion on a projected animated film version of Peter and the Wolf. Prokofiev stayed in Hollywood longer than planned due to the unexpected interest shown in him. Not only was he a guest at the Academy Awards, Paramount approached him to write a film score. Alas, his timing was (again) terrible, having to forsake the bright lights of Hollywood to return to his family in Moscow. Thereafter, he wasn't permitted to travel abroad again.
This is actually from a 1957 Disney television program where they "recreate" when Disney met Prokofiev in 1938. This would explain why they have the names of the Disney characters that are not found in other recordings of PATW and the video is in color and seems rather staged for the time. According to wikipedia, Prokofiev visited Disney in LA and played a piano version (as noted here) for inclusion in the original Fantasia, released in 1940. Due to the war, the production was delayed and added to the animation Make MIne Music in 1946.
By the way, Prokoffiev spoke English, years before he tried to live in USA.
But for a good story, Disney can ignore facts.
So Great!!!! Lessons in class this week!
the music is what i remember the most out of the older Disney films
Disney now is just a bunch of shareholders. I miss the old Disney.
Actually Prokofiev lived in the States for a few years after leaving Rusia in 1917 and spoke quite fluent English - I've heard a recording of an interview he gave in English.
terrific for reviewing this work with older elementary students
Prokofiev visited Disney some time before the release of Make Mine Music in 1946. This was clearly filmed in the mid-1950s or later. Walt is visibly the same age, and they were unlikely to have filmed and edited a meeting between the two if they weren't planning on including it in the movie. if it wasn't intended for release, but for posterity, they wouldn't have used the difficult and expensive color film. The lookalike is very good, though.
It is Ingolf Dahl with whom I studied. A brilliant musician, composer, pianist. He also wore wire rimmed glasses lik SP. (More above)
Prokofiev did, in fact, travel to the US in 1938 and did visit the Walt Disney Studios and other movie studios. The fellow portraying him in this video is an actor/musician who bears a very remote resemblance to the composer. Prokofiev was offered $2,500 per week, a colossal sum at the time, to write film scores in Hollywood. The offer was made by Vernon Duke's agent. Prokofiev turned it down, preferring the inspiration he got living in Russia.
Remebering this since I was a child. I now have great grands, however, at least once a year I need to revisit this story for some reason. I used to go downtown to hear the actual recording. Now I settle to connect to the story. Once heard on PBS the whole orchestration equivalent of this obsessional story.
I wish I could say because I met Prokofiev and that's how I know, but that wouldn't be true. My reasons are, 1) in the intro here Walt refers to "the late Prokofiev" meaning he had already died, but 2) Walt appears the same age in the intro and in the recreated meeting. 3) According to biographers, Prokofiev had lived in the U.S. and spoke some English. 4) This guy keeps his face toward the piano, but lots of photos and some video of the real Prokofiev exist. When you compare, what do you think?
I searched on the internet and confirmed that this was a recreation with an actor playing the composer. I'm betting the soundtrack isn't played by Prokofiev either. A thousand pities.
I like the little warm up line he did to test the piano
Must of been an honor of meeting an actor / musician portraying Mr. PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Ingolf also wore wire-rimmed spectacles. He was a fine pianist, as you can hear (that is, he is not acting as if playing the piano). He taught at USC, and was a prolific composer. Many of his works are still in the repertory.
Dang, can that guy play or what? That's amazing!
R.I.P Walt....at least we got Oswald the lucky rabbit back.
This 1956 recreation of Disney's 1938 meeting with Prokofiev is cool, but google the story of how Natalya Sats came up with the idea in 1936 and got the composer interested. Had Disney's cartoon version been made pre-war, it undoubtedly would have been better than what was released in 1946. The 1995 Chuck Jones TV special is very good, and this is the version I show my elementary school students...
Composer Sergei Prokofiev, while touring the West in 1938, visited Los Angeles and met the real-life Walt Disney. Prokofiev performed the piano version of “Peter and the Wolf” for "le papa de Mickey Mouse", as Sergei described him in a letter to his sons. Walt was impressed, and considered adding an animated version of “Peter and the Wolf” to “Fantasia”, which was to be released in 1940. Due to the war, these plans fell through, and it was not until 1946 that Disney released his own version of “Peter and the Wolf”. It is unknown if Prokofiev, by that point behind the Iron Curtain, was aware of this.
This is fabulous! Are you sure that isn't Prokofiev himself? That is a *great* pianist! The way he played the music, it seemed to me that this was the composer himself. Does someone know for sure?
Di
@M3town3 - Unfortunately it's not really Sergej Prokofiev, just a pianist they hired. Looks a lot like Prokofiev though. You can see video of the real Sergej here...
watch?v=BVgwaFUfBu8
Or search for it using "Prokofiev plays and talks about his music" uploaded by bramley88.
O brasileiro agradeçe ao Walt Disney por suas imaginações, elas quais se tornaram reais e nos moldou quando crianças! 🇧🇷💚💛
The other feature Walt mentions at the begining is Ben and Me.
I wish I could have met Walt Disney!
When this episode (Where Do the Stories Come From?) was released on Walt Disney Treasures: Your Host, Walt Disney, it was in black & white. It's a really pity that Disney often neglects to seek out colour elements of their programs. It makes seeing clips like this all the more enchanting :)
Everytime I hear the Wolf's theme, fear/anxiety grips me and I have to look behind my shoulder.
There needs to be a YTP of this.
and NO, thats NOT actually Sergei Prokofiev at the piano
Is that the real Prokofiev? Or is it just an actor?
Every time I Hear "Peter and the Wolf"'s signature tune"Perer's theme now, I think of Eric "Otter" Stratton from "National Lampoon's Animal House" since that was the tune He always whistled!
This, of course, is not Prokofiev but an actor/musician. Prokofiev could speak and write English quite well. I can't fathom why Walt Disney suggested otherwise.
This is soo cool
I MISS U WALT!
That's Walt Disney himself!
My source for this info is to be found in numerous biographies. It is also mentioned in the notes of several recordings. You can search it on Google and verify it. Type in "Prokofiev Hollywood Studios".
Love this
when was this originally recorded
when thit Walt Disney filmed this
Ingolf Dahl could play scores. He is playing the entire orchestral score on the piano.
Possible mistake. Dahl is playing Prokofiev's own piano reduction of Peter and the Wolf, now published by Schirmer.
What is your source for this information?
Actually,he composed it first and then wanted Walt to make a cartoon to the music.
Now the question is: did Disney had to change his view on Prokofiev during the Red Scare after WWII? Or did he kept his friendship with the Soviet composer even with all this political and ideological turmoil?
Genius meeting
@ktizzler1973 Magnificent!
*and this is my homework, nice*
Disney was nothing but a "tall tales" storyteller, and if he felt a story wasn't dramatic enough, he'd add a bit of apocrypha to it. After all, Prokofiev's libretto says nothing about Peter's ambition to hunt the wolf from the outset of the story. The original said just that he isn't afraid of wolves in case one happened to come along. But that wasn't good enough for old Walt. Same with Sergei allegedly speaking "little" English, after having lived in the US for several years. Check Wikipedia.
That gentleman might-or might not be Jonathan Farwell who would years later be George Rawlins in YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.
My Answer for the famous Question: "Wich Person of the past would you like to meet?" Is definitly Walter Disney!
That was definitely NOT Prokofiev. There is very little resemblance between the actor/musician who played him in the film and Prokofiev himself. Both were bald and that's about the only physical characteristic the two shared.
He still is.
Is this man Prokofiev?
31 July 2015
He's the pianist Ingolf Dahl, who resembled Prokokiev (a bit)
An interesting story but very unlikely. Walt Disney said that he met Prokofiev during the production of Fantasia and Pinocchio. This was between 1937 and 1940. Prokofiev returned to the Soviet Union in 1936 and, as far as I know, he never went abroad again.
Also, Walt is right when he says that "Mr. Prokofiev spoke very little English". Prokofiev spent only two years in the United States so his knowledge of English was very limited.
My Dad played the tape for me - when I was a kid!
How do you know this isn't the real prokofeiv?
By the time the special was filmed, he was already dead. He even said it was “the late Sergei Prokofiev,” so that might give everyone a clue.
that isn't really Prokofiev thou, its just an actor
BTW, do you really think the composer had need for sheet music to demonstrate his themes (if indeed he ever did so in the first place?) That's a device for the uninformed. I wouldn't call Disney a racist, however, but I would call him condescending... toward his viewers!!
I'm not sure Prokofiev was even in the US in 1938, but I often wonder what the composer thought of Disney's P&tW, since his cartoon version strayed so far from the original "simple, charming story of Peter".
the coment i post back is for the poeple ho canot apreciat the good things in he life like music and walt and really walt is a goo eample of U.S.A. and his people so for all the poeple aout ther ho think this is a lie dont come back plz your yust a lonley person ho thik lifeis not good come back wen u tink all is posible
Because all that old Disney "behind the scenes" stuff was fake. Anything you see today that is "behind the scenes"... whether it be about one of the parks, some TV show, Dancing with the Stars little rehearsal bits where they go to some salsa club for inspiration (or what-have-you)... it's all completely staged.
I thought Prokofiev spoke fluent English...
🦊🚬
Walt looks bored as heck.
I read many stories that Walt Disney intentionally loves music and he says that music is one of the main ingredients to his films and films we get today. In an interview with Richard M. Sherman, the composer along side his brother the late Robert B. Sherman, who gave us Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, and the Jungle Book, said that whenever Walt hears a song he says “That’ll work” which means if it works, it works for the film and not markedly. Walt isn’t bored, he listens like a professional movie entrepreneur. If you know what I mean.
This kind of stuff was OK when I was a kid, but I can't stand this staged Disney crap. Are we supposed to believe that Prokofiev came to LA sometime in 1938... two years after returning to the Soviet Union PERMANENTLY... or did Walt make a trip to USSR so that Prok could pitch his little story? That outfit they put Walt in for this "re-creation" looks very much like the one he wore in the photo used on the book WD: An American Original. I doubt Prok even knew of the changes made to his story.
What a load of shit! That guy puts the music down in front of “Prokofiev” (as if he would need it at all) but not until he’s halfway thru the first theme.
MattFinnish 😝
its not really prokofiev, just an imitator :(
an actor portraying the experience for a Disney television special in 1957.
That cat is rather fat!
Sad that you had to show yourself as a bigot at the end.
Sad that all you can say about Disney is "bigot." You stand alone in all the comments here to disparage Disney. You live in the world of "the glass half empty." The world of the small picture. The world of missing the good to criticize the imperfections. The world of missing life.