While yesterday marked the anniversary of the release of Sleeping Beauty which showcased Tchaikovsky’s musical themes, today marks the anniversary of The Peter Tchaikovsky Story, an episode of the TV series Walt Disney Presents. Background information gathered during the making of Sleeping Beauty served as inspiration for this production which dramatizes the life of the composer of the Sleeping Beauty ballet. With a show focused so greatly on beautiful music, Disney woke up the senses of TV audiences by having this be the first television show ever presented in a stereo simulcast. Walt also presented clips from his latest film in widescreen, allowing viewers to see the entire picture instead of cropping the left and right side to fit on a full TV screen. One reporter loved listening to the movie in stereo, but just didn’t understand the widescreen, writing, “An attempt to bring widescreen to the television was a little absurd. You can’t make a 21 inch screen any wider. What the Disney people did was cut off the top and bottom of the picture as they showed bits of the Disney picture Sleeping Beauty. I guess we’re never going to get Cinemascope on television until they invent a new kind of picture tube.” Today, of course, full surround sound audio and widescreen movies on large screen televisions are commonplace, and it began with something Walt Disney envisioned once upon a dream.
