When the legendary Studio Theatre opened its doors at 7 p.m. on this day in 1940 at the Disney Studio Lot, guests enjoyed a special lineup of films, which included an RKO Pathé Newsreel, MGM’s Mad Maestro cartoon, an episode of the RKO short-movie series Information Please and a double feature of Shirley Temple in The Blue Bird and Sabu in Rudyard Kipling’s Elephant Boy. During that historic year, Walt screened Fantasia in the Studio Theatre and also mixed the sound for the film there. Over the years, the Studio Theatre was increasingly used for sound mixing and dubbing, but, as many D23 Members know, the legendary movie house reopened in 2009 as a completely refurbished, state-of-the-art theater. The Princess and the Frog enjoyed a sold-out limited run at the theater in late 2009 and was home to D23’s Member-exclusive “50 and Fabulous” screening series.
