A chance meeting with
Walt Disney at Chasen's resulted in the two men
agreeing to have dinner together. Disney outlined his plans to do "The
Sorcerer's Apprentice" and other projects combining classical music
with animation. Disney was surprised when he responded with "I would
like to conduct that for you". To have the prominent conductor
volunteer for the project was an opportunity that Disney couldn't pass
up. The project expanded into a number of shorts that would be combined
into the "Concert Feature". While considering a number of better titles
for the project, it was Stokowski himself who suggested the musical
term "fantasia", which means "a musical composition without a strict
form" - a perfect title for a film with music and no plot.
