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Hey there, hi, they're ho there, and welcome to episode 351 of connecting with Walt, celebrating our 10thennial year.

I am your host and is historian Michael Bowling, and I am joined by my co-host, producer, and good friend Tom Bell.

Tom, how are you today?

Hey, Michael, I am doing well.

Happy, happy second, second show of the new year.

That's right. That's right. So we are well on our way into the new year. We survived the second week.

Walt Disney once said, I don't make pictures just to make money. I make money to make more pictures.

And perhaps no film better embodies that philosophy than Fantasia, a work born not of commercial

calculation, but of curiosity, courage, and an almost boundless belief in what art could become.

Today, we're diving deep into one of Walt Disney's boldest and most misunderstood achievements.

Released in 1940, Fantasia challenged audiences,

redefined animation, and risked everything the studio had built, financially,

creatively, and technologically. At the time, it was seen by many as a failure. Today, it's

widely regarded as a masterpiece. My guest is Disney historian and author J.B. Kaufman,

whose newest book Worlds to Conquer the Art and Making of Walt Disney's Fantasia,

offers the most comprehensive and visually stunning examination of the film ever produced.

Through extraordinary artwork, meticulous research, and thoughtful insight, J.B. invites us inside the creative process, not just of a film, but of a moment when Walt Disney was reaching beyond storytelling and towards something closer to pure art.

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