This was a very cool offering on TCM the other night, the very first episode of Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Color". Although I was around when this show aired on September 24th, 1961 (I would have been ten years old), I wasn't tuned in for two reasons. First, my family didn't have a color TV yet, that would still be a couple of years off; and second, my Mom and Dad were more prone to tune into "Lassie" or "Bonanza" on opposing networks. I just checked the IMDb listings to see if I remembered which show it was we watched that night, and I'll go with the Lassie episode, it sounds more familiar than the Bonanza story.
Watching today, the Disney show almost appears to be a shameless plug for TV viewers to run right out and buy a color TV. It was sponsored by RCA (Radio Corporation of America), maker of TV's, radios and other electronic devices, and their name pops up prominently during the show. I don't mean this to sound negative or defamatory, it's just the way it comes across today from the perspective of half a century. Walt Disney himself appeared heralding the transition from black and white to color television, and I'm sure he was effective in convincing many families to make the switch.
Disney also introduces a new cartoon character developed for this show - Professor Ludwig Von Drake. The good professor walks us through some neat kaleidoscopic color footage before displaying an array of landscape scenes and colorful birds, and the images were quite striking, although watching today it's impossible to say how vibrant this all was back in 1961. I imagine it was pretty cool.
There was a second part to the show featuring Donald Duck in 'Mathmagic Land', and I have to say, I wish I had seen this when I was a lot younger because the concepts and ideas explored are quite fascinating. The show takes one all the way back to the Greek Pythagoras, described by Disney as the master egghead of all time. As the 'father of mathematics and music', the concepts he developed were eventually put to use by Renaissance painters and scientists of all stripes. You never think about it, but the basis of designs found throughout nature are in large part consistent with the shape of the pentagram and 'golden rectangle'. Even the science of billiards is explored in a fun way using angles dependent on mathematical formulas. The show ends by offering it's conclusion that "No matter how you slice it, it's always mathematics". I'd say for once, Donald Duck was onto something.
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