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Walt Disney's Fantasia, the classic 1940 James Algar & Samuel Armstrong Walt Disney animated animation cartoon musical fantasy ("Walt Disney's Technicolor Feature Triumph") featuring Mickey Mouse and other cartoon characters created specifically for this feature movie, set to the music of classical composers including Leopold Stokowski, and Beethoven. Note that Fantasia had a very limited roadshow release which took place in several theaters with special audio equipment installed for the "Fantasound" system. This release started in late 1940 and continued into 1941, and these theaters often used home-made displays for the film. Throughout 1941, RKO negotiated with Disney to make a much shorter version of the movie in mono which could be shown in theaters without the need for special equipment. Disney finally agreed, and let RKO create a heavily edited version (he refused to edit it himself) which was released in early January of 1942. Regular posters were printed with a 1941 NSS number (it's not uncommon for films that are released near the start of a year to have a NSS from the previous year), and that is when the film had its first general release. So almost ALL of the known "first release" posters are from the 1942 continuous first release (with 1941 NSS numbers). The only pre-1942 advertising that we have seen are window cards, 8x10 stills and heralds from the theaters with the special "Fantasound" equipment.
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Important Added Info: Note that, in a separate auction, we are auctioning a 1942 pressbook from Fantasia, and as we note on that auction, Fantasia was still in continuous first release in 1942 (read what is on that auction for much more about this)! Based on that, and based on the fact that there is a poster for "The Powers Girl" (which opened in January of 1943), we know that this great still is from late 1942 or January 1943 (and the fact that there is a Fantasia half-sheet on the wall behind them further reinforces the possibility that the Fantasia posters that have always thought to be from 1940 may actually be from the 1942 continuous release)! What is really great is that the executives are holding art from Bambi. If anyone knows who any of these four men are, please e-mail us and we will post it here. Also note that this special auction contains many great animation stills. We guarantee that all of them are original to the year we say they are from. But it is a nice plus that a lot of them are "key book" stills (see below), which further guarantees their originality (and, as noted below, they are far more rare than non-key book stills from the same movie)! Note that this item is in eMoviePoster.com's special "all animation" auction! The idea for this auction began when we were consigned a remarkable collection of original 1940s Walt Disney pressbooks, mini lobby cards, and standees (and almost all of those are extremely rare ones that are hardly ever auctioned, and they almost all are in really nice condition). Once we knew we had those items, we contacted all our past consignors, and asked them to consign to this very special auction, and they REALLY came through, consigning a wonderful assortment of cartoon movie paper of all sorts. Buying from this special auction gives you an incredibly rare opportunity to obtain some of the finest cartoon animation movie paper we have ever seen, and all of them will have new owners when these auctions close, because all start at $1 with no reserve. Many of these items will likely not be auctioned again for many years to come! Also note that this still is a key book still, mounted to a linen backing. Many studios spent extra money to have their most special photos, the key book stills, either backed with linen or printed on a heavy paper, both of which enhanced their durability. They had an extra 1" at the left or top, with punch holes, because of how they were stored. Key book stills are far more rare than regular stills, which has increased their popularity among collectors, since only a few keybooks were manufactured per film, and a key book still is guaranteed to be authentic.

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