August at The Walt Disney Family Museum features Walt Disney’s classic Fantasia (1940), a musical masterpiece that features the talent of renowned conductor Leopold Stokowski, and led to the development of stereophonic surround sound. As Fantasia is a feature film made up of eight animated segments, we've taken the film apart to focus on each segment individually. Today, we are thrilled to have the San Francisco Zoo give us a closer look at the graceful, real-life animals featured in "Dance of the Hours"!
Here is a little known fun fact about the “Dance of the Hours” segment in Disney’s Fantasia—the ostriches pirouetting in the opening of the piece are performing in drag! While their bows, long eyelashes, and ballet slippers suggest a feminine side, their black feathers give them away! Only male ostriches have black feathers, while females are colored a brownish-grey. Come and see a female ostrich for yourself at the San Francisco Zoo or better yet, sign up for one of our Early Bird Tours and have a close encounter with one! Another member of the cast from “Dance of the Hours” that you can see in person at the San Francisco Zoo is a Nile hippopotamus. While the Zoo’s hippo, “Brian Wilson,” doesn’t dance en pointe, he does perform many acrobatic rolls and leaps in his pool—all the better to splash you!
Fantasia screens daily through August at 11am, 1:30pm, and 4pm (except Tuesdays, and August 25 and 4pm showings on August 24). Further program information and tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.