So here we stray OT yet again. Monday night was a special night with Theodore Gluck. He is in charge of restoration and preservation of Disney films. I knew that this was a big task, but didnt even begin to understand the scope of what was involved until we touched the surface on the problems the other night. Of course they wait until you are full and liquored up to start telling the good stuff, so well see how much that I remember and can relate, but at least I have the food and it can speak for itself!
So of course we have the wonderful place setting as always.
And we always have an exquisite menu planned for us.
This was our gift for the evening, of course everyone got the same thing, so now we have two copies.
Our first course was Gepettos Wish Upon a Star Fruit Salad, Burning Wood Sabayon, Pleasure Island Vinaigrette. I had to be very careful about how much I ate, feeling sick and all, my appetite wasnt up to par. This had an interesting smoky taste to it, and the star fruit was a little bitter. Fran loved it and finished what I couldnt eat of mine. This was served with a Silverado Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley 2009. It was really good. Fran gave me hers and I sipped it for quite a while.
Next up was The Bare Necessities Stinging Nettle soup, King Louies Fried Plantain. This was interesting. You could taste the Plantain in the soup, and it was green. There were some people in the dining room evidently who wouldnt eat it because of the color. Personally, I had enjoyed Marcels stinging nettle soup at the dinner where they revealed the Princess Aurora Castle Walk through and it was very good then. This was a little different, but still tasty, and the flowers were a neat addition, but they were a little bitter. This was accompanied with a Sanford Pinot Noir, Flor del Campo Santa Barbara, 2010. This matched the soups absolutely perfectly because even though I like the Sauv Blanc from the first course, I tried a sip with the soup and it just didnt pair well at all. The Pinot Noir on the other hand was just perfect!
The main course was Princess Auroras Spinning Wheel of Beef, Briar Rose Petal Demi, Maleficent Mushroom. This was paired with a Simi landslide Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley 2006. Now this beef was very tasty, and we decided that it was filled with spinach. You really could taste the Rose Petals in the Demi and the mushrooms we quite good and evil all at the same time!
Now heres where it got a little bit hinky. This course was Bella Notte White Chocolate Spaghetti with Red Velvet Meatballs. Have you ever eaten one of those courses where things look like one thing but totally taste like another? I should have taken a picture of the little meatballs once they were split open, they were a combination of cake and chocolate inside. The pasta had a mouth feel like pasta and I couldnt tell if it was really pasta or white chocolate with gelatin, but it was really good and was served with a Pasorina Moscato, Muscat Canelli, Paso Robles 2008.
Now the dessert course was paired with the same Moscato and our server swore that we would get more, but we didnt.
I had to make it last until the next dessert. Luckily he had poured me a little extra of the Cabernet to help tide me over. Most people were drinking coffee, but I have a bad track record with coffee after a dinner full of wine. Also at this time the Presentation began.
So let me try and remember this
OK so youve all heard of Technicolor. Well evidently to film in Technicolor the camera shot three different rolls of film, one in blue, one in red and one in green (why not yellow? Not sure). Evidently each of those films due to its color makeup, had a different deterioration rate, so the blue one may have shrank at a different rate than the red one as the green one. To get the correct color composite all three films must sync up and therein lies the problem. Due to deterioration rates, the films could no longer sync, so major restoration was required to bring back those films recorded in Technicolor or Technorama.
Technicolor was used into the mid 1950s, after that, Im not sure what was used for color filming after the 50s but that type of film had its own issues as well. About this time they brought our final desserts. Now Im not sure if we were supposed to wait for something, because most everyone had finished their food when the guy told us to remove the apple to find a surprise (much later in the presentation). This was Snow Whites Sugared Apple Tart Tatin, Dwarf Sized Iced Cream, Gooseberry Reduction.
By the time that he told us to remove the apple most people not only had eaten what was underneath it, but discovered that the apple was pure sugar and pretty darned tasty itself!
Now there was other problems with the Celluloid film used in the early days. It was highly combustible and Warner Bros. lost an entire vault to fires. Disney had some mishaps, but for the most part did not have any loss of celluloid film to combustion. However another problem that films had was that the nitrates deteriorate.
Im a little fuzzy about the things that they said, but I do remember that this was a before and after shot of the Jungle Book. The right hand side of Mogli is the restored frame and the side with Baloo is the original.
This gives a very small idea of the things required to remaster the movies for rerelease. Not only do they have to clean up the screen/film shots, but sound recording processes have improved so much since these films were made, they must remove the background noise and enhance the sound production.
This slide shows the damage to the nitrate film on the Steamboat Willie, notice that only about 1/8 of the film still has any imprint on it.
Heres another example of Nitrate damage on Mickeys Gala Premiere
And more examples of damage
Next they talked about refurbishing Sleeping Beauty
I dont know what this slide was supposed to be showing, but it might have something to do about the colors not aligning up with each other.
I think this was supposed to show the three different Technicolor film types and how they have different types of deterioration.
This is an example of some of the film strips from Snow White, the one on the left is before, the one on the right has been cleaned up.
This chart illustrates the transformation of the Snow White films. Evidently they were remastered in 1992 and again in 2001.
This last slide shows how prominently yellow was used in some of the promos. Yellow was a particularly difficult color for fading.
And with that we all packed up and went home.
For a few days there I couldn't figure out why I was SO hungry and it was not time for lunch or dinner. So I would go get a apple or something. 
I had to laugh at your post. We fly SouthWest to Orlando. 
