with entertainment industry reporter Philip K. Scheuer, Hall explained, “There is a ready-made audience of 10 million for definitely metaphysical themes in the United States ... It is the richest untouched field of entertainment that remains to be exploited, for nearly every human being has an experience he cannot explain, yet cannot forget! And in such times as these, we turn eagerly toward that which may provide a clue, a key, to the Answer.” [75]
In an essay during this period, Hall wrote, “With such problems as reincarnation, karma, evolution, the super physical perceptions in man, the motion picture studio could make the world familiar with these subjects in a way no book, college professor, or anyone else could possibly do. Presenting them in the form of entertainment is one of the most powerful methods of converting the public mind, because after all, what you see in the pictures is so real, you never question it.” [76]
He was not the only person who felt that way. Fantasies and mythical horror stories swept through movie studios after Walt Disney’s full-length cartoon fairy tale Snow White broke box-office records in 1938. In the works were The Wizard of Oz, a full-length motion picture based on the 1900 children’s novel by practicing Theosophist L. Frank Baum, and Disney’s Fantasia, which would feature a segment starring Mickey Mouse as a hapless sorcerer’s apprentice. [77]
According to Hall, famous musical composer Leopold Stokowski, who had been retained by Disney to help develop a score and images for Fantasia, showed up at his home one day seeking advice on how various scenes should be filmed. “There are vague incidents in the film as I suggested them to Stokowski,” Hall recalled in an essay decades later. He did not elaborate. [78]
Warner Brothers tapped Hall for story ideas and solid advice on myth and magic that could be developed into screenplays. Hall set right to work, pounding out a series of imaginative stories for the silver screen and dispatching them to Bergerman’s office on Sunset Boulevard. One of them celebrated the life of the 18th-century mystic adventurer Compte de Saint Germain. Others included an untitled outline for a mystery that involves a murderer who develops a paralyzed arm after fatally shooting a woman with a similar malady and stealing her jewels.
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