Walt Disney's animated feature film Fun and Fancy Free opened in September 1947. It was an unusual kind of "package feature," combining two featurette-length stories, Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk, in a single motion picture. The two stories were elaborately mounted within a third framing story featuring Jiminy Cricket, and the whole package was further enhanced by the talents of two popular performers: Edgar Bergen and Dinah Shore. Moviegoers who enjoyed this diverting feature were unaware that its various components had been in development for the better part of a decade. Now, for the first time, this Monograph chronicles the full, fascinating history of the making of Fun and Fancy Free. Richly illustrated with over 125 sketches, paintings, and photos, many never previously published, here is the hidden story behind a delightful and underappreciated Disney gem.

Warning: Condoms were tested and a few harmed during the writing of this story. It's not every day a girl inherits a condom company, and to say accountant Alice Beasley is astonished and out of her depth is putting it mildly. For an almost virgin, she needs a quick education in all things condom because her inheritance is in danger. Someone is intent on sabotage and trying to destroy her new company. Alice is suddenly getting down and dirty with charismatic James, the factory manager, all in the name of business, testing new condom designs. The sex is hot. Mind-blowing. It's a dark thrill and an erotic journey. Yeah, it's a hard job, but a girl's got to do what a girl's gotta do. Alice wants James. She craves his talented touch and sultry kisses, she desires passion and physical pleasure on a permanent basis but first she must convince bad-boy James to give up his fancy-free ways.

Leonard Bernstein and choreographer Jerome Robbins stand as giants of the musical-theatre world, but it was ballet that launched their stage careers and established their relationship. With Fancy Free (1944), their triumphant debut collaboration produced by Ballet Theatre, Bernstein, Robbins, and set designer Oliver Smith-all in their mid-twenties- captured the spirit of wartime New York, created a defining ballet of the period still widely performed today, and became overnight sensations. The hit musical On the Town (1944) and a now largely forgotten ballet, Facsimile (1946), followed over the next two years. Drawing extensively on previously unpublished archival documents, Bernstein and Robbins: The Early Ballets provides a richly detailed and original historical account of the creation, premiere, and reception of Fancy Free and Facsimile. It reveals the vital and sometimes conflicting role of Ballet Theatre, explores how Bernstein composed the scores, sheds light on the central importance of Oliver Smith, and considers the legacy of these works for all involved. The result is a new understanding of Bernstein, Robbins, and this formative period in their lives.

Nancy and her partner for the talent show are very different. They don't have any of the same talents. How will they ever come up with an act?