With Deanna Durbin in 100 Men and a Girl (1937). [Photo: Universal Pictures]

Stokowski made his film debut in 1936 in a variety show entitled The Big Broadcast of 1937, and soon after came 100 Men and a Girl where he played himself, irresistibly attractive and debonair, standing at six-feet with a slender figure and piercing blue eyes. Finally came Fantasia (1940), the Walt Disney classic which featured music by Beethoven, Tchaikowsky and had the famous scene where Mickey Mouse cheekily pulled on the maestro's tails. Disney had recognised Stokowski at a Los Angeles restaurant, and his proposed collaboration provided Stokowski with further fame and a place on the cover of Time for the second time in his life. Hollywood's intelligentsia disapproved and it is this, more than anything that was responsible for countless rumours, concerning not only his name, but also his alleged affair with screen star Greta Garbo. They were close friends and were even photographed together by paparazzi; the world loved it - the handsome (and now-divorced) Stokowski linked with one of Hollywood's greatest actresses was equivalent to the intrusive stories and speculation that are still fodder for the press today. Whether Stokowski approved is a different matter, but by 1938, they had parted company, never to speak again.

	Stokowski rehearsing the Philadelphia Orchestra in the early 1960s on his return after an absence of nearly 20 years.[Photo: Adrian Siegel]

1940 also saw the start of a new Stokowski project, when he left Philadelphia to form the All-American Youth Orchestra, a brand new ensemble of America's brightest and best young players. Having recorded with RCA since 1917, he approached them to underwrite a proposed tour of South America. However, their interests lay elsewhere with a similar venture involving the NBC orchestra and Arturo Toscanini. Stokowski turned to their rivals, CBS, who readily consented to the proposal. By the time the rehearsals started in July, thousands of applicants had been cut down to just 90, and a new orchestra formed that was to receive immediate critical acclaim. The tour was a success and Stokowski planned two more for the summers of 1941 and '42. But the orchestra was short-lived; the events of December 1941 and America's entry into the war resulted in the conscription of many of his players. Nevertheless, some fine recordings were made by the All-American Youth Orchestra which attest to their abilities and include Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and Stokowski's own transcriptions of Bach's organ music (reviewed MT.co.uk Online Journal, July, 2000).