This "Treasure from the Disney Vault" was a breakthrough for Walt Disney's anthology series in several ways. It was the first episode to air on NBC, where it moved after seven years on ABC, the first in color and the first to feature one of Disney's classic cartoons in color. In fact, the episode marked the television premiere of the Oscar®-nominated short "Donald in Mathmagic Land" (1959). As icing on the cake, Disney's animators created the character of Ludwig Von Drake, Donald's college professor uncle, to explain the science behind color, making him the studio's first animated character created for television.

Walt Disney was the first head of a major studio to move into regular television production, creating his original series Walt Disney's Disneyland for ABC in 1954 as a means of raising money for the construction of Disneyland (as part of the broadcasting deal, ABC invested in the theme park). The series featured the studio's cartoons, nature films, clips from feature films, behind-the-scenes looks at the construction of Disneyland and the creation of the studio's films and some original programs, like the Davy Crockett adventures starring Fess Parker. Although the series was a hit, problems with ABC led Disney to move the series to NBC in 1961. Since NBC was the leader in color television at the time, the series also switched from black-and-white to color. Fortunately, Disney had had the foresight to film many of his original segments in color while still at ABC.

For the series' move to NBC, Disney created An Adventure in Color, an episode celebrating the move to color television. He even changed the name to Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and had his resident songwriting team, Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, write a new title theme, "The Wonderful World of Color." On the program the song played over nature footage, but later it would be played over a new opening credits sequence using a kaleidoscope motif to showcase the switch to color. The program began with a full-color Disney standing in front of a black-and-white backdrop. After showing footage from some of his early black-and-white cartoons, he snaps his fingers and transforms the background into color.

The next part of the program was a special animated sequence hosted by Ludwig Von Drake, who explains the nature of color and sings two new songs by the Shermans, "The Green With Envy Blues" and "The Spectrum Song." Von Drake was voiced by Paul Frees, a veteran actor and voiceover artist who had started out in radio, where he even had his own show, "The Player," on which he voiced all the characters. He first worked for Disney as one of the voices for the 1947 Donald Duck cartoon "Crazy With the Heat," but would spend most of his earlier career at MGM, where he provided the voice for Barney Bear. He also played Boris Badenov in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons and worked extensively as an off-screen narrator, a dubber for foreign films and providing backup voices for other actors. He started doing more work for Disney on Walt Disney's Disneyland and would continue playing Ludwig Von Drake for over a decade. He also provided the narration for the Haunted Mansion Attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

The second half of the program features the television premiere of "Donald in Mathmagic Land," in which the animated duck wanders into a world of mathematical creatures. There "The True Spirit of Adventure" (also Frees) explains to him that mathematics isn't just for "eggheads" but is an important part of music, art and nature. The short was originally screened before the live-action musical Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959).

"Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" was a major ratings champion for NBC, landing in the top 20 for 15 seasons. It remained a hit series until CBS moved 60 Minutes opposite the series, which marked the beginning of the end. The series had more than served its purpose by that time, serving as a valuable advertising medium for Disney's other enterprises. In its initial NBC run, it also helped popularize color television. Little wonder the show was sponsored by RCA Victor, a major producer of color television sets.

Director: Les Clark, Hamilton Luske, Joshua Meador, Wolfgang Reitherman
Producer: Walt Disney, Winston Hibler, Bill Walsh
Screenplay: Bill Berg, Larry Clemmons, Heinz Haber, Joe Rinaldi
Cinematography: Edward Colman
Music: Buddy Baker, Richard B. Sherman, Robert M. Sherman Cast: Walt Disney (Himself), Paul Frees (Ludwig Von Drake, The True Spirit of Adventure, PI), Clarence Nash (Donald Duck)

By Frank Miller