Here we are in 2022, and I'm still finding out more details about stuff I saw as a kid from waay back in 1964.

When I was a little boy I never stayed asleep for long. To my parent's dismay I always woke up around 3am to 4am every morning. By the time I was 6 years old I would wait until 5am, then go to the family den and turn on the television,  just to see what was on.

To my surprise, one local station aired old Russian and East German cartoons dubbed into English. Some of these cartoons were mash-ups created by the team of Bill Cayton and Fred Ladd, two men who had experience dubbing foreign animation into English. Their productions were made available to local stations via syndication.

The Russian cartoons always came from the famous Soyuzmultfilm Studio in Moscow, many of which would never have been seen in the USA if not for Cayton and Ladd.

Russian cartoons have awesome music scores, usually from a full orchestra performing at feature film quality. And that's why I remembered this unusual cartoon telling the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, "The Wild Swans".

Here is the Russian original, I'm posting just for the sound track. I don't understand a single word of Russian, but the music is outstanding! Take special note of the scene where the Witch Queen casts her evil spell - the music would do a Disney film proud! (no, I don't expect anyone to watch the whole story - just the part with the awesome Witch Queen)

Now, here is the 1996 English dub version from the series, "Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from my Childhood". The music score has been replaced, but the English dub is really good! Again, take note of the Witch Queen's evil spell! (really amazing how she turns her white step-daughter into a little girl, the color of mud)