t. Because of World War II both companies were disbanded after the tour.Balanchine's energy and creativity allowed him to choreograph 17 Broadway shows, and he was also invited by Samuel Goldwyn to choreograph a number of movies. He choreographed On Your Toes with Tamara Geva and Ray Bolger for Broadway, and then a movie version with Vera Zorina and Eddie Albert.To Balanchine, entertainment was entertainment. When he was asked in 1941 by the Ringling Bros. Circus to choreograph a ballet for 14 elephants he agreed, and commissioned Stravinsky to write the music for Circus Polka. Ballet Society, the successor to the American Ballet, was organized in 1946 and gave its first performance at the Central High School of Needle Trades in New York City. They were so successful that in 1948 the company was invited to become a permanent unit of the New York City Center, with the new name of The New York City Ballet.When Morton Baum, head of the finance committee for the New York City Center, saw Ballet Society perform George Balanchine's Orpheus in 1948, he invited Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine to join the city-supported group. Ballet Society became the New York City Ballet, and the company remained at the City Center for sixteen years.The opening night of the New York City Ballet (October 1948) at the City Center was an auspicious occasion. The first program consisted of Symphony in C (choreographed to a newly discovered symphony by George Bizet which was first presented as Le Palais de cristal at the Paris Opera), Orpheus, and Concerto Barocco. At last Balanchine felt secure enough to form the company he had always wanted, with the School of American Ballet to train the dancers. Because Balanchine wanted the audiences to come to see ballets instead of star dancers, he listed his principal dancers in alphabetical order. In the years that followed, Balanchine created some of his greatest ballets including Scotch Symphony (1952), Western Sy...