Some people under 40 are likely to think "Beauty and the Beast" is a classic story created by Disney in 1991. But that animated movie, which has enthralled millions of little girls and boys (and many of their parents, too), was actually based on a hefty novel by France's Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve published in 1740 as "La Belle et la Bete." In France, it was a best-seller of the Harlequin Romance variety: a sexy, dark love story conducted in a secret castle, tucked away in an enchanted forest. Apparently, it became quite the thing among the elite ladies and gentlemen of France to dress for masquerade balls as Belle or Bete (the Beast) — perhaps to spice things up in the romance department.