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Any one know the reason behind the 1940's Disney Strike..??

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Any one know the reason behind the 1940's Disney Strike..??

Hi guys,

Do any one here know what was the reason for the Disney Employees to go for a strike in the 1940's..??

Yeah, Uncle Walt was an odd bird. When the Fleischers were his main competition, he was antisemitic. But that Hitler guy gave antisemitism a bad name. And, ironically, fights with unions ultimately put the Fleischers so far in debt to Paramount, that the studio was able to throw them out. (Or something along those lines.)

So, when the HUAC trials came along, Walt jumped right on board. And everybody who wouldn't let themselves get screwed was an instant commie. That was the general consensus among corporate types. Then, when that word proved too specific, they became "pinkos". Today, they're "potential enemy combatants," which is even slipperier language.

But, as stated above, lots of people didn't want animators to unionize. Cartoon studios had gotten fat during the depression, and having to pay people a decent wage rubbed them the wrong way. Walt was pretty amoral and unscrupulous as a businessman. And he pushed cuteness to an almost pornographically gratuitous extreme. But a lot of the greats got their training at Disney Studios, so it's hard not to give them their due.

Personally, I think it was when people like Maurice Noble and Preston Blair went to work for other, wilder studios that things really got interesting. Then the bottom fell out of animated theatrical shorts.

Thanks

Hi,

thank you all.. I just want to tell something with all my respect to the members. Answers like "try google" etc works. But in these forums we need people to share their ideas and thoughts on certain topics..right? May be you will get straight by searching. But in a community like AWN i believe I can guarantee authentic info and with long discussions get the idea clearer and crisper. May be if somebody asks a very naive question like what is 2d or who is Walt Disney you may ask them to search Google. I have seen this happening a few times when someone is really having a topic of interest(may be not for all).

Just see "addlepate" gave me an answer and then we happened to know abt Tom Sito's book "Drawing The Line from DSB and then Harvey Human gave some good quotes. This is the way it should work. right..??

regards

Just see "addlepate" gave me an answer and then we happened to know abt Tom Sito's book "Drawing The Line from DSB and then Harvey Human gave some good quotes. This is the way it should work. right..??

Windchimes has a point.

It's one thing to use Google and Wikipedia and get generic, sterile answers to use as a source for a school paper.... and its another to talk to individuals that are a good 2 or 3 degrees of separation away from Walt himself...

Just sayin.

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Sounded like a term paper subject to me. I can only speak for myself, I wasn't there. The information I have is compiled from reading up on it, so I'd rather they read up on it then I give them mis-remembered information.

Aloha,
the Ape

PS. sarcasm doesn't come across well in text form. :D

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

Have you tried searching on Google?

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

Or reading any one of the dozens of books on Disney history?

Short answer: money

Dan

Jeez, I can't understand why all these grouches won't just give you a straight answer, Windchimes*. Anyway, according to Disney himself, the reason why the animators went on strike in the 1940's was because of evil communists working their evil communist magic that turns contentment into envy for all of those who aren't pure of heart.

* = seriously, read about it, a pretty good book by a prominent member of the animators' guild was published quite recently, however the name of the work fails to spring forth presently out of the murky depths of my memory.

You're probably thinking about Tom Sito's book "Drawing The Line".

Your portrayal of Disney's take on the strike isn't exactly accurate, or unbiased (judging from the tone). You'd think you'd be happy that none of us "grouches" provided an answer - it cleared the way for your particular spin.

Can't speak for the others, but the reason I didn't provide an answer is because the answer just isn't that hard to find. It probably would have taken little more effort than it did to ask the question to actually look it up.

Jeez, I can't understand why all these grouches won't just give you a straight answer, Windchimes*.

I never say "Try Google" with out first checking it myself. It took me four tries to find it.

Aloha,
the Ape

...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."

Anyway, according to Disney himself, the reason why the animators went on strike in the 1940's was because of evil communists working their evil communist magic that turns contentment into envy for all of those who aren't pure of heart.

Your portrayal of Disney's take on the strike isn't exactly accurate, or unbiased (judging from the tone). You'd think you'd be happy that none of us "grouches" provided an answer - it cleared the way for your particular spin.

[U]
Walt's own words, 1947:[/U]

[I]HUAC: And is it your opinion that that strike was instituted by members of the Communist Party to serve their purposes?

[/I] WALT: Well, it proved itself so with time, and I definitely feel it was a Communist group trying to take over my artists and they did take them over.
[I]...
[/I]I believed at that time that Mr. Sorrell was a Communist because of all the things that I had heard and having seen his name appearing on a number of Commie front things. When he pulled the strike, the first people to smear me and put me on the unfair list were all of the Commie front organizations.

Thanks Harvey, you're a dear.

And as for you "grouches", well, for being cartoonists, you're proving to have a somewhat obtuse sense of humor over an obviously light-hearted, playful, jesting post. If it makes you feel better, I don't seriously think that any of you are grouches. :o
But, yeah, I'm not at all timid about it: I'm 100% for unions, for the animators that constitute them, and for strikes whenever they may be needed - and I believe that a lot of the problems that American animators (traditional and CG/3D) are facing today could be solved if they reconnected with the confidence and fighting spirit of the 1940's strike (and others.) I've not read Tom Sito's book yet, but it does seem to have been published at a very fitting time.
I don't really appreciate Disney the individual (as opposed to the studio bearing his name,) I'll admit - I tend to give my respect and admiration to the legions of artists and technicians who, you know, did the actual work. Like Ub Iwerks, for example.
Nobody can be truly "unbiased" when it comes to labor issues that directly affect peoples' livelihoods and day-to-day working conditions. It's not an abstract moral puzzle of proper etiquette out of Dear Abbey -- either you're helping the people who create the product or you're hurting them.

p.s. thanks, dsb, for reminding me of the title and author of that book.