Make America Learn History Again: The Disney Strike of 1941
Make America Learn History Again: The Disney Strike of 1941
It’s real history, force-fed to the “All American Men” in my inbox
“They are just greedy.”
“They already make enough money.”
“If they want more money they should work harder.”
I wrote part of this post during the Writers Guild of America screenwriters’ strike. It’s the strike I’m referring to as happening “today” in this post. That strike is now history, and a deal was made to end it, but the correlations to new strikes continue.
The same ideas used to harass strikers in 1941, are thrown at them today. Strikers with reasonable requests categorized as greedy, while their bosses enjoy a lavish lifestyle from their labor.
The same boogeyman appears. American communists, and of course American liberals who get called communists. It seems people on the right have never understood the difference.
In 1938 when Snow White became a huge success, the offices of Disney were a place of happiness. The staff had spent two years working overtime and weekends to complete this film in time, and they did it. Disney artists were the lowest paid in their industry, but Walt had promised them bonuses, and they knew they would soon profit off of their work’s success.
That’s not what happened.
Walt invited them all to drive 90 minutes to attend a fancy field day, dinner and dance at a country club. He gave a speech about how great the company had done on Snow White. Still though, he said nothing about paying them bonuses. Instead he bought a new studio, with a “Penthouse Club” for higher-ups. A place where many of these employees weren’t allowed to go. When he did decide to pay them bonuses, they were minimal.
The people felt the crushing defeat knowing he didn’t care about them. This man, who had convinced them to work so long, to give up their own lives in essence, their own free time, to his project, they were not going to be given their fair share of this reward. He had fooled them.
“Walt Disney” yelled Art Babbitt, the leader of the union and one of Walt’s top animators. “You ought to be ashamed.”
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(As a reminder I do not know these men. They are messaging a satirical Facebook profile of me as a conservative.)
Walt didn’t correct his behavior towards his staff willingly. He felt as if his family had been torn apart. The shame he felt from the strike, was only about the bad media attention and the betrayal he felt his employees endeavored on. He never saw his error in the way he treated staff.
Babbitt was fired for his role in the union. After firing him, Disney was found liable for breaking the National Labor Relations Act. This forced Disney to stop discouraging membership to the Screen Cartoonists Guild, rehire Babbitt at his former position, reimburse Babbitt about $9000, and hang bulletins throughout the studio stating Disney won’t discriminate against the union members.
Things weren’t the same after returning though. Babbitt was given work meant for junior animators and he wasn’t paid well. The other higher-level animators said it would be the “kiss of death” if Walt saw them with Babbitt.
Babbitt had organized for the lower-level workers, and had paid the price.
Disney offered a settlement for him to resign and he took it. It was the end of his Disney career, but not the end of his own. He was actually quite successful, winning multiple awards for his work in commercials and films.
These didn’t fit into the story, but here are a few snippets I must share.
After Walt’s speech at the country club, the event became drunken chaos as the employees grappled with the gravity of not being given the money they had been counting on. Someone rode a horse into the lobby. Others tried to ride donkeys. They jumped into the pool fully clothed, or not clothed at all. People began swapping partners in their nakedness. A man fell off of a second story balcony. He wasn’t hurt, but they all were.
Their comradery in debauchery also showed in their signatures. The men and women of the studio had different lunch hours, but they still met to mingle after hours. When they would rent a hotel together, the men would sign their own name and the name of one of the supervising directors of Disney, Ben Sharpsteen, as the guests. This they did in jest. Ben was thought of as a father figure and well liked.
Walt too was a father figure. He used the same trick many employers use. Convince you they care about you, like a family, to convince you to stay working under conditions that aren’t beneficial to you. In 1941 his employees rose up against their father to strike for their own families.
Sources:
The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation’s Golden Age Jake S. Friedman
Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson Tom Sito
The Communist Party of the United States of America: What It Is How It Works CIA
The Disney Revolt Labor History Today podcast
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You should also read:
More on strikes…
More on workers’ rights…
So I work in the animation industry and since I was a kid and saw The Jungle Book, I wanted to work for Disney. It was my dream, my bucketlist and honestly I had my ego riding on it. I got to work for Dreamworks (on Shrek!) and Sony Animation (sadly, not on radioactive spiders but another show). As I learned about all the politics and how much animators (still) get shit on, I still wanted to work for Disney however, even as different as the company is, his history is much like Hershey's and I've had a hard time with that knowing this history behind him. It's kinda like seeing the man behind the curtain of Oz to an extent, still bums me out.
Thanks for this great post, Brooke B, it hit home.
I love your work.