and women called him Walt and were part of a team that had revolutionized the field of animation. Disney’s kingdom was crumbling, and he was convinced he knew why.
They were all Communists. Disney went so far as to take out an ad in Variety accusing strike leaders of “Communistic agitation.”
As Neal Gabler writes in Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, Disney was obsessed with the idea that Communists had infiltrated and destroyed his studio. It was the only way he could explain the ingratitude and treachery of people he had once loved. Everything was perfect until, Disney would say, the “Commies moved in.”
The strike continued into the summer of 1941. Disney sometimes drove his convertible Packard, top down, through the picket line, cheerfully waving to the demonstrators. One day, Art Babbitt shouted, “Walt Disney, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.” Police at the gate intervened to stop the two from fighting, but while Disney believed he could outlast the strikers, the Bank of America held the studio’s fate in its hands. The bank forced an arbitration and a settlement that included significant raises for the returning employees. In early August, The New York Times reported the striking workers had returned and a full slate of Disney shorts and features had resumed “normal” production.
But all was not normal. The settlement provided for layoffs, which Disney avoided by leaving for South America on a goodwill tour launched by Nelson Rockefeller . Rockefeller wanted to improve cultural and economic ties between the two Americas and had been recruiting Hollywood celebrities to help. While Disney was in South America, the settlement hit a snag because the list of people to be let go were overwhelmingly SCG members. Roy Disney resolved the issue by temporarily closing the studio in late August, keeping only a handful of maintenance workers and a small group of animators on hand to work on Dumbo. The rest of the staff was furloughed without pay until mid-September.
With the studio effectively shuttered and Walt in South America, Roy was left to handle affairs when their father Elias died on September 13. Walt decided against returning for the funeral, and Roy reassured him that was all right. By the time he got back, he told Walt, the negotiations with SCG would be “settled down.”
When Disney returned to work in October, he found the studio drastically changed. There were fewer than 700 employees. More troubling was that Bank of America had stepped in. The bank agreed to keep the Disneys’ credit line open on the condition they stop making animated features as soon as the ones in production were completed. After that, the bank insisted the studio stick to less risky animated shorts until the new feature generated a profit.
The studio closed its largest restaurant and halted all bonuses and stock incentives. Employees had to punch in on a time clock, which Disney hated almost as much as anything else. But the most significant change was in Disney himself. He grew sullen and remote, even, some said, paranoid.
A Hit and a Miss
To keep Disney in line with its dictates, Bank of America assembled an executive committee that included its own representative that had final say over everything the studio produced. Disney’s mood grew darker, and he vacillated between ignoring his employees and berating them for work he considered inferior.
Despite the tension, the studio managed to finish Dumbo . The story had been in the works since 1939, when Disney bought the rights to a book manuscript by Helen Aberson. The plot concerns a baby circus elephant who, because of his outsized ears, is teased and shunned by the other circus animals. But then he discovers he can use his ears to fly and becomes a star performer.
Dumbo went into production in early 1941. Disney ordered that it be kept simple and short. Dumbo clocked in at just sixty-four minutes.
Dumbo was released in late October 1941,
They were all Communists. Disney went so far as to take out an ad in Variety accusing strike leaders of “Communistic agitation.”
As Neal Gabler writes in Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, Disney was obsessed with the idea that Communists had infiltrated and destroyed his studio. It was the only way he could explain the ingratitude and treachery of people he had once loved. Everything was perfect until, Disney would say, the “Commies moved in.”
The strike continued into the summer of 1941. Disney sometimes drove his convertible Packard, top down, through the picket line, cheerfully waving to the demonstrators. One day, Art Babbitt shouted, “Walt Disney, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.” Police at the gate intervened to stop the two from fighting, but while Disney believed he could outlast the strikers, the Bank of America held the studio’s fate in its hands. The bank forced an arbitration and a settlement that included significant raises for the returning employees. In early August, The New York Times reported the striking workers had returned and a full slate of Disney shorts and features had resumed “normal” production.
But all was not normal. The settlement provided for layoffs, which Disney avoided by leaving for South America on a goodwill tour launched by Nelson Rockefeller . Rockefeller wanted to improve cultural and economic ties between the two Americas and had been recruiting Hollywood celebrities to help. While Disney was in South America, the settlement hit a snag because the list of people to be let go were overwhelmingly SCG members. Roy Disney resolved the issue by temporarily closing the studio in late August, keeping only a handful of maintenance workers and a small group of animators on hand to work on Dumbo. The rest of the staff was furloughed without pay until mid-September.
With the studio effectively shuttered and Walt in South America, Roy was left to handle affairs when their father Elias died on September 13. Walt decided against returning for the funeral, and Roy reassured him that was all right. By the time he got back, he told Walt, the negotiations with SCG would be “settled down.”
When Disney returned to work in October, he found the studio drastically changed. There were fewer than 700 employees. More troubling was that Bank of America had stepped in. The bank agreed to keep the Disneys’ credit line open on the condition they stop making animated features as soon as the ones in production were completed. After that, the bank insisted the studio stick to less risky animated shorts until the new feature generated a profit.
The studio closed its largest restaurant and halted all bonuses and stock incentives. Employees had to punch in on a time clock, which Disney hated almost as much as anything else. But the most significant change was in Disney himself. He grew sullen and remote, even, some said, paranoid.
A Hit and a Miss
To keep Disney in line with its dictates, Bank of America assembled an executive committee that included its own representative that had final say over everything the studio produced. Disney’s mood grew darker, and he vacillated between ignoring his employees and berating them for work he considered inferior.
Despite the tension, the studio managed to finish Dumbo . The story had been in the works since 1939, when Disney bought the rights to a book manuscript by Helen Aberson. The plot concerns a baby circus elephant who, because of his outsized ears, is teased and shunned by the other circus animals. But then he discovers he can use his ears to fly and becomes a star performer.
Dumbo went into production in early 1941. Disney ordered that it be kept simple and short. Dumbo clocked in at just sixty-four minutes.
Dumbo was released in late October 1941,
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