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1941 Walt Disney Studios Animators' Strike Archive.

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Disneyana Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 2,000.00 USD
1941 Walt Disney Studios Animators' Strike Archive.
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(Disney, 1941) An incredibly rare archive of documents that were created and distributed during the historic Disney animator's strike of 1941. Following the Great Depression of the 1930s, there was a rise of union organization in Hollywood which included the creation of the Screen Cartoonist's Guild (SCG) in 1938. Many Walt Disney Studios employees were discontent with their pay and working conditions, citing an unclear pay structure between similar jobs and noticing preferential treatment and studio perks being only given to certain head animators and writers. Walt Disney's opinion, however, was that his studio's employees were some of the best paid in the industry, and with the move to the new Burbank studio in 1940, they enjoyed some of the best working conditions. As such, Disney refused on multiple occasions to come to terms with the SCG, feeling that it was his company to do with as he pleased. The disagreement came to a head when Disney fired several of his employees who were members of the guild. The following day, on May 29, 1941, over 200 employees of the Walt Disney Studios went on strike. The strike notably interrupted the production of Dumbo, which released in October of that same year, and Disney had some of his striking animators portrayed as circus clowns within the film as a small jab. With tensions rising, Walt left the studio for a goodwill tour of Latin America as part of the U.S. "Good Neighbor policy" during the early stages of production on the films Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. Walt's absence helped tensions cool, and upon his return, he signed a union contract with the National Labor Relations Board. This archive includes (10) documents created and distributed during this historic strike. Many of the documents are written from the perspective of the strikers, and were used to inform both the studio's non-striking artists and the general public of the reasoning behind the strike, and also to paint Walt as the bad guy in the negotiations process. The documents are from various stages of the strike, with some mentioning Disney's outright refusal to let the United States government step in to help arbitrate the strike. The documents range in size from 3.5"x8.5" to 13.75"x8.5". The condition is good overall, with several fold-lines, small tears or wear around the edges, and scattered spots of discoloration from use. Original artifacts from this infamous part of Disney History are very scarce, with an archive of materials such as this being exceptionally rare.