ON NEWSPAPER STANDS THROUGHOUT Hollywood, the trade paper Film Daily reigned among top industry rags. The January 12, 1939, issue was emblazoned with the front-page headline CRITICS VOTE “SNOW WHITE” 1938’S BEST. Below the headline was the list of the year’s “Ten Best,” displaying a vote count for each. Ranked at number two was Frank Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You, with 372 votes. Snow White had collected 419 votes.
Walt bought up several copies of this issue to distribute among his choice staff, accompanying a personalized memo. On February 4 he gave one to Art Babbitt.
“Dear Art,” wrote Walt, “Since the critics have voted Snow White best picture of 1938, I thought you might like to stow away the attached copy of Film Daily with all the other mementos you may be saving for your grandchildren. Anyway, I think we should all be very happy that the picture’s been selected as 1938’s best.—Walt”1
It seemed a thoughtful gesture, but in the aftermath of the bonus fiasco, it may have been a tactical attempt to keep the peace.
On Thursday night, February 23, at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, Hollywood gathered for the eleventh annual Academy Awards. Ferdinand the Bull won for best short cartoon. A special Oscar was also presented to Walt for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Child actor Shirley Temple presented the tuxedoed Walt Disney with the golden statuette, alongside seven little statuettes. “Why, I’m so proud I think I’ll bust,” Walt said for the newsreel.2
Construction began in February 1939 on Walt Disney’s new Burbank studio, and production on Pinocchio was going at full steam. Babbitt continued handling a small unit that animated Geppetto. Sequence director Norm Ferguson, skilled in vaudeville-inspired pantomime, led the unit for Honest John the fox and Gideon the cat. Bill Tytla supervised Stromboli, a character who reflected Tytla’s experience with fiery foreigners. Fred Moore supervised the boyish Lampwick, a veiled self-caricature.
Walt began to feel that Babbitt’s animation of Geppetto was too analytical, too closely based off his live-action reference. Even Babbitt’s assistant, Bill Hurtz, could see that Babbitt was getting “trapped in” the “mold” of live-action reference.3 Meanwhile, Fred Moore’s style was considered too “cartoony.” Sequence director Wilfred Jackson and Walt watched their animation in the sweatbox and agreed to have the two work on some Geppetto scenes together, in hopes to balance out their strengths.4
Geppetto’s vocal performer, German-born Christian Rub, doubled as the live-action model for the character. Rub gained a reputation among the animators for being “an irascible, nasty old guy” and “always spouting the glories of Hitler.” The animators decided to teach him a lesson; as Rub stood on a raised platform simulating Geppetto’s tilting raft, half a dozen men quietly gripped the platform and on cue, “gave Christian a ride he’d never forget.”5
Babbitt directed Rub’s vocal sessions, and the seasoned actor repeatedly hammed up his performance. Babbitt kept correcting Rub for his overacting until Rub had had enough. “I have been doing it this way for over forty years!” he protested.
“Fine,” said Babbitt. “Now we are going to do it correctly.”6
While the Geppetto design straddled the line between human and cartoon, the Blue Fairy’s design was proportionately human, modeled by Marge in a dress and fake wings.7
The young art-school graduates carried the rest of the picture. While Jiminy Cricket was handled by Ward Kimball, Pinocchio himself was supervised by Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl. Eric Larson led the unit handling Figaro the kitten. (Kahl and Larson had animated the woodland creatures in Snow White.) Woolie Reitherman led the unit for Monstro the Whale. Although Les Clark had been animating at the studio longer than nearly anyone, he was not assigned his own unit on Pinocchio. Walt began noticing the huge advancements in the art-school grads. One day he stopped one in the hall to compliment him on his drawings of the wooden boy. The animator, Ollie Johnston, was taken aback. Walt was not known to compliment artists to their face. “I was just trying to draw like the other fellows did,” he stammered. Walt replied, “I don’t give a damn where you get it, just keep doing it!”8
Of all the creative departments at his studio, it was his animators who impressed Walt the most. Walt could dominate a story meeting or direct an editing session, but he relied entirely on his animators to bring his visions to life. “My only regret is that I can’t draw better,” said Walt at that time. “All I am is a movie-picture producer.”9
As Pinocchio pushed through, Walt periodically surveyed the progress on his new Burbank studio. It was nothing more than a construction site, but Walt’s vision was crystal clear. Over the next few months, he drove his employees out there one group at a time. “Walt was excited about the new building even though it was out in a treeless wasteland of nothing but tumbleweeds,” remembered one artist. “Nevertheless, when Walt asked what we thought of it our reply was ‘Great, Walt!’”10
Walt had the image so clear in his mind, it never occurred to him that he was the only one who could see it.
Breaking news from Europe in March 1939—Germany broke the Munich Agreement that it and Italy had signed with France and Great Britain. The Nazi regime began an eastward takeover of Czechoslovakia. On March 15 from Prague, Adolf Hitler proclaimed the Czech lands were now under Nazi rule.*1
On April 12, 1939, Fascist Italy invaded Albania to the east, with an army of one hundred thousand soldiers and six hundred warplanes. The Albanian king was forced into exile, and the country was claimed in the name of Italy.
On May 22 Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel—a ten-year alliance of political, economic, and military cooperation.
In the spring of 1939, the Federation of Screen Cartoonists was still in limbo. Without certification from the National Labor Relations Board, Federation meetings became more irregular, and Babbitt stopped planning functions. Members stopped paying their monthly one-dollar union dues, and interest in the Federation waned.11 Some Disney artists began drifting to Screen Cartoon Guild meetings. They witnessed young animators from other studios speaking up, including one Warner Bros. cartoon director, Chuck Jones.12
Goofy and Wilbur premiered in March,13 and Woolie Reitherman handled most of Goofy’s animation. Babbitt had animated three sections of Goofy being outwitted by a frog14 and received no bonus for his work.15 The assignment was minor, so he wasn’t necessarily due a large sum. But he was beginning to feel the effect of the bonus drought on his wallet. Additionally, The Autograph Hound was revised, director Dick Lundy was demoted back to animator, and Babbitt’s animation was cut.16
In May 1939 the company hit a milestone beyond everyone’s expectations. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs officially became the highest-grossing film of all time, earning $6.7 million.17 No additional bonuses were distributed.
On Tuesday July 25, the National Labor Relations Board finally responded, granting a charter (i.e., certification) to the Federation of Screen Cartoonists. The trial examiner had counted all the Federation membership cards and found that they represented the majority of the 602 Disney production artists.18 The IATSE, despite its claims, could not provide evidence that it had signed up any Disney artists.19 Babbitt immediately began planning the next steps, rallying Disney artists through bulletins with new Federation of Screen Cartoonists letterhead.20
While industry papers dedicated increasingly more ink to union updates, they were eclipsed by the growing war in Europe. On August 23, Germany and Russia signed the Stalin-Hitler Pact, otherwise known as the German-Soviet Pact. On September 1 Germany invaded Poland from the west. Two days later, France and Britain declared war on Germany.
Meanwhile, Walt Disney was preparing to move his entire staff to the new Burbank studio. It had cost him $3 million—an enormous sum. By comparison, Hollywood’s next largest building project that year was the Warner Bros. $700,000 studio renovation. In the two previous years Warner Bros. had released more than one hundred feature films. Disney had released one.21
There was talk about how war would affect the studio, whether escapism would increase ticket sales or if Europe’s closing market would decrease them. The answer came quickly: production control manager Herb Lamb stopped all new raises to assistants in the studio. “War scare, you know,” he said.22
At the end of September 1939, in the Hollywood High School auditorium, the Federation of Screen Cartoonists held elections for a new executive board. Babbitt stepped down as president, and animator Bill Roberts was elected to fill his post. Babbitt was elected vice president. Every department submitted demands; a charter was drawn up that night.23 “No demands were outrageous. No attempt was made to dominate or interfere with studio policy,” said one Federation member in 1941.24
After October 4, Federation attorney Janofsky presented Roy Disney with the Federation’s list of demands, but Janofsky reported that Roy refused to negotiate.25 Later that month Roy agreed to meet with the Federation’s executive board at a local restaurant. He told the union men, point-blank, that he had no use for unions.26
Federation representatives from every creative department at Disney met to vote on their next move. One idea was to give Roy a deadline by which to sign, and if he missed the deadline the Federation would file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. Another was to dissolve the Federation altogether. Instead, they voted on a third option: wait for the studio to realize that a contract was in everyone’s best interest.27
Babbitt was feeling pinched in his bank account from the sudden disappearance of bonus payouts. On October 19 he borrowed $200 from the company—one week’s pay. On October 27 he borrowed another $200.28
Neither the war in Europe nor the union talk slowed down the studio. The female-dominated Ink & Paint Department worked in a mad rush for Pinocchio’s premiere in February. The “girls are getting pretty much on edge due to long hours,” noted one artist.29 Animation continued on “The Concert Feature,” now called Fantasia, for its release in one year. Development was well underway for Bambi, while Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland, and a dog film called Lady were in their early story stages. It was all part of Walt’s grand vision.
And his vision was impervious to what was happening under his feet.