Читать книгу Understanding Disney - Janet Wasko - Страница 20

According to many of those involved, the growth of the studio and the move to the new Burbank facilities led to changes in the working conditions at the company. The Disney studios had previously been depicted as a “democratic, collective, creative paradise.”³⁹ Many of the employees agreed that the Disney plant was unique during the 1930s, with a family atmosphere that inspired creativity.

However, the studio began to lose its charm for at least some of its workers. By the end of the 1930s, there was increasing dissatisfaction at the studio, especially due to the inconsistent wage scales, the erratic distribution of bonuses and other forms of compensation. And although the studio was known for its creativity, it was always Walt’s personal visions that prevailed. Furthermore, screen credits were provided only for the company’s feature films, often with “Walt Disney” as the only name attached to the cartoons. The dissatisfaction finally erupted in 1941.

Hollywood had experienced a wave of unionization during the 1930s, with most of the industry’s workers being represented by the end of the decade by labor organizations both from within and outside the film industry.⁴⁰ The Screen Cartoonists Guild (SCG) had been founded in 1936 to organize the growing number of animators in the industry and, by the early 1940s, had gained contracts at MGM and Schlesinger’s animation unit at Warner Brothers. Meanwhile, at the Disney studio, the Federation of Screen Cartoonists was formed as a company union in 1937.

The SCG started organizing at Disney in late 1940 and, by January 1941, was recognized by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as the bargaining unit for animators, story men, directors, and production workers at the studio. The SCG filed formal charges with the NLRB, charging the company with unfair labor practices (including supporting a company union). After Disney fired a group of union activists, the SCG voted to strike in May 1941. At least one-third of the company’s employees supported the strike, although it has also been claimed that one-half of the company’s workers went out.⁴¹

By most accounts, the nine-week strike at the fun factory was no fun. Tension grew as physical and verbal conflicts increased the hostility between workers and management. Disney (who almost became involved in a fist fight with the strikers at one point) accused the union leaders of being communists and “bad seeds.” The conflict became especially bitter when the company called on the assistance of infamous labor racketeer Willie Bioff, who was working with the conservative International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) at the time.

After the studio closed down completely for nearly a month, the conflict was finally settled in September with assistance from Labor Department arbitrators. It probably helped that Walt had departed in early August on a government-funded tour of South America, which later served as the basis for several films, including Saludos Amigos (1943) and The Three Caballeros (1945), as well as a wide range of educational films for the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs.⁴²

In the end, enormous damage was done during the labor conflict. As Watts concludes: “Socially, the strike had destroyed the image of a workers’ paradise. . . . Creatively, the strike exploded the spirit of camaraderie, innovation, and participation that had inspired the wonderful creations of the 1930s. Financially, it blew a large hole in the studio’s profits, as production, already curtailed by the growing world crisis, was further reduced.”⁴³

As labor troubles had surfaced at the studio, so had Disney’s more conservative nature. During the Depression, he had adhered to a type of populism that distrusted bankers and the monopolistic practices of big business. But increasingly, he moved from a sentimental to a more paranoid version of populism, becoming vehemently anti-communist. As Watts explains, he became “a conservative Republican whose intense patriotism, loyalty to the work ethic, suspicion of regulatory government, and support for American individualism had grown steadily more intense.”⁴⁴

A lesser-known chapter of Walt Disney’s legacy is his role in the formation of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPAPAI), the organization that set the foundation for the Hollywood blacklist. Disney served as the MPAPAI’s first vice-president and was featured prominently in publicity about the organization. The MPAPAI has been acknowledged as the inspiration for the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigation of Hollywood, which examined film industry notables on their adherence to the Smith Act of 1940, which made support of certain political parties illegal. The act was declared unconstitutional many years later, but not before the Hollywood Ten (a group of mostly writers who refused to cooperate with the committee) had been sent to prison, and hundreds of Hollywood workers had lost their jobs, sometimes for being “named” by those who chose to cooperate with the committee and the organizers of the blacklist.

Disney testified at the second set of HUAC hearings in 1947, along with other friendly witnesses such as Ronald Reagan, Gary Cooper, and Adolphe Menjou. Disney explained that the strike at his studio had been organized by communists, and “throughout the world all of the Commie groups began smear campaigns against me and my pictures.” He also stated that communism was “an un-American thing” and had infiltrated labor groups especially. The well-known Hollywood blacklist had already been established, but Disney’s testimony was said to have strengthened it. Meanwhile, the MPAPAI served as “the bulwark of anti-communism in Hollywood” through the 1950s, a period in which hundreds of Hollywood workers lost their industry jobs.⁴⁵

Another aspect of Disney’s life that is neglected by most of his biographers is his collaboration with the FBI from at least the 1950s until the end of his life.⁴⁶ Disney’s FBI file includes a 1954 memo offering the agency “complete access to the facilities of Disneyland for use in connection with official matters and for recreational purposes.” The file also includes evidence that Disney was on the agency’s Special Correspondents’ list. Watts generally downplays the relationships and explains that this was “a largely honorary designation given to friendly community leaders who were willing to talk with the agency’s special agent in charge for their region.” In other words, he did not serve as a spy but “simply endorsed the agency’s broader agenda of anti-communism during the tense days of the Cold War.”⁴⁷ Whether or not Disney actively assisted the FBI, his well-documented cooperation with the agency clearly establishes his strong conservative credentials.