View source for Disney animators' strike

{{Short description|1941 organized labor action}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox civil conflict
| title = Disney animators' strike
| partof = 
| image = Screen Cartoonist's Guild strike at Disney.jpg
| image_size = 
| caption = Striking Disney animators at [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]], Burbank, in May 1941
| date = May 29 – September 21, 1941 (3 months and 26 days)
| place = [[Burbank, California]]
| coordinates = 
| causes = The unionization of animators by [[Herbert Sorrell]] and the firing of 17 unionized employees, including [[Art Babbitt]].
| goals = Increase pay for the unionized writers and animators who worked on Disney animated films.<br/>Fair treatment of union members, primarily against the retaliatory firing of union members.
| methods = [[Strike action|Striking]], [[picketing]]
| status = 
| result = Walt Disney and WDP management concede and sign a contract with the Screen Cartoonist's Guild.<br/>Many cartoonists refuse to be rehired and decide to work for other animation studios, shrinking the Disney talent pool significantly. {{See below|Aftermath and notable departures}}
| side1 = [[Screen Cartoonist's Guild]]
| side2 = [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]]
| leadfigures1 = [[Herbert Sorrell]]
| leadfigures2 = [[Walt Disney]]
| howmany1 = 
| howmany2 = 
| casualties1 = 
| casualties2 = 
| fatalities = 
| injuries = 
| arrests = 
| detentions = 
| charged = 
| fined = 
| casualties_label = 
| notes = 
| sidebox = {{Campaignbox US service strikes}}
}}
The '''Disney animators' strike''' was a 1941 American [[Film industry in the United States|film industry]] work stoppage where unionized employees of [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Productions]] picketed and disrupted film production for just under four months.

The strike reflected anger at inequities of pay and privileges at Disney, a non-unionized workplace. [[Walt Disney]] responded to the five-week [[strike action|strike]] by [[Termination of employment|firing]] many of his animators, but was eventually pressured into recognizing the [[Screen Cartoonist's Guild]] (SCG) by signing a contract with them, which involved, amongst other concessions, rehiring those who wished to return.

==History==
===Background===
In the 1930s, a rise of labor unions took place in Hollywood in response to the [[Great Depression]] and subsequent mistreatment of employees by studios. Among these unions was the [[Screen Cartoonist's Guild]] (SCG), which formed in 1938 after the first [[Strike action|strike]] at an animation studio occurred, the [[1937 Fleischer Studios strike]]. By 1941, SCG president [[Herbert Sorrell]] had secured contracts with most of the major animation studios in California (including [[MGM Cartoons]], [[Walter Lantz Productions]], [[Screen Gems]] and [[George Pal|George Pal Productions]]) except for Disney and [[Warner Bros. Cartoons|Leon Schlesinger Productions]]. [[Leon Schlesinger|Schlesinger]] gave in to the SCG's requests to sign a contract after his own employees went on strike for six days, but upon signing reportedly asked, "What about Disney?"<ref name=video>{{Cite video
  | people = [[Jean-Pierre Isbouts|Isbouts, Jean-Pierre]] (Director)
  | title = [[Walt: The Man Behind the Myth]]
  | medium = Television documentary film
  | publisher = [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]/Walt Disney Home Video
  | date = 2001}}</ref>

Disney's animators had the best pay and working conditions in the industry, but were discontented.<ref name=book>{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=WALT DISNEY: AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL|publisher=Disney Editions|isbn=0-7868-6027-8|year=1994}}</ref> Originally, 20 percent of the profits from short cartoons went toward employee bonuses, but Disney eventually suspended this practice.<ref name="Barrier, Michael 1999">Barrier, Michael, ''Hollywood Cartoons'' (1999), Oxford University Press, UK</ref> Disney's 1937 animated film ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' was a financial success, allowing Disney to construct a new, larger studio in [[Burbank, California]],<ref name=PBS>{{Cite video
  | people = Grimberg, Sharon (producer)
  | title = [[American Experience]], Walt Disney- Part One
  | medium = Television documentary film
  | publisher = [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]
  | date = 2015}}</ref> financed by borrowing.<ref name=prescod>{{cite web |url=https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/05/disney-workers-animators-cartoonists-artists-strike-picket-1941-guild-scg-sorrell-babbitt |title=80 Years Ago Today, Disney Animation Workers Went on Strike |last=Prescod |first=Paul |date=29 May 2021 |website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]] |access-date=4 June 2021}}</ref> At the Burbank studio, a rigid hierarchy system was enforced where employee benefits such as access to the restaurant, gymnasium, and steam room were limited to the studio's head writers and animators, who also received larger and more comfortable offices. Individual departments were segregated into buildings and heavily policed by administrators.

The box-office failures of ''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]'' and ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]'' in 1940 forced Disney to make layoffs, although Disney rarely involved himself in the hiring and firing process with those who were not atop the pay chain. The studio's pay structure was very disorganized, with some high-ranking animators earning as much as $300 a week, while other employees made as little as $12. According to then-Disney animator [[Willis Pyle]], "there was no rhyme or reason as to the way the guys were paid. You might be sitting next to a guy doing the same thing as you and you might be getting $20 a week more or less than him". Staff were also forced to put their name to documents which stated that they worked a forty hour week, while their actual hours were much longer. In addition there was resentment at Walt Disney taking credit for their work, and employees wished to receive [[Motion picture credits|on-screen credit]] for their art.<ref name=prescod />

===Labor action===
The SCG and Sorrell started meeting on a regular basis at the [[Hollywood Hotel]] from the start of 1941 to hear Disney workers' grievances and plan a unionization effort.<ref name=prescod /> Many animators, including [[Art Babbitt]], grew dissatisfied and joined the SCG. Babbitt was one of Disney's best-paid animators, though he was sympathetic to low-ranking employees and openly disliked Disney.<ref name=PBS/> Babbitt had previously been a senior official in the Disney [[company union]], the Federation of Screen Cartoonists, but had become frustrated due to being unable to effect change in that position.<ref name=prescod /> Disney saw no problem with the structure, believing it was his studio to run and that his employees should be grateful to him for providing the new studio space.<ref name=PBS/>

Sorrell, along with Babbitt and [[Bill Littlejohn]],<ref name=libcom.org>{{cite web
|url=https://libcom.org/history/1941-disney-cartoonists-strike
 |title=The Disney cartoonists strike, 1941
 |last=Lowry
 |first=Sam
 |date=Nov 1, 2006
 |website=libcom.org
 |access-date=June 23, 2018}}</ref> approached Disney and demanded he unionize his studio,<ref name=video/> but Disney refused. In February 1941, Disney gathered all 1,200 employees in his auditorium for a speech:

{{blockquote|In the 20 years I've spent in this business I've weathered many storms. It's been far from easy sailing. It required a great deal of work, struggle, determination, competence, faith, and above all unselfishness. Some people think we have a class distinction in the place. They wonder why some people get better seats in the theatre than others. They wonder why some men get spaces in the parking lot and others don't. I have always felt, and always will feel that the men that contribute most to the organization should, out of respect alone, enjoy some privileges. My first recommendation to the lot of you is this; put your own house in order, you can't accomplish a damn thing by sitting around and waiting to be told everything. If you're not progressing as you should, instead of grumbling and growling, do something about it.<ref name=PBS/>}}

The assembly was poorly received, and more employees joined the SCG. Tensions between Disney and Babbitt reached a peak when Disney began to see Babbitt as having personally betrayed him by becoming a union leader.<ref name=PBS/> Disney fired Babbitt along with 16 other employees who were members of the SCG.

===Strike===
The next day, on May 29, more than 200 members of the studio staff went on strike, during the production of the 1941 film ''[[Dumbo]]'', against the advice of Sorrell, who wanted more time to organize workers before striking.<ref name=prescod /> Other studios' animators, such as those from Schlesinger, offered their support during the strike. Disney retaliated by depicting some of the striking employees in caricature in ''Dumbo'' as antagonistic circus clowns, and on one occasion even attempted to "attack" a picketing Babbitt, but was stopped by studio guards.<ref name=libcom.org/>{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2022}} In turn, the strikers maintained a carnival-esque atmosphere on the picket line, using humor and artistic skills in producing signs, and at one stage carrying a mock guillotine in a march and using it to behead a mannequin of Walt Disney. They also received support from other unions, with unionized staff at [[Technicolor SA|Technicolor]], Williams and [[Pathé Exchange|Pathé]] refusing to process Disney films, and consumer advocacy group the [[League of Women Shoppers]] picketed theaters exhibiting them. The Disney strikers also extended solidarity to strikes in other sectors, such as producing signs for a [[United Auto Workers]] strike at [[North American Aviation]] in Los Angeles.<ref name=prescod />

The strike was resolved when the [[National Labor Relations Board]] asked Disney to sign a union contract and he agreed. Disney was returning from a goodwill tour of Latin America to produce animated films as part of the [[Good Neighbor policy]], allowing tensions to cool in his absence - although the SCG kept up pressure in the run-up to Disney's departure: the union's business agent Bill Pomerance obtained details of union leaders in the cities that were on Disney's itinerary via the [[National Maritime Union]]. He then contacted the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] to inform them that pickets of Disney and his films were being organized in South America, arguing that "the Disney company (should) comply with American standards of fair treatment of labor" as a condition of Walt Disney being allowed to represent the United States as a goodwill ambassador. As a result the [[U.S. Conciliation Service]] brought both sides together in talks in Washington DC: an agreement was struck, which included the reinstatement of employees fired before the strike, equalization of pay, a clearer salary structure and a grievance procedure.<ref name=prescod />

==Aftermath and notable departures==
The strike left the studio with only 694 employees.<ref>[http://thisdayindisneyhistory.homestead.com/sep16.html SEP 16 Disney History]</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2019}} In addition to Babbitt, the studio lost the following staff:

* [[Bill Tytla]] (who later moved to [[Terrytoons]] and [[Famous Studios]]),<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-10-19 |title=Michael Sporn Animation - Splog » Tytla's Hungry Wolf |url=http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2684 |access-date=2022-01-24 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019021659/http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2684 |archive-date=19 October 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Walt Kelly]], [[Tyrus Wong]], [[Virgil Partch]], [[Hank Ketcham]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Babbitt|first=Art|date=2013-03-22|title=Dennis the Union Menace|url=https://babbittblog.com/2013/03/22/dennis-the-union-menace/|access-date=2020-08-18|website=babbittblog|language=en}}</ref> [[Don Lusk]],<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Bartlett |first1=Rhett |date=2018-12-31 |title=Don Lusk, Animator on 'Pinocchio', 'Fantasia' and Charlie Brown Specials, Dies at 105 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/don-lusk-dead-pinocchio-fantasia-charlie-brown-animator-was-105-1172027/ |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}</ref> Joey Lockwood, Art Palmer, James Escalante, William Hurtz, Clair Weeks,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-11-15|title=Biography: Clair Weeks|url=https://animationresources.org/biography-clair-weeks/|access-date=2020-09-17|website=AnimationResources.org - Serving the Online Animation Community|language=en-US}}</ref> Moe Gollub,<ref>{{Cite web|title=MichaelBarrier.com -- "What's New" Archives: December 2014|url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/WhatsNewArchives/2014/WhatsNewArchivesDec14.html|access-date=2020-08-24|website=www.michaelbarrier.com}}</ref> [[Willis Pyle]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-06-21 |title=Willis Pyle obituary |url=http://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/jun/21/willis-pyle-obituary |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> [[T. Hee]], [[George Baker (cartoonist)|George Baker]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=George Baker and the Sad Sack {{!}}|date=December 20, 2013|url=http://www.tcj.com/george-baker-and-the-sad-sack/|access-date=2020-09-19|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Hicks Lokey]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=The 1984 Golden Awards Banquet Video, Part 3 {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-1984-golden-awards-banquet-video-part-3/|access-date=2021-07-09|website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-11-09|title=ASIFA-Hollywood Cartoon Hall Of Fame: LOKEY, Hicks|url=http://www.cartoonhalloffame.org/2005/12/lokey-hicks.html|access-date=2021-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109143537/http://www.cartoonhalloffame.org/2005/12/lokey-hicks.html|archive-date=November 9, 2011}}</ref> [[Stephen Bosustow]], Don Tobin,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Don Tobin|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/tobin_don.htm|access-date=2021-07-09|website=lambiek.net|language=en}}</ref> Eddie Strickland,<ref name=":0" /> Tony Rivera,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hulett |first=Steve |date=2006-08-30 |title=Remembering Tony Rivera |url=http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/remembering-tony-rivera.html |access-date=2022-10-04 |website=TAG Blog}}</ref> [[Cy Young (animator)|Cy Young]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Terrytoons "Indian Pudding" (1930) {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/terrytoons-indian-pudding-1930/|access-date=2020-09-12|website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref> [[Jesse Marsh]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reilly |first=Frank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=csIlMQAACAAJ |title=Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales, Vol. 2 |date=August 2017 |publisher=Idea & Design Works, LLC |isbn=978-1-63140-908-0 |language=en}}</ref> Chris Ishii,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chris Ishii|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/i/ishii_chris.htm|access-date=2021-07-09|website=lambiek.net|language=en}}</ref> [[Aurelius Battaglia]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Disney Strike of 1941: How It Changed Animation & Comics|url=https://www.awn.com/animationworld/disney-strike-1941-how-it-changed-animation-comics|access-date=2021-07-09|website=Animation World Network|language=en}}</ref> Lynn Karp,<ref>{{Cite web|title=MichaelBarrier.com -- Interviews: Lynn Karp|url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Karp/Karp.html|access-date=2020-08-19|website=www.michaelbarrier.com}}</ref> [[Jules Engel]], and Frank Fullmer. 
* [[Kenneth Muse]], [[Preston Blair]], [[Ed Love]], Walt Clinton, Claude Smith, Otto Englander, Webb Smith, Chuck Couch,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Disney's "Boat Builders": Even A Child Can Do It! {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/disneys-boat-builders-even-a-child-can-do-it/|access-date=2021-05-08|website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref> and [[Bernard Wolf]] left for the [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio|MGM Cartoon Studio]]. 
* [[Frank Tashlin]] (who later moved to Warner Bros., which had previously employed him as a director from 1936 to 1938), already head of production for [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia's]] [[Screen Gems#Animation studio (1921–49)|Screen Gems]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Frank Tashlin|url=https://www.nyrb.com/collections/frank-tashlin|access-date=2020-08-18|website=New York Review Books|language=en}}</ref> hired [[Emery Hawkins]], [[Ray Patterson (animator)|Ray Patterson]] (who later moved to MGM),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Irv Spence's "Rugged Rangers" {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/irv-spences-rugged-rangers/|access-date=2020-08-19|website=cartoonresearch.com|quote="...he was hired at Walt Disney's studio but left during the strike two years later. He spent a brief period at Screen Gems when Frank Tashlin (who later moved to Warner Bros.) was its creative head. Patterson soon moved to MGM, assigned to the Hanna-Barbera unit."}}</ref> Louie Schmitt (later an animator and character designer for [[Tex Avery]] at MGM),<ref>{{Cite web|last=Langley|first=Kevin|date=2007-04-10|title=Cartoons, Model Sheets, & Stuff: Tex Avery - "Lucky Ducky"|url=http://klangley.blogspot.com/2007/04/tex-avery-lucky-ducky.html|access-date=2021-06-26|website=Cartoons, Model Sheets, & Stuff}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Baxter |first=Devon |date=September 22, 2019 |title=Devon Baxter on Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/dee_bax/status/1175601548933652480 |access-date=2021-06-26 |website=Twitter |language=en}}</ref> Howard Swift, Phil Klein,<ref>{{Cite web |title=MichaelBarrier.com -- "What's New" Archives: October 2008 |url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/WhatsNewArchives/2008/WhatsNewArchivesOct08.htm#ofcabbagescontd |access-date=2020-08-19 |website=www.michaelbarrier.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Abraham |first=Adam |title=When Magoo flew: the rise and fall of animation studio UPA |date=2012 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=978-0-8195-7270-7 |location=Middletown, Conn. |oclc=777375474}}</ref> [[John Hubley]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Hubley Facts|url=https://biography.yourdictionary.com/john-hubley|access-date=2020-08-18|website=biography.yourdictionary.com}}</ref> [[David Hilberman]] (who later moved to Warner Bros.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Animator Profiles: NORM McCABE {{!}} |url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animator-profiles-norm-mccabe/ |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=MichaelBarrier.com -- Essays: UPA 1944-1952 |url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Essays/UPA/UPA.html |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=www.michaelbarrier.com}}</ref>), Zack Schwartz,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=UPA Founder Zack Schwartz Has Died |url=https://www.awn.com/news/upa-founder-zack-schwartz-has-died |access-date=2022-04-26 |website=Animation World Network |language=en}}</ref> Phil Duncan, Leo Salkin,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Chat with Leo Salkin {{!}} |url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/a-chat-with-leo-salkin/ |access-date=2024-02-19 |website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref> Grant Simmons (who later moved to MGM), Basil Davidovich (who later moved to Warner Bros.), Jim Armstrong, Bernard Garbutt, William Shull (later an animator at MGM), Chic Otterstrom, [[Sam Cobean]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lynch|first=Mike|date=2020-04-03|title=Remembering Sam Cobean|url=http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2020/04/remembering-sam-cobean.html|access-date=2020-08-18|website=Mike Lynch Cartoons}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Beck|first=Jerry|date=2004-11-30|title=SAM COBEAN WEBSITE|url=https://www.cartoonbrew.com/old-brew/sam-cobean-website-675.html|access-date=2020-08-18|website=Cartoon Brew|language=en-US}}</ref> Adrian Woolery,<ref>{{Cite web|date=1992-03-15|title=Adrian (Ade) Woolery; Pioneer in TV Commercial Animation|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-15-mn-6580-story.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-09|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184943/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-15-mn-6580-story.html |archive-date=July 9, 2021 }}</ref> and [[Volus Jones]]. Bob Wickersham, who left Disney to work at [[Fleischer Studios]] before the strike, was also hired.<ref>{{Cite web |title=MichaelBarrier.com -- Interviews: Frank Tashlin |url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Tashlin/tashlin_interview.htm |access-date=2020-08-19 |website=www.michaelbarrier.com |quote="I hired the picketers, and I built a new studio out of all the people who worked at Disney's. John Hubley...Bob Wickersham...I can't think of [all] their names, but they were good Disney animators, so they all came over and we had a studio."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MOONLIGHTING ANIMATORS IN COMICS: Bob Wickersham {{!}} |url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/moonlighting-animators-in-comics-bob-wickersham/ |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref>
* Babbitt, [[Hawley Pratt]], [[Bill Melendez]], Art Heinemann, Ray Patin,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moonlighting Animation Artists in Comics: RAY PATIN {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/moonlighting-animation-artists-in-comics-ray-patin/|access-date=2021-06-01|website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref> [[P.&nbsp;D. Eastman|Phil&nbsp;Eastman]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biographical Information|url=http://areyoumymotherbook.weebly.com/biographical-information.html|access-date=2020-09-19|website=areyoumymotherbook.weebly.com}}</ref> [[Don R. Christensen|Don Christensen]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moonlighting Animators in Comics: Don R. Christensen {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/moonlighting-animators-in-comics-don-r-christensen/|access-date=2020-09-05|website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref> [[Jack Bradbury]], and Gene Hazelton<ref>{{Cite web |title=News From ME - Mark Evanier's blog |url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2005/04/09/gene-hazelton-r-i-p/ |access-date=2022-09-25 |website=www.newsfromme.com}}</ref> left for [[Leon Schlesinger Productions]] (which would later be known as [[Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc.]] after [[Leon Schlesinger|Schlesinger]] sold the studio to [[Warner Bros.]]). Russ Dyson, [[Cornett Wood]] and [[Maurice Noble]] would also join the studio years afterward.
* Milt Schaffer, preceded briefly by Couch and joined years later by Hawkins, Pat Matthews,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://klangley.blogspot.com/2008/11/little-info-on-pat-matthews.html|title=Cartoons, Model Sheets, & Stuff: A Little Info on Pat Matthews|date=November 6, 2008}}</ref> [[Dick Lundy (animator)|Dick Lundy]] and Heinemann, moved to [[Walter Lantz Productions]]. 
* Bosustow, Hilberman, and Schwartz would later establish [[United Productions of America]], which made up mostly of ex-Disney animators including Melendez, Hubley, Engel and Pyle. 

[[Fleischer Studios]] (later transitioned to [[Famous Studios]]) and [[Terrytoons]] are the only major animation studios that did not benefit from hiring displaced Disney personnel immediately after the strike, mainly due to them being located on the East Coast. However, they still were able to gain some talent in the following years, including [[Bill Tytla]], Isadore Klein, Morey Reden, T. Hee and Paul Busch.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Walter Lantz' Andy Panda in "Meatless Tuesday" {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/walter-lantz-andy-panda-in-meatless-tuesday/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref>

In the years following [[World War II]], Lusk, Hee, Jones, Weeks, Marsh, Duncan, Schaffer, Hawkins, Salkin, Patin, Davidovich, Lokey, Battaglia, and Bradbury returned to the studio for varying lengths of time. Disney was forced to rehire Babbitt after he brought an unfair labor practices suit against the studio, though Babbitt eventually left for good in 1946.

Disney never forgave the participants and subsequently treated union members with contempt,<ref name=libcom.org/> arguing in a letter that the strike "cleaned house at our studio" and got rid of "the chip-on-the-shoulder boys and the world-owes-me-a-living lads".<ref>{{cite news|last=Garchik|first=Leah |url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Beauty-only-skin-deep-so-women-are-considering-6092693.php|title=Beauty only skin deep, so women are considering their history|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=22 February 2015|access-date=31 July 2016}}</ref> Testifying to the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]], Disney alleged that [[communism]] had played a major role in the strike, and many of the participants were [[Hollywood blacklist|blacklisted]], including Art Heinemann, an art director on ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]''. Heinemann went out on strike in sympathy with the animators and was subsequently fired and blacklisted, his name removed from ''Fantasia'''s credits.<ref name=libcom.org/>{{not in citation given|date=July 2025}}

==See also==
* [[List of Hollywood strikes]]
** [[The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839#NewDeal4Animation|NewDeal4Animation]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Sito, Tom. ''Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson''. Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. {{ISBN|0-8131-2407-7}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Organized labour}}
* {{url|https://animationguild.org/about-the-guild/disney-strike-1941/ | The Disney strike}}, on {{url|https://animationguild.org/ | The Animation Guild's website}}
* {{url|http://jimhillmedia.com/alumni1/b/wade_sampson/archive/2004/06/06/1204.aspx | Another look back at the 1941 Disney Studio strike}}; includes contemporary article from ''Screen Actor'' magazine

{{Walt Disney Animation Studios}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Disney Animators' Strike}}
[[Category:1941 labor disputes and strikes]]
[[Category:1941 in California]]
[[Category:1941 in animation]]
[[Category:1941 in American cinema]]
[[Category:May 1941 in the United States]]
[[Category:The Walt Disney Company]]
[[Category:Disney controversies]]
[[Category:History of animation in the United States]]
[[Category:History of The Walt Disney Company|Animators' strike]]
[[Category:Labor disputes in California]]
[[Category:Entertainment industry labor disputes in the United States]]
[[Category:Burbank, California]]
[[Category:Labour history of World War II]]
[[Category:June 1941 in the United States]]
[[Category:August 1941 in the United States]]
[[Category:September 1941 in the United States]]