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The Ropes At Disney
January 29, 2007 12:01 am
 Ever wonder what it was like to work at the Disney Studio during the Golden Age of Animation? Think it was the “happiest place on Earth”? Think again. This 1943 booklet, given to all new employees, spelled it out for you. Gals ain’t allowed in the Penthouse Club, personal phone calls will be charged to you, and if you need to leave the studio, you cannot do so without an “Off the Lot Pass”. Oh, and “Any violation of the U. S. Espionage Act” will get you discharged. UPDATE: We’ve learned the illustrations in this book were done by Tom Oreb.
(Thanks to Mike Van Eaton for sharing this with us) |
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Which is worse? The atmosphere of golden age Disney or post millennium Disney where smug executives try to kill off their animation unit? I’d say the former.
…You prefer the death of the animation unit?
Oddly it’s not that bad if you just ignore the NO LADIES ALLOWED, harsh timesheets, and personal phone calls. They had a better health plan, unionized(33!), onsite restaurant, and more vacation days compared to today.
Look at today’s animation market. Having to compete with hungry students and workers willing to push in 100 hour workweeks doesn’t strike me as good times. I’m lucky I’m fast.
I agree the studio had a lot of good things going for it, but treating women like dogs wasn’t one of them.
Dogs?
Ariel, maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but I don’t think that was so much the studio’s fault as much as it was, say… the fault that it was the year 1943? :P
Why is he walking on a tightroap between good and evil? Wouldn’t it be easier just to walk on the side of the angel?
I wish our manuals had as much charm. how fun!
At first I thought “violations of the Espionage Act” was a joke, but then I thought of the paranoid post-war culture America was about to enter, and now I’m not sure.
Well, in 1943 it was a “war culture” not just a paranoid “post-war/Cold War” culture. While I agree that the Red Scare and other fears of mid-century America were exaggerated, one can hardly blame them for mentioning it DURING the war, with the studio working for the military to produce training & propaganda films.
You can’t expect any company (despite what great work it may have produced) to be so far ahead of the cultural milieu of its time. It was 1943, post-war paranoia, sexism was everywhere. You can’t expect to look at one culture through your own. Then again, this is cartoonbrew!
Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but it sounds like some of you should learn a little history. This book was written in the midst of World War II. In 1943, things were still looking extremely bleak for the Allies (eg. the Italian Campaign). Espionage was a very real concern. Disney was involved in creating training films for the military, and was privy to secret information. Many of these regulations dealt with making sure security wasn’t compromised. Surely even the most liberal (of which I am one) among you can understand that.
The sexist humor throughout is mild, though your mileage may vary. Actually, I suppose I, as a guy, could take equal offense at the “stupid man” humor on a lot of the pages. I imagine the prohibition against women in the “Penthouse Club” (likely a sweltering rooftop, with few real perks) was to protect the reputations (and more) of the female employees, not as a way to punish or suppress women. I could be totally wrong though. I do think it’s totally unfair that the women got twice as many sick days as the guys … but I’ll survive. :-)
Well said. The only part of the depiction of the woman that offends me is her impossibly small feet. Size -5 shoes, anyone?
Doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. At the turn of the century, the average woman’s size shoe was a size 2. Also, it is a stylized drawing.
The military had more or less taken over the studio at this time. I wouldn’t be surprised if this whimsical manual was the studio’s attempt to save morale in light of the restrictions imposed by military presence.
I agree. I think that’s entirely possible as well.
LOL, Iritscen! However, how about that average-height guy’s size 13 rowboats?!! :-D
I for one would like to know the name of that gutsy employee from the ink-and-paint’s girls who first challenged that outrageous ban from the penthouse club.