--- description: How two crises— a crippling strike and the Second World War— changed the Disney studio (and Walt himself) forever title: Walt Disney and World War II: Trouble in Toonland image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fcaa2311614ab95/698892c6e20a879defa90c8e/160511-walt-disney-life-book-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How World War II Changed Walt Disney by [LIFE Books](/author/life-books/) ## LIFE Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 13, 2016 3:30 PM CUT  Filmmaker Walt Disney filming on Brazilian beach. 1941 Filmmaker Walt Disney filming on Brazilian beach. 1941Hart Preston—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [LIFE Books](/author/life-books/) ## LIFE Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 13, 2016 3:30 PM CUT When the Great Depression ended in 1939, millions of American workers, having endured years of unemployment, began demanding job security and a stake in the new prosperity, leading to a radicalism that influenced labor relations—not least in the movie business. By 1940, Hollywood’s Screen Cartoonists Guild had unionized the town’s major animation departments except Disney’s, despite the fact that the Mouse House employed the vast majority of the industry’s artists. There was little consistency in Disney studio salaries or perks. The most valued animators were allowed entrance to the so-called Penthouse Club, which included a steam room and a gym featuring a trainer who had competed on the Swiss Olympic team. But “lesser” artists often couldn’t afford to eat in the cafeteria. To make matters worse, the Disney organization reluctantly went public in 1940, selling stock to meet its mounting losses. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter "undefined") Suddenly employees knew what the boss was making: at least five times that of his top people. And the women in the lowly Ink and Paint Department (pretty much the only place where women were allowed) were paid a pittance. “Walt was following a very hardline capitalist model,” says \[Stephen Cavalier, author of _The World History of Animation_\]: “the big boss upstairs with the vision, and the worker drones down on the production line.” Increasingly dissatisfied, Disney’s workers moved toward unionization. For Walt, this was literally unbelievable: Weren’t they all a family? In February 1941, he held a meeting he thought would resolve the issue once and for all. Instead, he inflamed it. “My first recommendation to the lot of you is this,” he said: “Put your own house in order . . . If you’re not progressing as you should, instead of grumbling and growling, do something about it.” This condescending speech turned more Disney employees to the union cause than ever before. On May 29, 1941, after a valued senior animator named Art Babbitt was fired for joining the union, nearly half the Disney art department walked out. Even as the studio’s stock dropped precipitously because its films were losing money, Walt refused to negotiate. In fact, when Babbitt shouted from the picket line, “Shame on you, Walt Disney!” as Walt drove to work, Disney got out of his car and charged at him. **MORE:** [How _Toy Story_ Changed Movie History](http://time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/ "undefined") Disheartened and confused, Walt fell back on a paranoid conspiracy theory, claiming through an ad in the trade paper _Variety_ that the strike was “Communistic.” But he was, for once, powerless. “Animators were highly skilled workers, hard to replace with scabs, which provided them with added leverage,” Gerald Horne, author of _Class Struggle in Hollywood: 1930–1950,_ tells LIFE. Just as he had done after his nervous breakdown, Walt escaped—this time, to South America. “It gives me a chance to get away from this god-awful nightmare,” he wrote. “I have a case of the D.D.s—disillusionment and discouragement.” During Walt’s southern sojourn, Elias died. Disney did not return for the funeral, but when he finally reemerged in Los Angeles, Walt discovered that Roy had resolved the strike, giving the workers almost everything they had asked for. But nothing would ever be the same— not least because on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, sending a shocked America reeling into World War II. From the start, Walt’s perspective on the conflict had been uninformed. (When asked how the war might affect the studio, he replied: “What war?”) But after half the studio was requisitioned as a base for antiaircraft troops, Walt threw himself into making government training and propaganda films. (The most popular was arguably _Der Fuehrer’s Face,_ in which Donald Duck dreams he’s working in a German munitions factory.) ### See Photos of Disneyland When It Opened in 1955  Caption from LIFE. Sleeping Beauty's castle in Fantasyland is overrun by children crossing drawbridge over moat. Inside, Disney plans a model torture chamber. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  One of Disneyland's boat rides, Anaheim, California, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Rides at Disneyland in 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  People riding the teacup ride at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  People riding a riverboat at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Disneyland Parade done as a preview for national television, 1955. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Planted flowers forming design of Mickey Mouse's face, with Disneyland train in background, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Mickey Mouse riding the Disneyland Railroad, 1955. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Disneyland rides in 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Children scared during Snow White ride at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Cups and saucers filled with squealing children as paying guests whirl through park's Fantasyland at Disney's "Mad Hatter's Tea Party." Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Showgirl performers taking a break and having a drink at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  People resting by TWA rocket at Disneyland Amusement Park, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Disneyland rides, 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A family at Disneyland in 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Disneyland rides in 1955. Loomis Dean—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Walt found little creative satisfaction in this work, but some of his old enthusiasm returned with the making of 1943’s _Victory Through Air Power,_ based on a 1942 nonfiction book that aviation aficionado Walt had become enamored with. (At one point in the film, an animated woman is shown reading a copy of LIFE at the beautician’s, saying, “Jeepers! The President wants 50,000 planes a year!”) _Victory_ was, however, a flop, and the studio made slim profits from its government endeavors. After the war ended in 1945, the cash-strapped Walt announced: “We’re through with caviar. From now on it’s mashed potatoes and gravy.” Desperately needing a hit, Walt returned to his Marceline paradigm, focusing on folksy Americana instead of European folk tales in a little picture called _Song of the South._ Based on the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris, the film was set in the South in the late 1800s. Initially concerned that it might seem racially insensitive, Walt solicited the input of black leaders, who warned him against featuring, for instance, happy slaves singing songs. But Walt followed his own instincts—and the finished film did show happy black sharecroppers singing songs. (“Let the rain pour down! Let the cold wind blow! Gonna stay right here in the home I know!”) To make matters worse, the film’s November premiere was held in Atlanta, Georgia, which remained segregated, meaning that James Baskett, who played Uncle Remus, could not get a hotel room. **MORE:** [See Video of Walt Disney Preparing for Disneyland’s Opening](http://time.com/3957667/walt-disney-video-clip/ "undefined") Instead of the comeback Disney had envisioned, the film made only a small profit. It was also controversial, leading to the charges of racism that—along with anti-Semitism— dog Walt’s reputation to this day. (_Song of the South_ is the one Disney film never issued on DVD in the U.S. and remains a corporate embarrassment: Disney’s elephant in the room . . . one that doesn’t fly.) Walt’s insensitivity—or was it naïveté?—surfaced once again in 1947, when he became a “friendly” witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee, baselessly calling the men who’d walked out on him six years before “communists.” Once again, the Disney brand was in the doldrums, dominated by pleasantly unexceptional fare such as _Fun and Fancy Free_ (1947) and _Melody Time_ (1948). Damning with faint praise, LIFE called the second half of 1949’s _The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad_ “good enough to convince Disney admirers that the old master can still display all the bounce and vitality that he had before the war.” Though the great Soviet filmmaker Sergey Eisenstein thought 1946’s _Make Mine Music_ was “absolutely ingenious,” Walt knew the work wasn’t his best. There were a few high points—commercially, at least—in the years that followed. In 1948, a faked live-action documentary, _Seal Island,_ became the first in a series of successful True-Life Adventures. And 1950’s _Cinderella_ was an unexpected hit. But Walt could only see what was wrong with it, mostly flaws that were the result of cost-cutting. He said he would never make anything as good as _Snow White,_ according to biographer Neal Gabler—even though his focus wasn’t on the movies anymore. Instead, he had become preoccupied with trains.  LIFE Books _Read the rest in LIFE’s_ _new special edition,_ Walt Disney: From Mickey to the Magic Kingdom_,_ [_available on_ _Amazon_](http://amzn.to/1Oc5rYU. "undefined")_._  Filmmaker Walt Disney filming on Brazilian beach. 1941 Hart Preston—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Animator Walt Disney, second from left, hands over his sketch of a Mickey Mouse gas mask to Maj. Gen. William Porter, right, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 8, 1942\. Civilian defense and chemical warfare officers plan to produce the design intended to encourage children to use their mask readily for protection during World War II. AP Photo  "DER FUEHRER'S FACE," Hitler, Donald Duck, Walt Disney's Oscar-winning short subject, 1943. ©Walt Disney Co./Everett  Lt. J.C. Hutchison (L) advising Walt Disney as they discuss model plane in front of sketches for WWII naval flight training film. Mark Kauffman/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images  The creator of Mickey Mouse told the group that a Hollywood union leader once said he could use the National Labor Relations Board "as it suited his purpose." AP Photo  Walt Disney Studios: Members of the AFL Screen Cartoonists' Guild established a picket line, demanding recognition as the collective bargaining agency and reinstatement of sixe leaders discharged for union activity, Burbank, CA, May 28, 1941 Courtesy Everett Collection ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4326360/walt-disney-world-war-ii-excerpt/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4326360/walt-disney-world-war-ii-excerpt/"},"headline":"How World War II Changed Walt Disney","datePublished":"2016-05-13T15:30:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:00.735Z","description":"How two crises— a crippling strike and the Second World War— changed the Disney studio (and Walt himself) forever","url":"https://time.com/4326360/walt-disney-world-war-ii-excerpt/","keywords":["Books","movies","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fcaa2311614ab95/698892c6e20a879defa90c8e/160511-walt-disney-life-book-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"LIFE Books","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/life-books/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fcaa2311614ab95/698892c6e20a879defa90c8e/160511-walt-disney-life-book-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Walt Disney at the Beach","caption":"1941 Filmmaker Walt Disney filming on Brazilian beach","creditText":"Hart Preston—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4326360/walt-disney-world-war-ii-excerpt/","name":"How World War II Changed Walt Disney"}}]}] ```