The Queens of Animation

by Nathalia Holt

  The premiere of Fantasia and its subsequent lukewarm reception are reported in Charles Solomon, “It Wasn’t Always Magic,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1990, and Neal Gabler, “Disney’s Fantasia Was Initially a Critical and Box-Office Failure,” Smithsonian, November 2015.

  Chapter 5: Little April Shower

  Animators explain that they believed Scott’s sketches for Bambi were made by a virile man in Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, Walt Disney’s “Bambi”: The Story and the Film (New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1990).

  Descriptions of the Penthouse Club can be found in the 1943 Walt Disney Studios employee handbook and in Don Peri, Working with Disney: Interviews with Animators, Producers, and Artists (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2011).

  Walt is quoted as saying “I haven’t felt that Bambi was one of our productions” in Neal Gabler, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (New York: Random House, 2006).

  The history of Felix Salten’s writing and why his books were banned in Germany can be found in Paul Reitter, “Bambi’s Jewish Roots,” Jewish Review of Books (Winter 2014), and Paul Reitter, Bambi’s Jewish Roots and Other Essays on German-Jewish Culture (New York: Bloomsbury, 2015).

  “The Animators had always hoped” quote is from a 1940 in-house studio newsletter in Retta Scott’s private collection and is also cited in Mindy Johnson, Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney’s Animation (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2017).

  A history of Mildred Fulvia di Rossi, also known as Millicent Patrick, can be found in Tom Weaver, David Schecter, and Steve Kronenberg, The Creature Chronicles: Exploring the Black Lagoon Trilogy (Abingdon, UK: McFarland, 2017).

  Internal memo from Grace Huntington’s private collection beginning “It has always been Walt’s hope” was circulated on January 17, 1939.

  The number of women working in the studio and specifically in the Ink and Paint department is reported in Johnson, Ink & Paint.

  Tyrus Wong’s history was obtained from an oral history interview with Tyrus Wong, January 30, 1965, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; John Canemaker, Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists (New York: Hyperion, 1996); and Pamela Tom, Tyrus (PBS, American Masters, 2017). Wong recounts how he was referred to by a racial slur at the studio in all three of these sources.

  A comparison of the experiences endured at Ellis Island and Angel Island by immigrants, including the quote about “the conglomeration of ramshackle buildings,” can be found in Ronald H. Bayor, Encountering Ellis Island: How European Immigrants Entered America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014).

  A history of the Chinese Exclusion Act can be found in John Soennichsen, The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011).

  Examples of xenophobia in reaction to immigration from Asia can be found in J. S. Tyler, “Tiny Brown Men Are Pouring Over the Pacific Coast,” Seattle Daily Times, April 21, 1900, and the editorial entitled “The Yellow Peril: How the Japanese Crowd Out the White Race,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 1905.

  In 1892, handbills were posted in Tacoma, Washington, that read “Shall We Have Chinese? No! No! No!” One is currently held at the Washington State Historical Society in Tacoma.

  Some of the poems etched on the walls at Angel Island can be found in Him Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung, eds., Island: Poetry and History of the Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910–1940 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991).

  The history of Asian American immigrants working at the Walt Disney Studios can be found in Iwao Takamoto with Michael Mallory, Iwao Takamoto: My Life with a Thousand Characters (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2009), and Didier Ghez, ed., Walt’s People, vol. 9, Talking Disney with the Artists Who Knew Him (Bloomington, IN: Theme Park Press, 2011).

  Development of Bambi obtained from story-meeting transcripts between 1937 and 1940.

  Walt’s quote beginning “And as the stag goes off” appears in a story-meeting transcript from June 20, 1940. The conversation is reported in Johnston and Thomas, Walt Disney’s “Bambi.”

  Diane Disney is reported to have said, “Why did you have to kill Bambi’s mother?” in Jamie Portman, “Generations Stunned by Death Scene in Bambi,” Boston Globe, July 15, 1988.

  The impact of Tyrus Wong’s art on trimming the dialogue in Bambi is explained in Johnston and Thomas, Walt Disney’s “Bambi.”

  Frank Churchill’s techniques for developing the score of Bambi are described in James Bohn, Music in Disney’s Animated Features: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to “The Jungle Book” (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2017).

  Visual effects for Bambi are described in Johnston and Thomas, Walt Disney’s “Bambi”; Chris Pallant, Demystifying Disney: A History of Disney Feature Animation (London: A and C Black, 2011); and Janet Martin, “Bringing Bambi to the Screen,” Nature, August 9, 1942.

  Definitions of cellulose acetate, cellulose nitrate, and properties of cel animation can be found in Karen Goulekas, Visual Effects in a Digital World: A Comprehensive Glossary of Over 7000 Visual Effects Terms (San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 2001).

  Walt’s quote beginning “The main thing is the slower pace” is in Johnston and Thomas, Walt Disney’s “Bambi.”

  Chapter 6: Baby Mine

  Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, Dumbo the Flying Elephant (Syracuse, NY: Roll-a-Book Publishers, 1939).

  Original storyboards for Elmer Elephant by Bianca Majolie can be found in John Canemaker, Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (New York: Hyperion, 1999).

  Materials concerning Mary Goodrich can be found at the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in New Haven. Her role in adapting “The Snow Queen” is discussed in Charles Solomon, The Art of “Frozen” (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2015).

  Walt is quoted as saying “Dumbo is an obvious straight cartoon” in Michael Barrier, The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).

  Pinocchio cost $2.6 million to make according to multiple sources, including James Bohn, Music in Disney’s Animated Features: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to “The Jungle Book” (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2017).

  Pinocchio was dubbed in two languages according to Michael Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).

  The quote that starts “The most enchanting film” is in Kate Cameron, “Disney’s Pinocchio a Gem of the Screen,” New York Daily News, February 8, 1940.

  Mary Blair’s concept art for Dumbo can be seen in John Canemaker, The Art and Flair of Mary Blair: An Appreciation (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2014).

  A discussion of Walt Disney’s association with Technicolor can be found in Scott Higgins, Harnessing the Technicolor Rainbow: Color Design in the 1930s (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009).

  Natalie Kalmus’s story can be found in Christine Gledhill and Julia Knight, eds., Doing Women’s Film History: Reframing Cinemas, Past and Future (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2009).

  Dorothy’s silver slippers were adapted for political interpretation; see Henry M. Littlefield, “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism,” American Quarterly 16, no. 1 (1964), and Ranjit S. Dighe, The Historian’s “Wizard of Oz”: Reading L. Frank Baum’s Classic as a Political and Monetary Allegory (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002).

  David O. Selznick’s comments about Natalie Kalmus are in Patrick Keating, Hollywood Lighting from the Silent Era to Film Noir (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009).

  Descriptions of the Ink and Paint department, including teatime, can be found in Mindy Johnson, Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney’s Animation (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2017), and Patricia Kohn, “Coloring the Kingdom,” Vanity Fair, February 5, 2010.

  The problem with color fading and cellulose acetate is described in Richard Hincha, “Crisis in Celluloid: Color F
ading and Film Base Deterioration,” Archival Issues 17, no. 2 (1992).

  Walt Disney offered preferred stock to the public beginning in 1940, and it quickly dropped in value from twenty-five dollars to just over three dollars; see Bryan Taylor, “Disney Reminds Us of a Time When Anyone Could Invest Early and Really Make a Lot of Money,” Business Insider, November 17, 2013.

  Walt’s salary of two thousand dollars a week in 1940 and the company’s move to Burbank are noted in Neal Gabler, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (New York: Random House, 2006).

  President Roosevelt recounted the story of the note given to him by a young girl in Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Public Papers and Addresses of the Presidents of the United States, vol. 5 (New York: Random House, 1938).

  More information on the Fair Labor Standards Act can be found in Cass Sunstein, The Second Bill of Rights: FDR’s Unfinished Revolution—And Why We Need It More Than Ever (New York: Basic Books, 2009).

  Description of the Snow White Special obtained from the studio restaurant menu held in Grace Huntington’s private collection.

  Salary averages and ranges at the studio in 1940 and the formation of the Screen Cartoonists’ Guild reported in Tom Sito, Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006).

  The bulk and expense of Fantasound are explained in Charles Solomon, “Fantastic Fantasia: Disney Channel Takes a Look at Walt’s Great Experiment in Animation,” Los Angeles Times, August 26, 1990.

  Negative reviews for Fantasia are quoted in Charles Solomon, “It Wasn’t Always Magic,” Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1990.

  The studio’s $4.5 million debt is detailed in Gabler, Walt Disney.

  Bianca’s concept art for Cinderella and Peter Pan can be seen in Didier Ghez, They Drew As They Pleased, vol. 1, The Hidden Art of Disney’s Golden Age: The 1930s (New York: Hyperion, 2015).

  Chapter 7: Aquarela do Brasil

  Information on the women of Toei Doga can be found in Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, The Anime Encyclopedia: A Century of Japanese Animation, 3rd ed. (Southbridge, MA: Stone Bridge Press, 2015).

  The full transcript of Walt’s speech to his employees on February 10, 1941, can be found in Walt Disney, Walt Disney Conversations (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006).

  The roles played by Art Babbitt and Herb Sorrell in the 1941 strike can be found in Tom Sito, Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), and Steven Watts, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2013).

  Walt Disney’s South American travels are described in J. B. Kaufman, South of the Border with Disney: Walt Disney and the Good Neighbor Program, 1941–1948 (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2009), and Allen L. Woll, “Hollywood’s Good Neighbor Policy: The Latin Image in American Film, 1939–1946,” Journal of Popular Film 4, no. 2 (1974).

  Details on the South America trip obtained from Mary and Lee Blair’s records, documents, interviews, and correspondence provided by the Blair family estate.

  Chapter 8: You’re in the Army Now

  Memo sent by Roy Disney obtained from Sylvia Holland’s records and provided by Theo Halladay.

  Concept art and early development for The Little Mermaid obtained by permission from Didier Ghez’s research.

  Employee reactions to the strike can be found in Don Peri, Working with Disney: Interviews with Animators, Producers, and Artists (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2011).

  Dumbo was called “a fanciful delight” in Bosley Crowther, “Walt Disney’s Cartoon Dumbo, a Fanciful Delight, Opens at the Broadway,” New York Times, October 24, 1941.

  A history of Pearl Harbor can be found in Craig Nelson, Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016).

  The reaction of Chileans to Saludos Amigos is documented in Jason Borge, Latin American Writers and the Rise of Hollywood Cinema (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2008).

  Background on Boettiger and the development of Condorito can be found in H. L’Hoeste and J. Poblete, eds., Redrawing the Nation: National Identity in Latin/o American Comics (Berlin: Springer, 2006).

  “It isn’t exactly like anything the Disney boys have ever done” comes from Bosley Crowther, “The Screen; Saludos Amigos, a Musical Fantasy Based on the South American Tour Made by Walt Disney, Arrives at the Globe,” New York Times, February 13, 1943.

  The FBI response to Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Executive Order 9066 are discussed in Matthew Dallek, Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Security (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).

  The history of Ub Iwerks’s and Walt Disney’s use of optical printers can be found in Jeff Foster, The Green Screen Handbook: Real-World Production Techniques (Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, 2010), and Leslie Iwerks and John Kenworthy, The Hand Behind the Mouse (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2001).

  The quotes “Bambi is gem-like in its reflection of the color and movement of sylvan plant and animal life” and “glow and texture” are from “Bambi,” Variety, December 31, 1941.

  “The most terrifying curs since Cerberus” is from “The New Pictures,” Time, August 24, 1942.

  “The worst insult ever offered in any form to American sportsmen” is from Raymond J. Brown, “Outdoor Life Condemns Walt Disney’s Film Bambi as an Insult to American Sportsmen,” Outdoor Life, September 1942.

  “His painted forest is hardly to be distinguished from the real forest shown by the Technicolor camera in The Jungle Book” and “Why have cartoons at all?” are from “Bambi, a Musical Cartoon in Technicolor Produced by Walt Disney from the Story by Felix Salten, at the Music Hall,” New York Times, August 14, 1942.

  Bambi lost one hundred thousand dollars in its first theatrical run, as reported in “101 Pix Gross in Millions,” Variety, January 6, 1943.

  Alexander P. de Seversky, Victory Through Air Power (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943).

  The role of Victory Through Air Power is discussed in John Baxter, Disney During World War II: How the Walt Disney Studios Contributed to Victory in the War (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2014).

  Retta Scott’s drawings for the gremlins and background on the project can be found in Didier Ghez, They Drew As They Pleased, vol. 2, The Hidden Art of Disney’s Musical Years: The 1940s—Part One (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2016).

  A history of Roald Dahl’s association with Walt Disney is discussed in Rebecca Maksel, “The Roald Dahl Aviation Story That Disney Refused to Film,” Air and Space, May 22, 2014.

  Chester Carlson’s history is told in David Owen, Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg—Chester Carlson and the Birth of the Xerox Machine (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004).

  Chapter 9: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

  Artwork from and background information on the health-related shorts can be found in Didier Ghez, They Drew As They Pleased, vol. 2, The Hidden Art of Disney’s Musical Years: The 1940s—Part One (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2016).

  The history of tampons is chronicled in Elissa Stein and Susan Kim, Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2009).

  A history of Disney’s adaptation of Cinderella is told in Charles Solomon, A Wish Your Heart Makes: From the Grimm Brothers’ Aschenputtel to Disney’s “Cinderella” (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2015).

  Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (New York: D. Appleton, 1880).

  Discussion of Song of the South can be found in Gordon B. Arnold, Animation and the American Imagination: A Brief History (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017); Jim Korkis, Who’s Afraid of the “Song of the South”? And Other Forbidden Disney Stories (Bloomington, IN: Theme Park Press, 2012); Jason Sperb, Disney’s Most Notorious Film: Race, Conver
gence, and the Hidden Histories of “Song of the South” (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012).

  Maurice Rapf’s involvement with Song of the South and Cinderella, including the quote “That’s why I want someone like you…,” is detailed in Maurice Rapf, Back Lot: Growing Up with the Movies (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1999).

  Vern Caldwell’s memo concerning Song of the South is reproduced in Neal Gabler, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (New York: Random House, 2006).

  Some of Mary Blair’s concept art for Song of the South can be seen in John Canemaker, The Art and Flair of Mary Blair: An Appreciation (Glendale, CA: Disney Editions, 2014).

  A history of Walter White’s accomplishments with the NAACP can be found in Kenneth Robert Janken, Walter White: Mr. NAACP (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006); Melvyn Stokes, D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation”: A History of the Most Controversial Motion Picture of All Time (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008); Jennifer Latson, “The Surprising Story of Walter White and the NAACP,” Time, July 1, 2015.

  Celebrations occurring in the Port of Los Angeles were reported in Yank, the Army Weekly, June 1, 1945.

  More information on the experience of African Americans returning from World War II can be found in Christopher S. Parker, Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009), and Rawn James Jr., The Double V: How Wars, Protest, and Harry Truman Desegregated America’s Military (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013).

  Langston Hughes’s poem “Beaumont to Detroit” is in Langston Hughes, The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994).

  Alice Walker movingly described her reaction to Song of the South in a talk at the Atlanta Historical Society in 1981 that was later published as an essay in Alice Walker, Living by the Word: Essays (New York: Open Road Media, 2011).

  Reaction and protest to Song of the South are documented in Sperb, Disney’s Most Notorious Film.