Why was the US gov in the Disney studios?

[rabbit]

Was looking through an Disney employee manual from 1943 and it mentions here (under identification) something about “Uncle Sam Joining us”, one assumes at the studio.

What was the US gov. doing at the Disney studios that merited extra security?

[JohnT]

WW2 propoganda?

[Duckster]

Unlike many other studios, Disney’s had not prospered during World War II, when it had devoted much of its energies to producing films for the U.S. government. Indeed, the Disney studio had never made a great deal of money because of the time- and labor-intensive nature of animation work. After the war, Disney hoped to expand his enterprises. The key to this expansion, according to Christopher Anderson in Hollywood TV (1994), was diversification. Disney was ready to set his sights beyond the film industry.

Source: http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/D/htmlD/disneywalt/disneywalt.htm

Disney had long established relationships with the federal government dating back to the early 1940s. In a sense, Walt Disney went to war before America did, producing war shorts on contract for the National Film Board of Canada and military production films for Lockheed Aircraft. Days after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Walt Disney was in Washington meeting with top government officials. The result of these meetings was The New Spirit(1942), an animated film made to encourage citizens to pay “taxes to smash the Axis.” This began a close relationship between Disney and the U.S. government in the production of films for propaganda, training, and educational purposes. These films not only served the needs of the government in wartime, they added over two and a half million dollars to the Disney studio’s coffers in the first year of the war alone.

Source: Disney's Atomic Fleet

Another Disney effect was tied to the studio’s role as producer of war propaganda. Distinct from the art painted by the crews between missions was the variety painted by Disney artists at the time of production of the aircraft. The close proximity of Disney studios in Burbank to both Lockheed’s main and subsidiary plants prompted a collaborative effort between the U.S. government and Disney. Studio artists created art that promoted the country’s involvement in the war as the planes came off the assembly line. Not shying away from racial slurs and derogatory commentary, this art was meant to place the enemy leaders in a negative light–“often in a much nastier light than . . . art work applied by combat crews” (O’Leary, p. 49).

Source: http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/militarynoseart/ww2-3.htm

In this last link, perhaps the Disney artists were working inside of Lockheed to paint the bomber nose art. It makes sense that if you were working inside of a bomber plant during WWII that you were to keep your mouth shut as to what you saw around you.

[Eutychus]

The Disney studio was taken over by the Army the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They used the facilities for various purposes, the main one being that the soundstages were large enough that they could be used for airplane repair. But there were also quite a few places in the studio that could be used for ammunition storage as well.

[rabbit]

Huh… I had no idea they were so closely tied.

[The_Hamster_King]

@Eutychus

The Disney studio was taken over by the Army the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They used the facilities for various purposes, the main one being that the soundstages were large enough that they could be used for airplane repair. But there were also quite a few places in the studio that could be used for ammunition storage as well.

Are you sure about this? I don’t think that Disney had any significant live-action productions until after the war. In the early 1940’s the Burbank facility had buildings to house the animators, but I don’t think it had large soundstages like the other major L.A. movie studios. And considering the strategic value of Disney as a source of propaganda and training films, it seems odd that it would be used as an ammo dump.

Is it possible that the Army did something like this at MGM rather than Disney? MGM DID have large soundstages, and their Culver City location was convenient to the air fields on the west side of the city.

[The_Hamster_King]

Ah, after checking the Disney Studios website it seems that there was ONE sound stage on the lot during the war. The others were built afterwards. But I still question whether it was used for aircraft repair or whether ammo was stored elsewhere on the lot.

[Eutychus]

@Pochacco

Are you sure about this? I don’t think that Disney had any significant live-action productions until after the war. In the early 1940’s the Burbank facility had buildings to house the animators, but I don’t think it had large soundstages like the other major L.A. movie studios. And considering the strategic value of Disney as a source of propaganda and training films, it seems odd that it would be used as an ammo dump.

Is it possible that the Army did something like this at MGM rather than Disney? MGM DID have large soundstages, and their Culver City location was convenient to the air fields on the west side of the city.

I don’t have the time to type it all out right now, but my source is “The Magic Kingdom : Walt Disney and the American Way of Life” by Steven Watts, a pretty reliable source in my book. I’ll quote the relevant part when I get home this afternoon.

[The_Hamster_King]

@Eutychus

I don’t have the time to type it all out right now, but my source is “The Magic Kingdom : Walt Disney and the American Way of Life” by Steven Watts, a pretty reliable source in my book. I’ll quote the relevant part when I get home this afternoon.

Thanks for the cite. I think my wife actually owns this book.

That’s interesting information and something I hadn’t heard about the studio before.

[Eutychus]

@Pochacco

Thanks for the cite. I think my wife actually owns this book.

That’s interesting information and something I hadn’t heard about the studio before.

Here’s the relevant passage; from page 228 :

In the fall of 1941, after the strike was settled, many hoped that life would return to some semblance of normality at the Disney studio. Such hopes proved short lived. Only a few weeks later, the airplanes of imperial Japan swooped down on pearl harbor. the day after the attack, Walt Disney received an early morning call from his studio manager. “Walt, the army is moving in on us,” the man said. "They came up and said that wanted to move in. I said I’d have to call you and they said ‘Call him, but we’re moving in anyway.’ " With that, five hundred US Army troops marched into the Disney studio. Part of the force stationed in the hills around Los Angeles to protect airplane factories, they repaired equiptment in the large soundstage, stored ammunition in the parking sheds, and posted guards at all the entrances. They remained at the studio - the only Hollywood facility the army took over - for eight months. Thus the Disney Studio began it’s encounter with the American government and the War.

[The_Hamster_King]

Thanks very much! My doubt was ill-founded.

[Walloon]

Hal Roach Studios became equally devoted to government filmmaking, but with an added difference: studio chief Hal Roach, Sr. was in uniform. Even Disney didn’t have that.