Welcome to Disney circa 1943

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann Jan 29, 2007

(Source: www.cartoonbrew.com)

Guess what? Working for the Walt Disney Company in 1943 was just like working for any other mammoth corporation. Cartoon Brew managed to get their hands on a brochure handed to all new Disney employees during World War II (hence all those references to War Bonds). It's called "The Ropes at Disney's" and a quick glance shows that those ropes weren't just metaphorical.

So what was it like working for the Mouse House in '43? You weren't allowed to open any windows, you needed an "Off the Lot Pass" if you needed to leave the studio, you paid for using the phone for personal calls, women weren't allowed in the Penthouse Club and, if you left the company after working there for over a year, your severance package was a princely two weeks pay.

Oh yeah, and you gotta love the images of the schlumpy employee ogling the sexy woman worker scattered throughout the booklet. And while we're at it, check out the ghostly shop steward menacing the employee with a card saying, "Meeting tonite."

Some historical context: this brochure was made up after the bitter animators' strike of 1940. It started when Walt Disney fired animator Art Babbitt, who complained about some of the bizarre pay practices at the company. Many of the strikers were actually parodied in the flick Dumbo, as a bunch of clowns who go to "hit the big boss for a raise."

A federal mediator eventually sided with the strikers on virtually every issue, and recommended that Disney become a union shop. Disney was also forced to rehire Babbitt in 1945, when Babbit won an unfair labour practices lawsuit against the company.

You can check out the pamphlet over here.