What if there was no WW2?

[Goliath]

@ Dr. Frankenollie:

I think you need to read J. Michael Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age. Even if WWII had not taken place, there would still be no Bongo, Mickey or Wind in the Willows features. Due to the fact that the limited budget is always stressed, people forget that Joe Grant and the others at the story department discovered that the afore-mentioned stories were far too thin to stretch them out to an entire feature, which they told Walt, who agreed with that premise.

I also think you should read a bit more on Walt Disney. He was obviously very much interested in making live-action films and didn't do it (just) for financial reasons. Around the time of Lady and the Tramp, when his animated films were doing very well, he was still losing interest in animation and was in England for the filming of live-action most of the time. And Disneyland was a dream to him. It was Roy who wanted to retire after the succes of Cinderella, not Walt.

[Big Disney Fan]

@ Dr. Frankenollie:

I think you need to read J. Michael Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age. Even if WWII had not taken place, there would still be no Bongo, Mickey or Wind in the Willows features. Due to the fact that the limited budget is always stressed, people forget that Joe Grant and the others at the story department discovered that the afore-mentioned stories were far too thin to stretch them out to an entire feature, which they told Walt, who agreed with that premise.

I also think you should read a bit more on Walt Disney. He was obviously very much interested in making live-action films and didn't do it (just) for financial reasons. Around the time of Lady and the Tramp, when his animated films were doing very well, he was still losing interest in animation and was in England for the filming of live-action most of the time. And Disneyland was a dream to him. It was Roy who wanted to retire after the succes of Cinderella, not Walt.

Well, he did say "Walt AND Roy", not just Walt.

[SillySymphony]

What if there was no WW2?

My grandpa wouldn't have left Germany, who then never would've met my grandma, whose son then couldn't possibly meet my mom, so consequently...I wouldn't exist.
Or something like that.

As for Disney, no WW2 + Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi = $$$.
More possible outcomes to this equation:
Fewer staff lost to the military.
Donald might not have eclipsed Mickey.
Likely no package films; Fantasia 2 instead.
Disneyland would've opened earlier.
Walt's stress level might have improved.

[Big Disney Fan]

Plus, the staff would PROBABLY have never gone out on strike, as they did in 1941.

[Dr Frankenollie]

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[DisneyAnimation88]

Plus, the staff would PROBABLY have never gone out on strike, as they did in 1941.

I think they would have regardless as the Unions would still have targeted the Disney staff for unionisation. Besides, the strike took place before the attack on Pearl Harbor and America officially entered the war.

Actually, I think they might still have done so due to Walt's cruel treatment of them (and favouring of the Nine Old Men, Joe Grant, Vladimir Tytla, Art Babbitt and others) shortly after the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

I don't agree he treated them cruelly; according to various books that I've read the Disney studio was regarded as one of the best film studios to work at until the strike changed the relationship between Walt and his staff. I also don't think he favoured those people as the majority of them had already worked for Disney since before Snow White and were, and still are, regarded as some of the best animators to have ever lived so it seems logical that Walt would give them more responsibility. His relationship with the staff might have been damaged a bit after Snow White due to infamous "Snow White orgy" when Walt booked himself and all of those who had worked on the film into an expensive hotel for the weekend only for the staff to run wild. After the weekend was over, it was allegedly never mentioned again in the studio.

[Big Disney Fan]

Plus, the staff would PROBABLY have never gone out on strike, as they did in 1941.

I think they would have regardless as the Unions would still have targeted the Disney staff for unionisation. Besides, the strike took place before the attack on Pearl Harbor and America officially entered the war.

But it did happen after Europe entered the war in 1939 and Disney lost its European market. Hence, the initial failures of "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia". Finances were a factor in the strike, albeit indirectly, but still...

[DisneyAnimation88]

Perhaps, but regardless of what was happening in Europe, the unions were always going to target the Disney staff for unionisation, as they had with the other animation studios in Hollywood. Finances were a factor but any issues the staff had with their jobs at Disney began on Snow White, over a decade before the war began so as long as those frustrations lingered, I think the strike would have been inevitable when the unions targeted Disney, even if there was no WW2.

[Goliath]

Perhaps, but regardless of what was happening in Europe, the unions were always going to target the Disney staff for unionisation, as they had with the other animation studios in Hollywood. Finances were a factor but any issues the staff had with their jobs at Disney began on Snow White, over a decade before the war began so as long as those frustrations lingered, I think the strike would have been inevitable when the unions targeted Disney, even if there was no WW2.

Why do you phrase it as "targeting"? That word has a negative connotation and I'm sure you pick that word very carefully. Every working person in America should have the right to joing or form a union. Unions have done great, amazing things for the average working man in the US. Too bad most people don't realize that anymore after 30 years of right-wing, corporate and media onslaught on the unions.

[DisneyAnimation88]

I used that word as I couldn't think of an alternative at the time. What I meant was that the unions wanted to unionise all of the major animation studios, I never said that that was wrong, on the contrary I think the animators were perfectly entitled to strike. I never intended any kind of negative connotation but I was simply going by the accounts of what I've read about the strike, that the unions were particularly keen to unionise the Disney staff as the studio was the most successful at that time. If I'm wrong feel free to correct me but I was never trying to assign any negative connotatations to the strike, nor the animators who went on strike.

[Goliath]

Okay, I'm sorry if I came off as a little hostile. Good to see you didn't mean it that way. It's just that I thought I remember a discussion I once had about the Disney strike in which you were speaking negatively about the union and the people who went on strike --or was that not you? Anyway, good to read what you meant to say.

[DisneyAnimation88]

I don't think that was me, perhaps it was but I can't remember it. When it comes to matters like the strike I try not take a side or criticise anyone because I can sympathise with both Disney and those who went on strike. Industrial matters like strikes are never cut-and-dry and there are so many different literary accounts of the Disney strike that I sometimes find it difficult to know what is fact or myth so I try to remain impartial.