The Disney Revolt, Jake S. Friedman
The Disney Revolt, Jake S. Friedman
2 Rating(s)
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The Disney Revolt
The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age

Author: Jake S. Friedman

Narrator: Adam Verner

Unabridged: 8 hr 43 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/05/2022


Synopsis

An essential piece of Disney history has been unreported for eighty years.

Soon after the birth of Mickey Mouse, one animator raised the Disney Studio far beyond Walt's expectations. That animator also led a union war that almost destroyed it. Art Babbitt animated for the Disney studio throughout the 1930s and through 1941, years in which he and Walt were jointly driven to elevate animation as an art form, up through Snow White, Pinocchio, and Fantasia.

But as America prepared for World War II, labor unions spread across Hollywood. Disney fought the unions while Babbitt embraced them. Soon, angry Disney cartoon characters graced picket signs as hundreds of animation artists went out on strike. Adding fuel to the fire was Willie Bioff, one of Al Capone's wise guys who was seizing control of Hollywood workers and vied for the animators' union.

Using never-before-seen research from previously lost records, including conversation transcriptions from within the studio walls, author and historian Jake S. Friedman reveals the details behind the labor dispute that changed animation and Hollywood forever.

About Jake S. Friedman

Jake S. Friedman is an animation historian and author of The Art of Blue Sky Studios and The Disney Afternoon. He has appeared as an expert on TV documentaries and written for Animation Magazine, American History magazine, the Huffington Post, and Philadelphia Daily News. He worked for ten years as an animation artist on television shows and features, and now works as a mental health specialist, teaching the occasional history of animation course at NYU or FIT. He lives with his wife in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Pamela on September 09, 2023

Would love to hand deliver a copy to every TAG and non-union animation artist out there.......more

Goodreads review by James on April 11, 2023

A throughly detailed recount of how Disney studios began with innovation and then entered a period of turmoil. The book primarily focused on the lives of Walt Disney and Art Babbitt. The stories of their different upbringings gave an indication of the values they'd have later in life. As a massive D......more

Goodreads review by D on July 25, 2022

I absolutely adored this book. Most things about Walt Disney tend to either demonize him or hold him as a man without fault. Friedman does an excellent job of avoiding those trends and instead writes about everyone involved as objectively as possible. This is a great blend of film, animation, labor,......more

Goodreads review by britt_brooke on January 18, 2024

1940s cartoonist labor relations, so if that sounds kinda boring, you’re not wrong! The writing’s a bit dry, but it’s probably hard to apply a narrative spin to such a topic. This in-depth history of the animation company Walt built, covers the struggles and successes, positives and negatives. There......more

Goodreads review by Kim on March 01, 2024

3.5 stars, rounding up for rating The first half was way more interesting than the second half......more