As the letter indicates, women worked in the inking and painting department while men worked in story, art direction and animation. In this pre-feminism era, it was a policy exercised not just by Disney but by every other animation studio in Hollywood. Still, there were women who found jobs at Disney in non-ink-and-paint departments, even as early as the 1930s.
The women artists who worked at Disney in those early days were mainly story artists, like Bianca Majolie, the first woman to be hired by Disney's story department in 1935. Grace Huntington was employed in 1936 and in her autobiography Please Let me Fly she recalled how reluctant Disney was to hire women. "It takes years to train a good story man", he told her. "Then if the story man turns out to be a story girl, the chances are ten to one that she will marry and leave the Studio high and dry with all the money that had been spent on her training gone to waste as there will be nothing to show for it." For that same reason, Disney also wouldn't hire women as animators. (By contrast, the training period for inkers, painters and stenographers was relatively short, so if these women left the company to get married not much would be lost.) Nevertheless, since Disney valued real talent, Huntington was still hired and soon others followed, like Dorothy Ann Blank and Retta Scott who joined the story department in resp. 1936 and 1938.
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| Above: Walt Disney chats and laughs with some of the ink-and-paint employees at his studio in August 1939. |
The first female animator at Disney was hired some time later, which actually happened by chance. Story artist Retta Scott was working on Bambi (1942) when her male colleagues saw her amazing drawings of hunting dogs. Very impressed by Scott's work, Disney then allowed her to do her own animations. Scott was tutored by animator Eric Larson and soon other women were being trained as well (in various fields). In a company speech from February 1941, Disney acknowledged the importance of women in creative jobs and explained why they were being trained, one of the reasons being World War II. With America possibly joining the war, Disney realised he simply needed women artists in order to keep his business going ("I believe that if there is to be a business for these young men to come back to after the war, it must be maintained during the war. The girls can help here."). Some of the talented women who had started in the inking and painting department were trained to be animators, among them Mildred Rossi and Virginia Fleener.
Other important talented women who were hired by Disney include Mary Weiser (master chemist who established the Walt Disney Studio's Paint Lab in 1935), Sylvia Holland (storyboard artist who was especially known for her work on the 1940 Fantasia) and perhaps the most influential of Disney's female artists Mary Blair (art supervisor and color stylist for films like Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Peter Pan (1953)).
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| Retta Scott (left) and Mary Blair pictured above |
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Article in Glamour of Hollywood, May 1941. Source: archive.org |
It is clear that, especially in the early days, Disney was not at all eager to hire women in creative jobs. He didn't want to lose his investment once women left the company to start a family and was also worried that women wouldn't survive in a male-dominated workplace. To Grace Huntington Disney had said in March 1936: "It is difficult for a woman to fit in this work. The men will resent you ... If you are easily shocked or hurt, it is just going to be bad". Female artists indeed had a lot to put up with, working in a mostly hostile environment while not receiving the recognition they deserved. Still, despite his own hiring policy, Disney did employ women from time to time, the ones mentioned above and many others (as said, WWII playing an important role). "If a woman can do the work as well, she is worth as much as a man", Disney had said in his 1941 speech to his employees. "The girl artists have the right to expect the same chances for advancement as men, and I honestly believe that they may eventually contribute something to this business that men never would or could".
Seen below is the letter Meryl Streep had read from during the award show, written in 1938 and addressed to Mary Ford. Another rejection letter (almost identical) to Frances Bowen is also shown, this one being from 1939. Both letters were signed by Mary Cleave (secretary?), containing a standard text that was taken from the Disney policy handbook. For how many years thereafter this form letter was used I don't know, the only copies to be found online are these from the late 1930s.
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Source: Huffington Post
Transcript:
June 7, 1938
Miss Mary T. Ford
Searcy,
Arkansas
Dear Miss Ford,
Your letter of recent date has been received in the Inking and Painting Department for reply.
Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.
The only work open to women consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions.
In order to apply for a position as “Inker” or “Painter” it is necessary that one appear at the Studio, bringing samples of pen and ink and water color work. It would not be advisable to come to Hollywood with the above specifically in view, as there are really very few openings in comparison with the number of girls who apply.
Yours very truly,
WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS, LTD.
By:
(signed) 'Mary Cleave'
Source: The Animation Guild
Transcript:
May 9, 1939
Miss Frances Brewer
4412 Ventura Canyon Avenue
Van Nuys, California
Dear Miss Brewer:
Your letter of some time ago has been turned over to the Inking and Painting Department for reply.
Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.
The qualify for the only work open to women one must be well grounded in the use of pen and ink and als of water color. The work to be done consists of tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions.
In order to apply for a position as “Inker” or “Painter” it is necessary that one appear at the studio on a Tuesday morning between 9:30 and 11:30, bringing samples of pen and ink and water color work. We will be glad to talk with you further should you come in.
Yours very truly,
WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS
By: (signed) 'Mary E. Cleave'
Fascinating article! I never thought about Disney having a bias about women working for them. Thank you for this interesting and informative post. First-rate!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Karen!
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