The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation’s Golden Age - Jake S. Friedman Audiobook

Written by Jake S. Friedman
Read by Adam Verner
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps

Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc.
Release date: July 5, 2022
Duration: 08:47:11

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.

“Narrating this history of a 1941 battle between labor and management, Adam Verner carefully balances the positions of the two men leading the charge. On the management side is Walt Disney, a genius producer of animated entertainment and the son of a socialist. On the labor side is Arthur Babbitsky (aka Art Babbitt), a brilliant animator who elevated the quality of films such as SNOW WHITE, PINOCCHIO, and FANTASIA and created the character of Goofy. Verner’s poised narration sympathizes with both men as they spiral towards the Pyrrhic victory of a close shop. He maintains the momentum as Babbitt leaves Disney and goes on to create Mr. Magoo, supposedly based on himself. This engrossing audiobook demonstrates how sticking by your principles can terminate a creative friendship.”— AudioFile