1937 Fleischer Studios strike

Animation industry dispute in New York City August 2026 December 2022 December 2022 1937 Fleischer Studios strike May 7 – October 12, 1937(05 07 1937 10 12 1937) New York City, New York, United States Low pay and poor working conditions * 12 percent increase in wages 35-hour work week Closed shop Double pay for overtime Guaranteed time off for vacations and sick days * Boycott Picketing Strike action Union and company agree to compromise labor contract, provisions of which include: 20 percent increase in wages 40-hour work week Extra pay for overtime Guaranteed production quotas One week of paid time off for vacations and sick days System for addressing workers' grievances Commercial Artists and Designers Union Local 20329 Fleischer Studios The 1937 Fleischer Studios strike was a labor strike involving workers at Fleischer Studios in New York City. The strike commenced on May 7 of that year and ended on October 12. The strike was the first major labor dispute in the animation industry and resulted in the industry's first union contracts. Fleischer Studios had been founded in 1929 and grew through the 1930s, having over 150 employees by 1937. Many of these employees were not full animators, but instead worked in lower departments doing more menial tasks such as inbetweening or cel painting. Starting in the mid-1930s, there was growing discontent among the employees in these lower departments due to the poor working conditions and the disparity in pay between them and the animators. By late 1936, the Commercial Artists and Designers Union (CADU) Local 20329 began to organize at the studio, and in April of the next year it submitted a list of demands to Max Fleischer that included increased pay, better working conditions, a closed shop, and a 35-hour work week. Fleischer refused to recognize the union as legitimate or negotiate with them. Over the next month, 15 employees were fired, with many pro-union employees believing that they were terminated because of their activities with the union. As a result, on May 6, about a hundred union members voted to go on strike the following day. The strike began at 6:30 p.m. on May 7, with picketing outside the studio's building on Broadway in Manhattan. Picketing spread to other locations, including Max and Dave's residences, and the union initiated a boycott of Fleischer cartoons that was somewhat effective in getting the productions pulled from theaters. By June, the National Labor Relations Board began to hold hearings regarding the union's demand for recognition, and a certification vote was held that August, which the union won. As the strike continued to stretch into the later part of the year, the union's strike fund began to dwindle and morale decreased among the strikers, with some crossing the picket line to return to work. At the same time, however, Paramount Pictures began to pressure Fleischer Studios into accepting a deal that would end the strike and boycott, as they believed that the negative press was beginning to hurt their live-action productions. In late September, the union and company agreed to a tentative deal, and the strike ended on October 12, with the strikers returning to work the following day. The compromise agreement resulted in the union winning many of the key goals that they had pushed for, such as pay increases and guaranteed time off, though the company prevented the studio from becoming a closed shop. Due in large part to the strike, Max Fleischer announced that the studio would be relocating to Miami, and following the move, the union lost a certification election, leaving the studio ununionized. However, within a few years of the move, the studio experienced financial difficulties related to the production of two full-length animated films and was ultimately absorbed by Paramount Pictures as a subsidiary. The strike precipitated a wave of organizing activity at other animation studios, including the 1941 Disney animators' strike. This upsurge would eventually lead to the unionization of the industry after the Screen Cartoonist's Guild organized all of the major American studios in 1943. Background Working conditions at Fleischer Studios thumb|250x250px|Max Fleischer, cofounder and president of Fleischer Studios, in 1934 In 1929, the animation studio Fleischer Studios was established by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who served as the company's president and vice president, respectively.Deneroff 1987 1 The brothers had been notable pioneers in the early American animation industry, and their new company was founded to produce cartoons to be distributed by Paramount Pictures.Deneroff 1987 1 In the early years of the studio, there was a strong sense of camaraderie among the employees,Deneroff 1987 1 and according to historians Michael Barrier and Richard Koszarski, Max was a paternalistic boss in his role as president.Koszarski 2008 331Barrier 1999 188 Among the company's early hires were many relatives, such as Max's son-in-law Seymour Kneitel, as well as recent graduates from the Cooper Union and the Art Students League of New York, two of Max's alma maters.Deneroff 1987 1Pointer 2017 62 Through the 1930s, the studio saw noted success with productions that featured famous characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye.Hunt 2020The New York Times 1937a 5 By 1937, the company had over 150 employees working at its New York City studio,note Sources vary on how many employees were working at Fleischer Studios at the time. In a 1987 article published in the journal Film History, historian Harvey Deneroff stated that Fleischer Studios had a production staff of "at least 167" people prior to the strike, not counting Max or Dave.Deneroff 1987 2 However, in a 1999 book, animation historian Michael Barrier states that the staff at Fleischer Studios was roughly 200 people.Barrier 1999 188 A 2005 book by Max's son Richard Fleischer states that the company had "almost 250 employees" at the time,Fleischer 2005 89 while a 2008 book by film historian Richard Koszarski states that the company had around 175 employees at the time.Koszarski 2008 332 which occupied several floors of a building at 1600 Broadway in Manhattan, just north of Times Square.Deneroff 1987 1The New York Times 1937a 5 During the early years of the company, animation in the United States was changing from a primarily artisan-driven industry to one shaped by the concept of the assembly line.Deneroff 1987 1–2 For instance, in the 1910s, animation studio Bray Productions operated by having several dozen animators each working on their own cartoon, from start to finish, with help from a few assistants.Deneroff 1987 1–2 By the 1930s, due to technological innovations and changes in techniques, the work associated with animation was gradually divided into smaller divisions, with multiple animators and other employees working on different parts of the project.Deneroff 1987 2 This division of labor also led to the emergence of several distinct departments within studios,Deneroff 1987 2 such as for cel painting and inbetweening.Barrier 1999 187 Additionally during this time, it became less common for someone to be promoted from a lower-level position, such as inbetweener, to a full animator position.Ohmer 2019 62Hunt 2020Barrier 1999 187 At Fleischer Studios, many new hires started off as inbetweeners, which was considered one of the harshest jobs in the company.Hunt 2020Barrier 1999 187 Many worked in cramped conditions comparable to a sweatshop,Barrier 1999 187Deneroff 1987 1 with their workstations not having access to windows or air conditioning.Hunt 2020 Additionally, the in between department was headed by Edith Vernick, a stern manager whose actions upset many of the inbetweeners, such as timing how long employees were spending in the bathroom and constantly reporting people to the Fleischer Brothers for either not doing their job or not doing their job quickly enough.Deneroff 1987 5Barrier 1999 187 On top of the poor conditions, inbetweeners also experienced low pay.Koszarski 2008 331 Wages at the company had initially been considered fairly good,Hunt 2020 with animator Shamus Culhane stating that he had had a weekly salary of about $100 while working at Fleischer Studios in 1930.Deneroff 1987 2 Additionally, yearly bonuses of several hundred dollars were not uncommon.Deneroff 1987 2 However, pay across the board decreased as the decade continued,Deneroff 1987 3 with animator Don Figlozzi stating that his starting salary while working for the company in 1935 was $27 per week.Deneroff 1987 3Hunt 2020 In 1937, studio manager Sam Buchwald stated that the average weekly salary for those in the animation department ranged from $90.80 to $70.59 depending on your position in the department.Deneroff 1987 3 However, people outside the animation department made substantially less, with inbetweeners and cel painters making an average of $24.45 per week in 1937,Barrier 1999 187–188 and other employees making as low as $17.40 per week.Koszarski 2008 331 According to Koszarski, the decreased wages may have been a result of the closure of The Van Beuren Corporation, a New York City-based animation studio, in 1936.Koszarski 2008 331 Because of the low wages, many of the younger employees lived with their parents or had spouses who were also working to support them.Deneroff 1987 6 Unionization in the animation industry Given the issues regarding pay and working conditions, the studio was, according to animation historian Michael Barrier, "fertile soil for labor unrest".Barrier 1999 187 The 1930s saw the first serious attempts by labor unions to organize cartoonists in the film industry.Ohmer 2019 62Black 2016 116Denning 1997 405Fleischer 2005 89 The first major efforts at organizing were at Iwerks Studio in 1931,Sito but these efforts were ultimately thwarted by the studio's management.Gabler 2006 356 Organizing efforts at Van Beuren similarly ended in failure for the union.Sito In 1936, the Artists Union, a New York City-based union, spun off one of its departments into the Commercial Artists and Designers Union (CADU) Local 20329, which was associated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL).Deneroff 1987 7 CADU immediately began efforts to organize the local animation industry.Deneroff 1987 7 At the time, unions were not entirely uncommon at the company, as both the studio's camera operators and musicians were organized under local unions, with Dave Fleischer being a member of the latter.Sito 2006 83 Among the inbetweeners and others involved in the animation process, talks about unionizing had been commonplace since the early 1930s, but in late 1934, discussions became more serious after an inbetweener named Dan Glass contracted tuberculosis.Deneroff 1987 6 Glass died in January of the following year due to the disease, and many inbetweeners blamed the working conditions for Glass contracting it in the first place.Deneroff 1987 6Yu 1999 41 The event was at least the second time that an inbetweener had contracted that disease, as another Fleischer employee was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1931 and ultimately died in 1935 as well.Deneroff 1987 6–7 Also in 1935, the United States Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which greatly strengthened the ability of labor unions to organize workplaces.Hunt 2020Fleischer 2005 90 CADU began to focus its attention on organizing the workers at Fleischer in 1936SitoDeneroff 1987 7 and, at a meeting of CADU's executive board on November 4 of that year, made the union campaign at Fleischer a top priority.Deneroff 1987 7 Organizing efforts began in late 1936 and continued until early 1937, with the final push occurring in March of that year.Deneroff 1987 7 Among the primary organizers at the studio, only one was an animator, with the rest coming from lower departments such as inbetweening.Deneroff 1987 7 Among these, Lou Appet, an inbetweener, was considered the most influential, having previously been a member of the Film and Photo League and having many contacts within organized labor.Deneroff 1987 7 The organizers recruited almost exclusively from the ranks of the lower departments at Fleischer, with Appet expressing concern that animators in the organizing process may prove to be more of a hindrance than a help.Deneroff 1987 7–8 Additionally, many animators were either ambivalent towards the union or were concerned about the left-wing nature of the group.Deneroff 1987 7–8 CADU was a popular front organization with ties to the Communist Party of the United States and had a faction consisting of party members, fellow travellers, and communist sympathizers that planned strategy for the union.Deneroff 1987 7 In March 1937, CADU began its final push for organizing.Deneroff 1987 7 On March 20, Fleischer Studios fired employee Carl Wessler and, according to historian Harvey Deneroff, union activists believed that the termination was due to his union activities.Deneroff 1987 7 Ten days later, CADU initiated a slowdown in response to a speedup that the studio had implemented on work for Popeye the Sailor.Deneroff 1987 7 According to an article published in the Daily Worker, the speedup had nearly doubled the work rate for inbetweeners, and the slowdown was intended to return production rates to their normal levels.Deneroff 1987 7 On April 1, another inbetweener, Marty Taras, was fired for trying to play an April Fools' Day prank on a coworker by giving him a hot foot.Deneroff 1987 8 While it was illegal to light a match in the studio because of the presence of highly-flammable nitrate film, Taras and some other employees believed the termination was due in part to his union activities.Deneroff 1987 8 CADU seeks recognition at Fleischer Studios On April 12, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the National Labor Relations Act was constitutional, leading to a notable uptick in organizing activity throughout the country.Deneroff 1987 8 Shortly after this ruling, CADU representatives went to Max Fleischer and made their first direct demands to the company.Deneroff 1987 8 Among the union's demands were an end to the speedup, a 12 percent increase in wages, paid time off for sick leave and vacation, double pay for overtime, a 35-hour workweek, and a closed shop.Deneroff 1987 8 However, believing that the union did not represent the will of the majority of the employees,Fleischer 2005 91 Max refused to recognize or negotiate with the union.Deneroff 1987 8 As a result, on April 19, CADU filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which sent attorney Lester M. Levin to discuss the matter with Fleischer attorney Louis Nizer.Deneroff 1987 8 Nizer argued that the union's demands would have increased the overhead, which he said was impossible for the company to accommodate because Fleischer Studios had actually not made a profit last year.Deneroff 1987 8 As a result, Levin urged the company to negotiate with the union on matters not related to overhead and to discuss a possible plan for implementing changes that would affect overhead when they were feasible.Deneroff 1987 8 On April 29, the NLRB sponsored a meeting between union and company representatives, during which the company again argued that the union did not represent a majority of the employees.Deneroff 1987 8 Additionally, the union rejected the company's figures regarding its gross income and the costs that would be associated with the changes pushed for by the union.Deneroff 1987 9 On May 3, CADU petitioned the NLRB to hold a certification election for the union, but the company resisted holding any election due to the ongoing slowdown.Deneroff 1987 9 On May 5, Fleischer representatives once again met with union representatives and once more refused to recognize the union as the legitimate representative of the bargaining unit.Deneroff 1987 9 Also starting that day and going into the next, Fleischer would fire thirteen employees who were members of the union.Deneroff 1987 9 The firing of these thirteen, as well as the two fired in the preceding months, was considered the breaking point for the union, and shortly thereafter, they began to plan a strike action.SitoGabler 2006 356Black 2016 117Koszarski 2008 331 On the night of May 6, about 100 union members voted to approve a strike against the company.The New York Times 1937a 5 The decision to go on strike may have been due in part to a well-publicized concurrent strike that the AFL was supporting in Los Angeles involving 6,000 members of the Federated Motion Picture Crafts (FMPC) union.Deneroff 1987 9 In total, the 100 or so strikers would represent about half of Fleischer's total staff,Barrier 1999 188Fleischer 2005 90 and while a vast majority of the animators and animator assistants would not be involved in striking,Koszarski 2008 331 an organizer for CADU told the soon-to-be strikers that the animators would honor the picket line.Deneroff 1987 9 The strike was scheduled to commence the following day, May 7,Koszarski 2008 331Barrier 1999 188 at 6:30 p.m.Fleischer 2005 91 That day, a Friday, was chosen because the strikers planned to disrupt the company's 3.5-hour evening work period on that day (which the company mandated in lieu of working on Saturday mornings) and also give other Fleischer employees the weekend to decide where they stood on the union question.Deneroff 1987 9 This would be the first major labor strike in the animation industry.Dobson 2009 xxiii, 76 Black 2016 117 Denning 1997 405 Lenburg 2006 90 Deneroff 1987 1 Evans 2011 121 Cohen 1997 158 Course of the strike Early strike actions The strike commenced as expected on May 7, 1937, at 6:30 p.m., with picketing outside of the studio's offices on Broadway.Deneroff 1987 9 Many of the picketers carried signs that had humorous slogans referencing the cartoons they worked on, such as, "We Can't Get Much Spinach on Salaries as Low as $15.00 a Week" and "Nudist Betty? How Can I Dress on Max Fleischer's Pay?", and chants of "I'm Popeye the Union Man" were repeated.Koszarski 2008 332 Shortly after the strike began, several Fleischer employees who had been on their dinner break returned to the studio to find the picket line blocked entry to the building.Deneroff 1987 9 Wanting to get back in, some of the non-union employees decided to charge the line, resulting in a scuffle.Deneroff 1987 9 The fighting lasted for about 30 minutes, during which time several individuals sustained injuries, such as when inker Gill Fox threw his non-union supervisor Frank Paiker into the street.Deneroff 1987 9 The fighting only stopped when members of the New York City Police Department arrived.Deneroff 1987 9 More fighting broke out that night after police ordered the picketers to maintain a line near the curb, attracting a crowd of about 2,000 spectators.Deneroff 1987 9 In the aftermath, several picketers were arrested,Koszarski 2008 332 including three for assault and either ten or eleven for disorderly conduct.Deneroff 1987 9 This first night of picketing received widespread coverage from local media, including articles in the Daily News and the New York Herald Tribune.Deneroff 1987 9 The violence from the first night led to the studio shutting down for the night.Deneroff 1987 9 The following day, the company sent a message to everyone in the animation department saying that work would resume on Monday, May 10, with the company providing protection for the animators.Deneroff 1987 9 While many animators opted to not cross the picket line at that time, 16 did, and work resumed, albeit at a slower rate.Deneroff 1987 10 Some notable employees who continued to work for Fleischer during the strike included Bob Kane, who would go on to cocreate the comic book character Batman,Worth 2021 10 and Lillian Friedman Astor, the first female to be given a role as a studio animator.Lenburg 2006 96–97note Astor had initially honored the picket line, but returned to work at the studio on May 13.Deneroff 1987 10 During the strike, workers at the studio would produce the cartoon Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves.Koszarski 2008 330–331 Over the course of the next week, many animators began to gradually return to work, and by that Thursday, only seven people from the higher departments of the company were continuing to honor the picket line.Deneroff 1987 10 By the end of the week, all of these individuals except one, animator Eli Brucker, had returned to work, and the company began to hire strikebreakers to replace the strikers in the lower departments.Deneroff 1987 10 Brucker would be the only animator to honor the picket line for the duration of the strike.Barrier 1999 188 Boycott thumb|250x250px|Strikers picketed the Paramount Theatre (pictured 1942) in an effort to have movie theaters stop showing Fleischer productions. As animators returned to work and production at Fleischer resumed, the strikers turned their attention to another goal: organizing a boycott of Fleischer cartoons.Deneroff 1987 10 While the union continued to hold many demonstrations near the studio,Sito they also expanded picketing to different locations, including in front of the Windermere Hotel (where Max Fleischer lived), outside of Dave Fleischer's house (which was stink-bombed during the strikeKoszarski 2008 332), and the Paramount Theatre.Fleischer 2005 92 The theater was considered a primary target for picketing,Arnold 2017 99 with some picketers jeering at screenings of their own cartoons with chants of, "Get that scab picture off the screen!".Koszarski 2008 332 Other theaters showing Fleischer productions, such as the Roxy Theatre,Sito 2006 93 were also picketed,The New York Times 1937b 3Fleischer 2005 92 and through an alliance with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Projectionists Local 306, CADU attempted to have the cartoons pulled from IATSE-affiliated theaters.Hunt 2020 On June 8, Local 306 officially announced its support for the strikers and attempted to have the AFL add Fleischer Studios to its "unfair list", which would have barred union projectionists from screening their cartoons.Deneroff 1987 12 On June 14, after they were added to the list, Local 306 sent a letter to its 2,000 members ordering them to not screen the cartoons, but shortly after this nationwide boycott was initiated, Fleischer Studios was removed from the unfair list.Deneroff 1987 12 Some historians have pinned Fleischer Studios' removal on actions from Paramount Pictures, who may have pushed IATSE to cease the boycott.Deneroff 1987 12Hunt 2020 Regardless, the boycott was somewhat effective, as several theaters refused to screen the cartoons.Koszarski 2008 332Barrier 1999 188 For instance, on July 16, the Loews Theatres chain announced they would not be screening any Fleischer cartoons.Sito 2006 93 NLRB hearings and certification vote Aside from the implementation of the boycott, another goal of the union during this time was to gain certification through the NLRB.Deneroff 1987 10 The NLRB had been busy handling cases regarding hundreds of other strikes nationwide, but the board finally focused on the Fleischer strike in June.Sito 2006 91 On June 16, the NLRB held its first hearing regarding the certification of CADU.Sito 2006 91 During the hearing, Nizer presented a petition that had been signed by the animators that stated they did not wish to be represented by CADU.Sito 2006 92 The petition was invalidated by the NLRB, who ruled that the signatures had been collected through intimidation, and the union countered that they had collected representation cards from over half of the employees at the studio asking for union representation.Sito 2006 92 On June 19, the NLRB ruled that a certification election would be held that would be open to all artists who were employed by the company on April 30, 1937.Sito 2006 92 Despite stalling from the company, this vote was ultimately held on August 16.Sito 2006 92 The initial vote was 74–0 in favor of the union, though 14 votes were later invalidated because they came from fired workers.Sito 2006 92 Due to delays by the company, the NLRB did not release its final report until October 8.Sito 2006 92 End of the strike The strike continued for several more months until late 1937.Koszarski 2008 332 As it continued, the union's strike fund began to run low, and while CADU had support from many other entertainment industry unions, morale among the strikers continued to diminish.Fleischer 2005 92 Though the company and union were holding intermittent meetings, there had not been a major breakthrough, as Max Fleischer continued to reject CADU's claims to be a legitimate bargaining representative for the employees.Fleischer 2005 92 Over the next several months, some of strikers began to cross the picket line and return to work at the studio.Fleischer 2005 92 However, the strike was also having a negative effect on the studio.Sito 2006 93 According to historian Tom Sito, the negative press associated with the boycott and strike were beginning to affect the performance of Paramount Pictures' live-action releases, and while the company was not generally supportive of unions, it began to pressure Fleischer Studios to accept a deal with the union that would end the strike.Sito 2006 93 A Paramount executive became the chief negotiator for the studio, and New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia helped oversee a resumption of talks in the later part of the year.Sito 2006 93 On October 1, The New York Times reported that a day prior, a breakthrough had been made between the company and the union that would see an end to the strike.The New York Times 1937c 46 Though details of the agreement were not made public at the time, the newspaper reported that it was a compromise that would see some wage increases, a 40-hour work week, and other benefits that the union had pushed for.Hunt 2020 On October 12, representatives for the union and studio met at the offices of Arthur B. Krim, a legal counsel for the company, and agreed to end the strike.The New York Times 1937d 11note Historian Richard Koszarski gives a slightly different date, writing in a 2008 book that "a compromise resolution [was reached] on October 13".Koszarski 2008 332 According to an article published in The New York Times, the strike at the time involved 75 "artists and cartoonists" of the company.The New York Times 1937d 11 With this agreement reached, these employees returned to work the following day.Koszarski 2008 332 Aftermath Contract details On October 19, Fleischer Studios officially recognized CADU as the representative of its animation employees.Sito 2006 94 As such, they were able to establish the first union contracts implemented in the animation industry.Hunt 2020Sito The contract was a compromise and did not include all of the initial demands that the union had pushed for.Koszarski 2008 332 For instance, the studio never became a closed shop, instead operating with about 60 percent of the workforce unionized and the other 40 percent nonunion,Sito 2006 94 and union membership was not necessary for new hires.Fleischer 2005 92 However, the contract did provide for a standard 40-hour work week, extra pay for overtime work, one week of paid time off for vacation, sick days, wage increases of 20 percent, and guarantees of production quotas from the union.Hunt 2020Sito 2006 94note Sources are slightly unclear on the exact vacation and sick days policy. According to a 2020 article on JSTOR Daily, The New York Times reported that the deal between the union and studio included "vacations and sick leave with pay".Hunt 2020 Historian Tom Sito, writing about the strike in a 2006 book, stated that Fleischer had "consented to ... one week of paid vacation, holidays, [and] sick leave", among other things.Sito 2006 94 Additionally, the contract stipulated that any grievances would be addressed by committee under the arbitration of New York County District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey.Sito 2006 94 Later history thumb|250x250px|The strike preceded many other organized labor activities in the animation industry, such as the Disney animators' strike in 1941. The strike severely changed the dynamic in the office;Barrier 1999 188Fleischer 2005 92Ohmer 2019 62 as animator Orsestes Calpini recalls, "the family feeling was gone".Koszarski 2008 332 Max Fleischer was very affected by the strike, as many long-time Fleischer animators later stated that Max became less involved with the cartoons' production processes following the strike and mostly remained in his office during the workday.Barrier 1999 188Fleischer 2005 92Koszarski 2008 332 About a month after the strike had begun, Max had also entered into discussions with the chamber of commerce in Miami about relocating his studio to the city.Hunt 2020Dial 2000 315 On January 21, 1938, Max officially announced the studio's plans to relocate,Koszarski 2008 332 which occurred less than a year later.Hunt 2020 Many historians believe that the move was at least partially a response to the union, as Florida was seen as a much less friendly state towards organized labor than New York was,Langer 2012 315 Gabler 2006 356 Black 2016 117 Koszarski 2008 332 Deneroff 1987 1 Dial 2000 315 and union presence was much less strong at the new location.Hunt 2020 Many of the pro-union employees refused to relocate, and immediately after the move, Fleischer petitioned the NLRB for a new certification election, which the union lost.Sito 2006 95 A later union drive at the Miami studio in 1938 by the United American Artists similarly ended in failure.Sito 2006 95 Ultimately, Fleischer would produce two feature-length films out of Miami, Gulliver's Travels (1939) and Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941), both of which proved to be financial disappointments for the company.Koszarski 2008 333 Due to its financial issues, in the early 1940s, it came under the direct ownership of Paramount Pictures,Hunt 2020 which renamed the studio to Famous Studios and relocated it back to New York City.Sito The strike preceded a new wave of organized labor activity in the American animation industry,Lent 2010 160 including the 1941 Disney animators' strike at Walt Disney Productions.Hunt 2020Black 2016 117 Other organized labor events during this time included a six-day lockout of animators at Leon Schlesinger Productions in May 1941 and a union drive at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio in 1940.Ohmer 2019 62Lent 2016 181 Organized labor activity in the industry would not settle down until 1943, when the Screen Cartoonist's Guild managed to organize the animation departments at all major American studios.Deneroff 1987 1 Notes note References Sources 30em yes Arnold Gordon B. https://books.google.com/books?id=3P58DQAAQBAJ Animation and the American Imagination: A Brief History Praeger 2017 978-1-4408-3360-1 Santa Barbara, California Barrier Michael https://books.google.com/books?id=zDJXnzMh7bkC Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age Oxford University Press 1999 978-0-19-802079-0 Oxford Michael Barrier Black James Eric https://books.google.com/books?id=umlECwAAQBAJ Walt Kelly and Pogo: The Art of the Political Swamp McFarland & Company Foreword by Mark Burstein 2016 978-1-4766-2300-9 Jefferson, North Carolina Cohen Karl F. https://books.google.com/books?id=GXhzAQAAQBAJ Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America McFarland & Company 1997 978-1-4766-0725-2 Jefferson, North Carolina Deneroff Harvey 1987 "We Can't Get Much Spinach"! The Organization and Implementation of the Fleischer Animation Strike Film History Indiana University Press 1 1 1–14 0892-2160 3815036 Denning Michael https://books.google.com/books?id=QY8pUkLRM1YC The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century Verso Books 1997 978-1-85984-170-9 New York City Michael Denning Dial Donna Winter 2000 Cartoons in Paradise: How the Fleischer Brothers Moved to Miami and Lost Their Studio The Florida Historical Quarterly Florida Historical Society 78 3 309–330 0015-4113 30150575 Dobson Nichola https://books.google.com/books?id=ONfIedLRIZMC Historical Dictionary of Animation and Cartoons The Scarecrow Press 2009 978-0-8108-6323-1 Lanham, Maryland Evans Noell K. Wolfgram https://books.google.com/books?id=N5gZDgAAQBAJ Animators of Film and Television: Nineteen Artists, Writers, Producers and Others McFarland & Company 2011 978-0-7864-8603-8 Jefferson, North Carolina Fleischer Richard https://books.google.com/books?id=RhG33VP_mMwC Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution University Press of Kentucky 2005 978-0-8131-7209-5 Lexington, Kentucky Richard Fleischer Gabler Neal https://books.google.com/books?id=41e-Ru0wRkEC Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination Alfred A. Knopf 2006 978-0-679-75747-4 New York City Neal Gabler Hunt Catherine January 2, 2020 The Great Animation Strike https://daily.jstor.org/great-animation-strike/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20220812011634/https://daily.jstor.org/great-animation-strike/ August 12, 2022 December 5, 2022 JSTOR Daily Koszarski Richard https://books.google.com/books?id=EF2xmI5pEx8C Hollywood on the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff Rutgers University Press 2008 978-0-8135-4552-3 New Brunswick, New Jersey Richard Koszarski 10.36019/9780813545523 Langer Mark https://books.google.com/books?id=A4nL55LCfv0C The Classical Hollywood Reader Routledge 2012 978-0-415-57672-7 Neale Steve New York City 310–320 The Disney–Fleischer Dilemma: Product Differentiation and Technological Innovation Lenburg Jeff https://books.google.com/books?id=FVShFCjVzvIC Who's who in Animated Cartoons: An International Guide to Film & Television's Award-winning and Legendary Animators Applause Theatre & Cinema Books 2006 978-1-55783-671-7 New York City Lent John A. Autumn 2010 The global cartooning labour force, its problems and coping mechanisms: the travails of the marginalised cartoonist Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation 4 2 160–172 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.4.2.0160 10.13169/workorgalaboglob.4.2.0160 1745-641X free Lent John A. https://books.google.com/books?id=ZN8sCgAAQBAJ The Routledge Companion to Labor and Media Routledge 2016 978-1-135-04249-3 Maxwell Richard New York City 180–189 The Unfunny Tale of Labor and Cartooning in the US and Around the World 10.4324/9780203404119-15 May 7, 1937 Movie Studio Strike Voted by 100 Workers; Union Employes of Max Fleischer, Maker of Animated Cartoons, Seek Recognition 5 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/07/archives/movie-studio-strike-voted-by-100-workers-union-employes-of-max.html live subscription December 5, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221206000826/https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/07/archives/movie-studio-strike-voted-by-100-workers-union-employes-of-max.html December 6, 2022 0362-4331 The New York Times 1937a May 23, 1937 2 Film Houses Picketed; Fleischer Studios' Strikers Ask Boycott of Cartoon 3 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/23/archives/2-film-houses-picketed-fleischer-studios-strikers-ask-boycott-of.html live subscription December 6, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221206000818/https://www.nytimes.com/1937/05/23/archives/2-film-houses-picketed-fleischer-studios-strikers-ask-boycott-of.html December 6, 2022 0362-4331 The New York Times 1937b October 1, 1937 Fleischer Studio Strike Ends 46 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/01/archives/fleischer-studio-strike-ends.html live subscription December 5, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221206000823/https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/01/archives/fleischer-studio-strike-ends.html December 6, 2022 0362-4331 The New York Times 1937c October 13, 1937 Fleischer Strike Ended; Artists and Cartoonists, Out Six Months, Win Settlement 11 The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/13/archives/fleischer-strike-ended-artists-and-cartoonists-out-six-months-win.html live subscription December 5, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221206000823/https://www.nytimes.com/1937/10/13/archives/fleischer-strike-ended-artists-and-cartoonists-out-six-months-win.html December 6, 2022 0362-4331 The New York Times 1937d Ohmer Susan https://books.google.com/books?id=PuWCEAAAQBAJ Animation Rutgers University Press 2019 978-0-8135-7025-9 Curtis Scott New Brunswick, New Jersey 48–74 Classical Hollywood, 1928–1946 10.36019/9780813570273-005 242609809 Pointer Ray https://books.google.com/books?id=llwnDwAAQBAJ The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer McFarland & Company Foreword by Jerry Beck 2017 978-1-4766-6367-8 Jefferson, North Carolina Sito Tom https://books.google.com/books?id=XZ0PsCWPSZ0C Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson University Press of Kentucky 2006 978-0-8131-7148-7 Lexington, Kentucky Tom Sito Sito Tom Tom Sito Guild History https://animationguild.org/about-the-guild/guild-history/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20221124175214/https://animationguild.org/about-the-guild/guild-history/ November 24, 2022 December 5, 2022 The Animation Guild, IATSE Local 839 Worth Rik https://books.google.com/books?id=PhcuEAAAQBAJ The Creators of Batman: Bob, Bill and The Dark Knight White Owl 2021 978-1-5267-7764-5 Philadelphia Yu Kie-Un https://books.google.com/books?id=b0EJmrszhyQC Themes and Issues in Asian Cartooning: Cute, Cheap, Mad, and Sexy Bowling Green State University Popular Press 1999 978-0-87972-779-6 Lent John A. Bowling Green, Ohio 37–60 Global Division of Cultural Labor and Korean Animation Industry Further reading Langer Mark Winter 1991 Institutional Power and the Fleischer Studios: The "Standard Production Reference" Cinema Journal Society for Cinema Studies 30 2 3–22 10.2307/1224976 0009-7101 1224976 Category:1937 labor disputes and strikes Category:1937 in animation Category:1937 in American cinema Category:1937 in New York City Category:1930s in Manhattan Category:1930s strikes in the United States Category:August 1937 in the United States Category:Entertainment industry labor disputes in the United States Strike Category:History of animation in the United States Category:July 1937 in the United States Category:June 1937 in the United States Category:Labor disputes in New York City Category:May 1937 in the United States Category:October 1937 in the United States Category:September 1937 in the United States Category:Fiorello La Guardia Category:Thomas E. Dewey