Forbidden animation : censored cartoons and blacklisted animators in america.

342 Pages·2013·3.12 MB·English

by  Karl F. Cohen

Forbidden Animation
Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in
America
by
Karl F. Cohen
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
The present work is a reprint of the library bound edition of Forbidden
Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America, first
published in 1997 by McFarland.
BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA e-
ISBN 978-1-4766-0725-2
©1997 Karl F. Cohen. All rights reserved No part of this book may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: ©2004 Image Zoo
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
This book is dedicated
to Denise McEvoy Cohen —
my loving wife
Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. Censorship of Theatrical Animation
2. Racism and Resistance: Stereotypes in Animation
3. Uncensored Animation
4. Censoring Animation on Television
5. Blacklisted Animators
6. Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Preface
I have always been a fan of animation, but while growing up I simply saw the
medium as a form of entertainment that I loved. It was not something anybody
bothered to discuss when I was a college student studying film and art history in
the 1960s. As a professional art historian in the 1970s my interest in animation
grew, and I began to dedicate more time each year to seeking out interesting
works and reading what little existed on the subject. Finally, in the mid-1970s, I
began to meet the people who created the medium, and through them I learned
some of its untold history. Thanks to Ron Hall I subscribed to Mindrot, probably
the nation's first animation fanzine. I began to write short articles about the
medium for magazines including Filmmakers Newsletter, Mindrot and much
later Animatrix, Animation Journal, Animation Magazine, Animato!, InToon!
and the Frostbite Falls Far Flung Flyer. (Funny World could also be considered
the first animation fanzine, but it covered comics and other forms of popular
culture and was modeled after a quality magazine. Mindrot considered itself the
"Animated Film Quarterly.")
My awareness that animation could be risque and could provoke censorship
came in 1973 when I was running a weekly film and vaudeville series in San
Francisco. Mary Meyer-Lucas, a North Beach art dealer, said that she had heard
about a Betty Boop cartoon that had been taken off the screen while it was being
shown at a community hall in Hawaii. Apparently the projectionist or theater
manager saw something in the film that he or she thought should not be shown
to the public. Meyer-Lucas asked me if I could find the film and screen it. She
wanted me to show her something too hot to be shown. We never found out what
the cartoon was, but I became a Betty Boop fan while searching for this
forbidden treat, and I enjoyed seeing a number of the naughty pre-code Betty
Boop cartoons.
As I met more people in the animation industry, my knowledge of the forbidden
side slowly grew. Censorship of cartoons was a subject that books and magazine
articles ignored, but animators enjoyed talking about different cases from time to
time. At first I simply listened. In the late 1980s I began, occasionally, to ask
people about censorship when I was interviewing them for articles about other
topics. When I wrote my first article on the subject, a Society for Animation
Studies conference paper presented at CAL Arts in 1992, everything I knew
Studies conference paper presented at CAL Arts in 1992, everything I knew
about censorship filled about 15 or 20 pages.
The history of "forbidden" animation also includes work the public was unable
to see because the animators were censured. Sometimes this censure was the
result of union activities. Sometimes animators were suspected of Communist
sympathies and blacklisted. Labor history has been a lifelong interest for me, and
blacklisting had a personal resonance too: I had two relatives who lost jobs in the
early 1950s when the FBI tipped off their bosses that they had hired men with
"questionable" political pasts. (FBI files on these men reveal that the worst thing
one did was to disrupt a concert of a black artist performing for an all-white
audience in the 1940s. He marched into the segregated hall with an African-
American woman and demanded seats. Both relatives had been arrested in a sit-
in demonstration in New Mexico in the 1930s. The issue was the state's almost
nonexistent welfare program.) In the 1980s I met David Hilberman, an animator
who was blacklisted in the 1950s, and I was inspired to begin research on
blacklisting in the animation industry. In 1992 my first article on the subject,
"Witch Hunt in the Magic Kingdom: The Investigation of Alleged Communists
in the Animation Industry," appeared in Animatrix, a journal from the University
of California-Los Angeles Animation Workshop.
Much of the material in this book has never before been published. It is based on
interviews with animators, producers and animation scholars and countless hours
of library research going over historical documents. These primary sources have
been checked and rechecked to insure as much accuracy as possible. Some
material of questionable authenticity has been left out, and alternate versions of
some stories are included when a definitive version could not be established.
Three animation scholars have read the entire text for errors, omissions, and
other problems. (Any errors that remain are of course my fault.) They have made
helpful suggestions and provided additional information for each chapter. One of
the scholars is John Canemaker, an animator, the head of New York University's
animation department, and the author of numerous articles and books (including
books on Disney, Tex Avery, Felix the Cat, Winsor McCay and a Richard
Williams feature). The second is Jerry Beck, who has authored several books
that are mentioned in this work. Beck is presently a vice president of
Nickelodeon, for whom he is developing animated features. The third scholar is
Mark Kausler, an animator at Disney who has spent much of his life talking with
artists and seeing almost every cartoon ever made. Amazingly, he remembers
almost every detail of every film and is a walking encyclopedia of animation
almost every detail of every film and is a walking encyclopedia of animation
information. In addition to Canemaker, Beck, and Kausler, several other people
mentioned in the book have read parts of it and have provided valuable
improvements to the text.
Improving my writing skills has been an ongoing study over the course of my
professional life. My first wife, Donna, who died in 1979, was my first real
teacher. She helped me get through my thesis at the University of California-
Berkeley and proofread dozens of articles when I began my work as an art
historian. Maria Elena Rodriguez was my second great teacher. She edited
several issues of Animatrix at UCLA and taught me a great deal about style,
organization skills, and other basics. I am also indebted for the help I have
received from Maureen Furness of Animation Journal; from Dr. Harvey
Deneroff, when he was editor of Animation Magazine; from Steve Goldstein and
Jenny Boone of Film/Tape World; and from Pete Davis, who has proofread
numerous issues of the monthly ASIFA-San Francisco newsletter that I write.
This book cannot cover the entire history of censorship in animation, because the
story is still unfolding. It is a strange story that may become stranger as the
United States heads toward having 500 television channels. As for the
information on labor strikes and blacklisting, there is probably enough still
unlearned to make up a large book on the subject. I also expect to learn more
about the elimination of racial stereotypes in the coming years.
The information in this book comes from over 100 sources, including several
libraries with specialized collections. They include the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, which houses the files of the Hays Office; the Library
of Congress in Washington, D.C., which houses the files of Walter White, past
president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People;
and UCLA’s Special Collections Library, which houses the Walter Lantz
Archive (special thanks to Brigitte Kuppers and Tom Klein). Several other
libraries provided material, including the San Francisco Public Library, the
library of San Francisco State University, the New York City Public Library at
Lincoln Center, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, the Jewish
Community Library in San Francisco, the U.C.-Berkeley Library, the University
of San Francisco Law Library, and the private research library of Joan Cohen in
Los Angeles.
The Society for Animation Studies deserves a special mention. The Society
brings together some of the best scholars and guest speakers in animation each
year at its annual conference. Over the years these meetings have been a great
year at its annual conference. Over the years these meetings have been a great
asset to my research. Special thanks to Dr. Harvey Deneroff for founding the
group and to Michael Frierson, Marty McNamara, Dr. Bill Moritz and other
members who have helped organize conferences that I have attended. My thanks
also to the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists Union and to San Francisco State
University for providing travel grants so I could attend these events.
Several film scholars and collectors have provided material for this book,
including Joe Adamson, Robin Allen, Tom Andrae, Mike Barrier, Jerry Beck,
John Canemaker, Leslie Cabarga, John Cawley, Donald Crafton, Sybil Del
Gaudio, Dr. Harvey Deneroff, Michael Dobbs, Lester Friedman, Jere Guldin,
Paul Etcheverry, Ron Hall, Ronnie James, J. B. Kaufmann, Mark Kausler, John
Korkis, Mark Langer, Jeff Lenberg, Dr. Terry Lindvall, Bill Lorenzo, Donald
McWilliams, Leonard Maltin, Russell Merritt, Dr. William Moritz, Paul Mular,
Fred Patten, Jayne Pilling, Glen R. Pitts, Lory Ringuette, Barry Siegel, David
Smith, Charles Ulrich, Gene Walz, David Williams and Prescott Wright.
The animators, animation directors, producers, voice artists and writers who
have provided material include Alex Anderson, Joe Bacal, Howard Beckerman,
Lee Blair, Preston Blair, David Blieman, Lucille Bliss, Tim Boxell, Steve
"Buck" Buckley, Kevin Coffey, Fred Crippen, Shamus Culhane, Gene Deitch,
Phil Denslow, Tony Eastman, George Evelyn, Richard Fleischer, June Foray,
Angie Glocka, Milt Gray, Joe Grant, Keith Griffith, Jeff Hale, John Hays, David
Hilberman, Diane Heller, Faith Hubley, Fox Hughes, Bob Ingold, Ollie
Johnston, Chuck Jones, Larry Jordan, Ward Kimball, Owen Klatte, Philip Klein,
Irene Kotlarz, C.J. Kettler, John Kricfalusi, Bill Littlejohn, Jim Logan, Dan
McLaughlin, John Magnuson, Mendal Marks, Bill Melendez, Mary Newland,
Ken O'Connor, Marcy Page, Ernest Pintoff, Bill Plympton, Joanna Priestly, Ken
Pontac, Maurice Rapf, Normand Roger, Will Ryan and the Elmo Aardvark
Archives, Martha Segal, Steve Segal, Stuart S. Shapiro, David Silverman, Linda
Simensky, Sam Singer, Tom Sito, Charles Swenson, Frank and Jeanette Thomas,
Paul Vester, and Myron Waldman.
Several people involved with film distribution and exhibition participated in this
project, including Guy Cables, Craig "Spike" Decker, Mark Fishkin, Brian
Gordon, Mike Gribble, Carl Macek, Gary Meyer, Janis Plotkin, Terry Thoren
and Prescott Wright. Several people involved with the administrative end of the
film industry helped with the book, including Howard Green, Edwin Heaven,
Carol Kate and Lorri O'Grady. Three relatives of animators also provided
information: Elfrede Fischinger, the son of Ben Sharpsteen and Pat Terry Leahy.
information: Elfrede Fischinger, the son of Ben Sharpsteen and Pat Terry Leahy.
Friends and acquaintances have offered excellent advice and information. They
include Phil Alexander, Pat Amlin, Barbara Bannerman, Tim Blaskovich, Joan
Cohen, Norman Cohen, George Paul Csicsery, Jack Davis, Peter Doty, Jack
Galloway, Barry Gantt, Linda Gibson, Steve Leialoha, Mike Locker, Dr. Jan
Millsapps, Seth Olitzky, the Pasmanick family, Nancy Phelps, Tony Reveaux,
Trina Robbins, Debbie and Dan Roman, Jeff Ross, Gail Silva, Paola Muggia
Stuff, Ron Turner, Scott and Pauline Utley, Ben Van Meter, the Weitzman
family, Chris Wiler, Judy Zaborowski and two ASIFA-International board
members, David Ehrlich and Marty McNamara.
About a dozen people who have contributed to this work wish to remain
anonymous. I thank them for their frank and honest contributions. I would also
like to thank the unknown censors at ABC-TV who are so amazingly diligent in
their work. Without their help there would be a lot less to write about in the
chapter on television censorship.
Finally, I would like to thank Denise McEvoy Cohen, my wife, for all her help,
support and patience.