Comments on: Disney Rejection Letter, 1938

By: Elicia

Elicia — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:57:30 +0000

Look at the date on the letter. Women at that time had very few job opportunities. Most worked as secretarys, if they worked at all. If this letter written five to ten years later, I could understand your irritation, but this really seems silly.

I’m not saying it was right that women weren’t given jobs…it wasn’t. But this is what happened at the time so there is no reason for you to get irritated with Disney for something that was happening at every company around.

Though really, it isn’t surprising. Pretty much everything written on this blog is ridiculous. They are FAERIE TALES.

It always comes down to the women, and that doesn’t make sense. Feminism is about choice. If you want to be a princess, fine. If you hate it, leave it alone. Its stupid to raise a fuss.

By: ash

ash — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:04:18 +0000

borth of thier names are mary why on earth would a mary misstreat a fellow mary is above me ? ;D haha

By: Disney Princesses, Deconstructed » Sociological Images

Disney Princesses, Deconstructed » Sociological Images — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:32:04 +0000

[...] posts on Disney princesses, look here, here, here, here, and here. Two other great posts include this rejection letter (“we don’t hire women”) and this post on the original inclusion of black slaves in Fantasia. var addthis_language = 'en'; [...]

By: Steel Toed Stilettos » Blog Archive » Continuity: Recognition for Amazing Women of the past, present, and future

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:42:35 +0000

[...] Fair: Patricia Zohn's Coloring the Kingdom] [Flickr: Disney Rejection Letter, 1938] via [Sociological Images: Disney Rejection Letter, 1938] [WIRED: Women Proto-Programmers Get their Just Reward] [The Journal of the American Ordnance [...]

By: Norm

Norm — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:10:11 +0000

It’s my understanding that Selby Kelly was one of the first female animators hired. She spoke of it in an interview, after Walt Kellys’ death. She and Walt worked at the studio at the same time, but didn’t meet until later on, as the male and female workers were seperated.

Norm

By: af

af — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:25:15 +0000

That definitely looks like the name “Mary” at the bottom.

This follows if you read the actual text carefully, this person submitted an application to a creative department and that department fowarded the application to the Inking and Painting Dept. The letter starts out saying that the Inking and Painting Dept received her letter “for reply”.

That’s why she says that they can’t hire her in the creative departments (like character design, for example), but the Inking and Painting Department permits women. The person writing the letter is from the Inking and Painting Department and also a woman. This is also why the woman described what “inking” and “painting” are to the applicant, because this person did not apply there to begin with and it’s a different step in the animation process entirely.

By: iiii

iiii — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:37:50 +0000

If she’d been the typist and not the author, the letter would have been signed by the author and the initials at the foot of the page would have been “TA/mec” instead of “MEC”.

By: A List of Reasons Not to Hire Women » Sociological Images

A List of Reasons Not to Hire Women » Sociological Images — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:45:28 +0000

[...] post on a U.S. letter from the 1930s begging for women to be fired so men could have their jobs and this rejection letter, based on sex, from Disney’s Painting Department. 6 Comments Tags: gender, history, nation: Australia, prejudice/discrimination, vintage, [...]

By: Reanimated Horse

Reanimated Horse — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:40:20 +0000

I assumed she typed the letter.

By: MovieMan0283

MovieMan0283 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:58:48 +0000

Correct me if I’m wrong, but is the signatory of the letter not also a woman (named Mary no less)? If so, this adds another interesting complication to the quandary.

By: B

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:05:18 +0000

I’m studying animation right now. I heard about all this when we were studying animation’s history. Even if a woman was hired at Disney, she was rarely credited. I remember seeing a Disney staff photo, (if I’m remembering this right) only one of the women was credited by name as opposed to “unknown”.

Though I feel optimistic now, I keep hearing that the majority new blood in the industry is women. About 80% of the people in my class are female.

By: rina anxiety

rina anxiety — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:26:27 +0000

I’m completely unconvinced by that particular “scan”, but thanks karen for the link!

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:17:52 +0000

Women were in fact relegated to the Ink and Pain Department also known as “the Nunnery”.

Here is another example of an almost identical letter:http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=ww061101ws
the included article is also excellent.

The exception for this rule was Mary Blair who worked as a designer for Disney starting in 1940. The exception was made for her because her husband worked there (perhaps he was in charge of her?). She is most famous for designing the “look” of It’s a Small World along with many, many Disneyland and Walt Disney World murals, most of which are no longer in existance. She “broke the ceiling for future female creative types at Disney. Harriet Burns was the first female Imagineer who helped design Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion and the Enchanted Tiki Room.

I know this was way too much information but…

Thanks for the site. I’m really enjoying it.

By: Lindsey H

Lindsey H — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:53:50 +0000

From what I ‘m currently reading about Disney (I’m taking a class on it this term), it sounds very much like something that would come out of Disney Studios, since that was pretty much how things worked: ‘girls’ worked an inkers and painters, and all the animation staff was male, for a very long time.

By: Mike W

Mike W — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:35:34 +0000

The letterhead adds that extra moxie to remind us that women may be heroes or villains, just so long as they’re drawn by men.