Timeline Compiled By
Tom Sito was born in New York City. An animator since 1975, he has worked in New York, Los Angeles, London and Toronto in every phase of animated film production. He has done commercials, educational films, and direction of children’s television series like He-Man and Masters Of The Universe, She-Ra and Fat Albert.
As an animator for Walt Disney Pictures, his credits included Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Aladdin, Fantasia Continued, The Lion King and Pocahontas. Co-directed the Warner Bros. feature Osmosis Jones. Tom has produced his own independent films and has taught animation at USC and California Institute of the Arts.
He is President-Emeritus of The Animation Guild, having served as president from 1992 to 2001 and is an outspoken advocate for the rights of artists. He is currently teaching at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
The Screen Cartoonists Guild & Looney Tune Lockout
[ The 1930's ] [ Screen Cartoonists Guild & Looney Tune Lockout ] [ The Disney Strike, 1941 ]
[ Warner Brothers Battle & Terrytoons Strike ] [ Local 839 chartered, 1952 ] [ The 50s through the 90s ]
The links above go to pages that contain a compilation of an exhibit tracing the history of labor unions in screen cartooning. The full exhibit is on display at our headquarters building at 1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, California 91505. The office is open Mondays through Fridays, from 8:30 am to 5 p.m.
The Screen Cartoonists Guild
A year after the Fleischer victory, the Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers Union chartered the Screen Cartoon (later Screen Cartoonists) Guild, Local 852. The Guild allied with the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU), a group that vied with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) for control of film workers in Hollywood.
Under the leadership of Herbert Sorrell (with megaphone, right), the Guild organized and signed contracts with MGM, Walter Lantz and Screen Gems in 1941.
The “Looney Tune Lockout”
In 1941, Leon Schlesinger, who had been producing cartoons for Warner Bros. since the mid-thirties, tried to lock out the Guild animators. This was the “Looney Tune Lockout”, or “our own little Six-Day War” as union activist Chuck Jones called it. Schlesinger gave in after six days and signed with the Guild.
Above: 1941, Lockedout but happy—Left: Manny Perez tries the door. Right: Ben Washam (later president of Local 839), Roy Laupenberger, unknown, Paul Marin, Martha Goldman (Sigall).