One Middle-Aged Peg-Board

Above, TAG's newsletter in October, 1961. So what were some issues in the animation biz in '61? ....

Remember when turning out a 90-minute theatrical feature in two years was an achievement? -- Now for television, 14 hours of animated cartoons are being turned out EACH WEEK! ... and that doesn't include commercials, theatrical shorts, industrials and 90-minute features also in work ...

(The above, of course, references the boom times at a newer studio called Hanna-Barbera.)

Then there was this nugget ...

A Fractured Fairy Tale of a "Union Contract"

...Recent promotional efforts of the interests producing "The Bullwinkle Show" are commendable in the attention they have drawn to the Animation Industry as a whole. They are, however, rather deplorable, in that they appear to have been made necessary and possible at the expense of many members of the Animation Industry.

It is a rather well known fact that the local production company concerned with the production of the show provides employment only for a few members of the SCG [Screen Cartoonists Guild, 839's rival union in 1961] in the job classifications of story and layout. The balance of membership does not now receive employment under the contract between the SCB and the production company.

... Said contract apparently sanctions the employer to obtain the major portion of the production classifications at sub-standard rates outside of the United States ...

The Peg-Board is warning against run-away production of animated cartoons, just starting to rear its head in 1961. And the "interests" doing this nefarious thing? Jay Ward Productions, signed to the remnants of the Screen Cartoonists Guild.

We like to think that the troubles of the present have never happened before, and that all our turmoils are fresh and new. Actually, the same stuff goes round and round as it circles the drain ...