For a century now, The Walt Disney Company has been the home of family-friendly entertainment, and those 100 years have provided some iconic films. However, the people behind that century-worth of film and television are not all angels. Walt Disney himself, for example, played down the fact that he was a smoker, hiding the fact from the public. But Walt's personal vices were nothing compared to what his employees got up to during Walt’s Field Day, which turned into Walt’s Nightmare.
The event in Palm Springs that was supposed to be celebrating the completion of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became an event where animators relieved a lot of stress, and they did so in a way that was very much not the “Disney way” – as it involved rivers of booze, minor destruction of property, and not a little bit of sex.
Walt’s Field Day Was The Wrap Party For Snow White
When Walt Disney announced that his company was going to produce its first feature-length animated film, many did not believe such a thing was possible. It was referred to as "Walt’s Folly," and there’s no argument that Snow White nearly destroyed the studio. But in the end, the movie would not simply be successful, but the most successful film ever made up to that point. And it's still one of Disney's best-animated movies.
This was great news for The Walt Disney Company to be sure, but it was also seen as great news for the animators inside that company. The Disney Studio had set up a bonus program that paid successful animators extra cash when their work was deemed especially good, and many of them were expecting significant paydays from Snow White (the studio certainly had the profit to spread around).
Making Snow White had been an exhausting process. Animators worked five-and-a-half-day weeks normally, which turned into six and seven-day weeks as the movie’s release date was approaching. Nobody had ever made a movie like this, so nobody was ready for the work they had to endure. The bonuses were expected to help compensate for all the extra work.
Six months after the film’s release, animators were excited by the announcement of Walt’s Field Day. The event, set to take place at the Lake Norconian resort in Palm Springs on June 4, 1938, would be a day of fun and games, followed by an evening of dinner and dancing. It seemed like it would be the perfect time to announce the bonus plans.
Walt’s Field Day Went (Mostly) Fine, Until Walt Gave His Speech
Walt’s Field Day wasn’t exactly the party a lot of Walt’s employees were expecting. The animators were mostly single guys in their 20s, and the Ink and Paint department, made up entirely of women, were equally young and single. Nobody was specifically looking for a field day – a term that then brought to mind (and still does) the idea of children competing in athletic contests.
Still, the Field Day portion of the day reportedly went fine. Disney employees played golf, competed in swimming and diving competitions, enjoyed some horseback riding, and otherwise kept themselves entertained. After lunch, however, things started to get a bit wild.
Alcohol consumption started with lunch and apparently continued from then on. Several people ended up in the pool with their clothes on, either having fallen in, jumped in, or in the case of at least one ink and paint girl, being thrown in by an animator.
One employee, according to Disney History Institute, rode his rented horse into the hotel lobby. And it wasn't just the men who were maybe getting out of hand. Ruthie Thompson, an ink and paint girl who would go on to have an almost 40-year career at The Walt Disney Company said later,
I got a little tipsy. I tried to ride the donkey. I didn’t fall off, but I came close to it. Somebody got a picture of me with one foot up in the air.
Instead of the Field Day, the focus of most was on the evening festivities. This was not only because of the dinner (and drinking) and dancing (and drinking) that was planned, but also because the staff was expecting to hear something about the aforementioned Snow White bonuses. The movie had been out for six months, and everybody in the world knew just what a massive hit Snow White had become, so expectations were high. Bonuses from shorts had been equal to several weeks' pay in some cases.
Walt Disney had actually missed most of his own Field Day. He was given an honorary degree by the University of Southern California earlier that afternoon, but he arrived in the evening and joined his staff for dinner. The booze flowed freely, and Disney certainly had his share. Near the end of the official festivities, after awards for the various contests of the day were given out, the company founder spoke to the assembled crowd. He thanked them for their hard work and prepared them for the future, as Pinocchio and Bambi were both in various stages of production. Nothing about bonuses was said.
Expectations had been high, so the lack of any comment about the bonuses apparently rippled through the assembled crowd. Many began to wonder if the party itself was supposed to be the bonus, and nothing else would be forthcoming. If that was the case, history suggests that many decided they were going to get their money’s worth out of it.
Walt’s Field Day Went Crazy
The pool continued to be used by the Walt Disney Studios staff, but instead of jumping in with clothes on, clothing of any kind reportedly became optional. Fred Moore, the animator who had handled the redesign of Mickey Mouse from the original Walt and Ub Iwerks creation, apparently got so drunk he fell out of a second-story window, or possibly off a fire escape. Either way, his fall was broken by a small tree or shrub, and he apparently walked away from it.
While there was a long-standing Disney policy against “dipping your pen in the company ink,” a.k.a. animators fraternizing with the ink and paint girls, it was something that was already common (several marriages would come of the relationships; Walt’s own wife had previously been his secretary). It apparently became quite a problem that night, as animator Bill Justice recalled to Cartoon Research,
People got drunk and were often surprised what room they were in and who they were sleeping next to when they awoke the next morning
Per Disney History Institute, animator Ken Anderson said that some of the married couples even swapped wives, which upset the family man, and likely would have upset Walt Disney as well if word ever got back to him. It's far from clear just how much Disney actually knew, though it seems he knew enough.
Walt Disney Is Said To Have Never Spoken About The Party Again
While Walt Disney certainly had some fun of his own at his Field Day, he apparently didn’t care for the way his employees went overboard. While many of the staff remained at the Narconian for most of Sunday, Walt and Lillian Disney left early Sunday morning, and the party became something he never brought up again.
Bonuses were eventually be paid to the animators, though they were not nearly what many had been expecting. Instead, according to NPR, the bulk of the profits from Snow White would go back into the company and into building the new Walt Disney Studios campus in Burbank, CA, which is where the company calls home today.
From there the Disney Studio would grow at a breakneck pace. Many of the animators who had been there from early on saw the company go through a significant change, one where Walt was less personal and less available. Three years later, many in the Walt Disney Studio would go on strike. The party at the Narconian was, in many ways, the end of an era.
