I know very little about the history of government and private funding for the film industry, but two thoughts do leap to mind as avenues to investigate: 1. any funding that might have been available through Roosevelt's WPA akin to the Federal Theatre Program and Federal Art Program--but given film's (not to mention animation's) shaky status as "art," I think it unlikely, all the more unlikely, given Disney's political proclivities. 2. Much more obvious--Saludos Amigos, which was released in 1942, and not targeted to military audiences but aided by the federal agency headed by Nelson Rockefeller. Details about the type and degree of federal support should be available. Don Larsson ___________________________________________________ "I mean, everybody deserves the benefit of the doubt." --Harvey Pekar Donald F. Larsson, Professor English Department, Minnesota State University, Mankato Email: [log in to unmask] ________________________________________ From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Doc Britto [[log in to unmask]] Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 5:54 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [SCREEN-L] Walt Disney financial strategy question in the 30s/40s Hello, > As many of you may know, there are dozens and dozens of biographies on > Walt Disney. I have read Marc Eliot's, where he details the financial deals for producing Mickey Mouse films in the 30's, along with more information about Disney's first feature films. As far as it is noted in Eliot's book, Walt Disney never applied for any kind of private/foundation grant or government art funding for his cartoon production in the 30s and 40s. Can anyone confirm this? Was there any such funding available for producing cartoons at the time? Or were cartoon studios always obliged to find a funding strategy solely based on returns from sales/distribution/merchandising? When I say government funding, I'm not asking about government commissions for cartoons for the American military, such as during WWII, but simply government money given to an artist so that they can use it to pursue their art freely. > Thank you in advance for any more information. > > V. Britto > > ---- Learn to speak like a film/TV professor! Listen to the ScreenLex podcast: http://www.screenlex.org ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu