Like A Star Out of The Blue: Animation Without World War 2

[PGSBHurricane]

Prologue: The Man Who Started It All

Walt Disney became a noted figure in the animation industry when he set up his Laugh-O-Gram Studio in 1921 in Kansas City, Missouri. The studio was most known for its Alice comedies, based on the book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, utilizing a blend of animation and live-action footage of a young girl (portrayed by Virginia Davis) and her cat exploring an animated world. Disney moved to California in 1923 to explore new opportunities for his career. Walt reached a breakthrough in 1928 when he created Mickey Mouse. The character starred in Steamboat Willie - the first cartoon ever recorded in fully synchronized sound. The Silly Symphonies followed in 1929 and continued into the 1930s, blending music and animation together in a series of short stories.

By the height of the Great Depression in 1933, he had reached near superstardom but realized that no matter how successful and popular his shorts were, they only earned fixed revenues from screenings. He believed that if he could venture into feature-length animation, it might increase his long-term profitability and advance the medium of animation as an art form in and of itself. Of course, there were several obstacles. First, a feature that played out like a feature-length version of a short cartoon comedy wouldn’t work, so the characters’ interactions, personalities, and development would be crucial. Also, audiences and critics viewed animation as vastly inferior to a live-action film due to the rigidity and crudeness in motion seen in animation at the time. Walt Disney wanted to avert this and make this film as life-like as possible for the animation medium.

For this honor, there were several selections from which Walt could choose. One adaptation he had been coveting to make was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He had been fascinated with the books ever since reading them in childhood. Walt planned Alice to be a hybrid of live-action and animation. Mary Pickford was attached to the project, slated to star as Alice. This never came to be and was scrapped once Paramount released its version in 1933. Then, of course, there was the story of Bambi: A Life In The Woods. Published in 1923 and written by Felix Stalten, Disney was concerned about the animation of realistic animals and the adult-oriented nature of the source material. It was ultimately moot since MGM had picked up the film rights. Finally, in 1934, Disney selected the fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for his first feature-length film.

A/N: So yeah this is a TL I've been contemplating for a while, even before I started my shuffled Disney canon TL. It won't be collaborative per se but I am more than happy to hear ideas from anyone. And while this isn't the first TL on the subject of animation with no WW2, I plan on taking mine in a different direction. Here, the POD is that Adolf Hitler is not let out of prison in 1924 and dies before his sentence is over in 1929 hence the Nazis don't come to power in Germany. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty politics of the time, however, so that's pretty much it for that one. So here it is, my take on animation and pop culture without WW2 as we know it.

 

[THE KINGFISH]

Sounds interesting!!!

I had an idea like this before, except the POD was in 1938 - with the Munich Agreement never happening (AFIAK the negotiations opened up 4 hours before Hitler’s deadline to invade Czechoslovakia) and Hitler invades Czechoslovakia - only for the Oster coup plan to be executed and the Nazis overthown. Basically a real-life Deux ex machina ending.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Sounds interesting!!!

I had an idea like this before, except the POD was in 1938 - with the Munich Agreement never happening (AFIAK the negotiations opened up 4 hours before Hitler’s deadline to invade Czechoslovakia) and Hitler invades Czechoslovakia - only for the Oster coup plan to be executed and the Nazis overthown. Basically a real-life Deux ex machina ending.

I was considering that but since I'm not into military history all that much I figured this would be the safest POD and most realistic. Anyway, feel free to suggest any ideas if you have any even though this won't be an official collaborative TL. And also feel free to check out my other Disney TL (which is a shuffled Disney canon TL) if you haven't seen it. It'll get you in the mood for this TL.

 

[THE KINGFISH]

I was considering that but since I'm not into military history all that much I figured this would be the safest POD and most realistic. Anyway, feel free to suggest any ideas if you have any even though this won't be an official collaborative TL. And also feel free to check out my other Disney TL (which is a shuffled Disney canon TL) if you haven't seen it. It'll get you in the mood for this TL.

Understandable. I’ve had some what-if ideas before that hinge on ASB, like Chiang Kai-Shek dying early means Japan wins WW2.

But as for animation ideas for this TL, I think that Fleischer Studios should make a Superman movie instead of Mr. Bug Goes to Town. Not only will audiences be more familiar with Superman, but also remember that OTL’s Superman shorts were very profitable for Fleischer.

Once Fleischer Studios can prove to be competitive with Disney, other studios like Walter Lantz Productions and Leon Schlesinger Productions (forerunners to Universal Animation Studios and Warner Bros. Animation) will move to make feature films of their own - as they planned to do IOTL until Mr. Bug flopped hard.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

On the first topic of discussion, I would delay Mr. Bug Goes to Town until 1942-1946, somewhere between that time, while the Superman movie launches a series of shorts after the fact. The only problem is, which of the OTL Fleischer Superman shorts should we attempt to extend into a feature film ITTL?

But on Disney's side of the story, it would be fun to see how the animation industry is like without WW2 ever happening. Maybe we get more feature films, in exchange for more one-reel or two-reel shorts that the OTL package film segments become ITTL. Maybe we get more Mickey Mouse shorts past 1953. Maybe Walt expands into television past the 1950s.

Maybe the films from Walter Lantz and WB become as good as the Fleischer Studios features. Maybe Paramount doesn't sell off the 1940s and 1950s cartoon library, thus keeping Casper for themselves. Maybe the complete Looney Tunes library stays in one spot the whole time. Maybe the UPA artstyle is made to save money at the Disney studio, and Mr. Magoo is a Disney character on par with Cinderella or Peter Pan for their time. Maybe Charlie Brown is Disney's first character to debut in a comic book, since Charles Schultz initially worked for Walt and Roy.

But if you really want to be bold, look into the negative side of Walt Disney and see if there's something about it that sticks around here.

 

[MrCarioca]

Great start to a great concept! I'm interested in seeing what'll happen to Alice, Peter Pan, Mickey and the Beanstalk etc. A suggestion is to have Fleischer Studios survives past 1941 and go toe to toe with Disney, maybe Warner Bros could make a feature film as well since Leon Schlesinger actually had plans before WW2.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

But as for animation ideas for this TL, I think that Fleischer Studios should make a Superman movie instead of Mr. Bug Goes to Town. Not only will audiences be more familiar with Superman, but also remember that OTL’s Superman shorts were very profitable for Fleischer.

Once Fleischer Studios can prove to be competitive with Disney, other studios like Walter Lantz Productions and Leon Schlesinger Productions (forerunners to Universal Animation Studios and Warner Bros. Animation) will move to make feature films of their own - as they planned to do IOTL until Mr. Bug flopped hard.

I think that without WW2, Mr. Bug would fair at least somewhat better at the box office. I don’t think much would change there. I am going to explore the possibility of a Superman movie though. I also read of Walter Lantz planning out an Aladdin movie so Universal will be in play too.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

On the first topic of discussion, I would delay Mr. Bug Goes to Town until 1942-1946, somewhere between that time, while the Superman movie launches a series of shorts after the fact. The only problem is, which of the OTL Fleischer Superman shorts should we attempt to extend into a feature film ITTL?

But on Disney's side of the story, it would be fun to see how the animation industry is like without WW2 ever happening. Maybe we get more feature films, in exchange for more one-reel or two-reel shorts that the OTL package film segments become ITTL. Maybe we get more Mickey Mouse shorts past 1953. Maybe Walt expands into television past the 1950s.

Maybe the films from Walter Lantz and WB become as good as the Fleischer Studios features. Maybe Paramount doesn't sell off the 1940s and 1950s cartoon library, thus keeping Casper for themselves. Maybe the complete Looney Tunes library stays in one spot the whole time. Maybe the UPA artstyle is made to save money at the Disney studio, and Mr. Magoo is a Disney character on par with Cinderella or Peter Pan for their time. Maybe Charlie Brown is Disney's first character to debut in a comic book, since Charles Schultz initially worked for Walt and Roy.

But if you really want to be bold, look into the negative side of Walt Disney and see if there's something about it that sticks around here.

I will definitely be exploring more of the potential that Disney can bring, both positive and negative. No guarantees about Mr. Magoo or Charlie Brown being Disney though.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Great start to a great concept! I'm interested in seeing what'll happen to Alice, Peter Pan, Mickey and the Beanstalk etc. A suggestion is to have Fleischer Studios survives past 1941 and go toe to toe with Disney, maybe Warner Bros could make a feature film as well since Leon Schlesinger actually had plans before WW2.

Alice, Peter Pan, and Mickey and The Beanstalk will likely have earlier releases than OTL (in fact the third one was originally slated for December 1941 per the Daily Variety IOTL so it’s not far fetched). As far as Fleischer goes, I will look into how they can survive considering the brothers were not exactly on speaking terms in 1941.

 

[MrCarioca]

Wait, does this mean no Jose Carioca or Panchito Pistoles? If so than that's sad.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

Wait, does this mean no Jose Carioca or Panchito Pistoles? If so than that's sad.

Maybe they can be introduced in the Donald Duck series of shorts.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Wait, does this mean no Jose Carioca or Panchito Pistoles? If so than that's sad.

I’m not certain but since the Nazis don’t come to power there’s no need to counteract the strong ties they had to various Latin American countries IOTL which is why Saludos Amigos was created in the first place.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Also, I may decide to include polls throughout this timeline to allow readers to help me make various decisions as well as reinforce the idea of collaborative input despite not being an official collaboration TL.

 

[Ninja2006]

Great start. Will be watching.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Walt Disney announced the production of Snow White to The New York Times on June 3, 1934. His brother Roy and his wife Lillian both doubted his vision, and Hollywood referred to Snow White as “Disney’s Folly” at the time. The story was written during the rest of the year, and the backgrounds, character models, and gags were also being worked out, including the names of the dwarfs and the roles and designs of the Evil Queen and the Prince. The production team came to focus on Snow White herself in 1935 as voice casting was underway. The crew animated the film in 1936 and 1937. Hundreds of crew members were involved in the production process, drawing and painting up to 2 million illustrations. It was filmed with the recently-invented multiplane camera. Originally planned to be $250,000 (ten times the budget of an average Silly Symphony), the film’s production costs grew to nearly $1.5 million, and took out a loan to complete the film in time. Pressure grew and time was running out.

Every day, The Evil Queen asks who the fairest one of all is. One day, Instead of the Queen herself, her Magic Mirror answers with her stepdaughter Snow White. Jealous, the Queen makes the princess work as a scullery maid dressed in old rags. Snow White stays hopeful and wishes for her true love, gaining the Prince's attention. The Queen then has a huntsman take the girl into the woods, kill her, and bring back her heart. Snow White escapes into the forest and gets lost but finds her way with the help of her animal friends who take her to a small cottage, which unknown to her is inhabited by seven dwarfs. Initially horrified upon discovering she broke into their house and cleaned it, they are soon won over by the girl’s kindness and her offer to cook for them. The Evil Queen furiously discovers via her Magic Mirror that her stepdaughter is still alive and takes matters into her own hands. After considering a poisoned comb and a laced bodice, she settles on a poisoned apple to kill Snow White and disguises herself as an old peddler to give it to her. The Dwarfs discover her plan and only they can stop the Evil Queen in time.

Disney's Snow White premiered on December 21, 1937, in Los Angeles, California. Various celebrities attended the premiere, including Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, and numerous others. At the end of the film, the audience cheered and applauded uproariously. Snow White proved Disney’s naysayers wrong. In January 1938, it opened in New York City at Radio City Music Hall, and RKO Radio Pictures put the film in general release on February 4. By the end of its initial run, it became a huge box-office hit internationally, earning $4.2 million in the United States and Canada in rentals and grossing $7.85 million worldwide. It was universally praised by critics for its innovation in storytelling. In February 1938, Walt Disney reported to the New York Times that a follow-up for Snow White would be set for release in 1939. That same month, Fleischer Studios and Paramount Pictures announced a new animated feature-length film set for Christmas 1939.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Great start. Will be watching.

Thank! You definitely will be in for a treat.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

I’m not sure when I will update next since this is supposed to be a side project much like my shuffled Disney canon TL. However I will let you guys know when I do so.

 

[Hayatgheibi]

I feel that it's obligatory to discuss anime in this thread, so I'll bring it up. I don't buy the theory that anime was fundamentally based on American animation, since the Japanese were starting to make animated featured films during WWII. So I think without the war, anime would have matured sooner than OTL. However, being under a dictatorship, anime would concentrate more on overt political propaganda and be under close government control, like Chinese animation today.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

I feel that it's obligatory to discuss anime in this thread, so I'll bring it up. I don't buy the theory that anime was fundamentally based on American animation, since the Japanese were starting to make animated featured films during WWII. So I think without the war, anime would have matured sooner than OTL. However, being under a dictatorship, anime would concentrate more on overt political propaganda and be under close government control, like Chinese animation today.

Tbh I don’t know much about anime hence I’m not sure how much I will be covering it but thanks for your knowledge and input about this topic. I definitely think it could be helpful.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

I feel that it's obligatory to discuss anime in this thread, so I'll bring it up. I don't buy the theory that anime was fundamentally based on American animation, since the Japanese were starting to make animated featured films during WWII. So I think without the war, anime would have matured sooner than OTL. However, being under a dictatorship, anime would concentrate more on overt political propaganda and be under close government control, like Chinese animation today.

In that case, I hope some of the creators of anime move to America first. I can think of three good Eastern franchises that would fit just as well in the West.