If you are at all interested in the modern entertainment industry, then you're probably well aware of both the writer and actor strikes being the current talk of Hollywood. Of course, these aren't the first-ever strikes to happen in Hollywood, but this does mark the first time both of these unions have gone on strike since the 1960s. All this talk of strikes in Hollywood made me interested in some of these previous ones, but one that particularly fascinates me is one that seems to have been forgotten to time. That, my friends, was the animation voice actor strike of 1987.
Starting on June 15th of that year and ending on July 24th, the strike affected the five biggest animation houses at that time: Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Marvel, Filmation, and DIC. But what was the cause of this particular strike? It wasn't related to fears of AI or a lack of residuals, but instead a desire to receive more payment for doing more than one character's voice, and an interest in seeing the standard workday shortened from eight hours to four. Below is an article from The Odessa American that covered the strike just two days after it began. Included in it are a few comments by Don Messick, who helps illuminate why the voice actors of SAG have these requests.
Cartoon voice characters go on strike, Actors want four-hour days
By Richard De Atley
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The major animation studios have been struck by about 200 actors who create the voices for such Saturday morning cartoon characters as The Smurfs, Fred Flintstone, Scooby Doo, and Boo Boo Bear.
The actors, represented by the Screen Actors Guild, say they want more money for doing more than one principal character's voice for a cartoon show. They also want the standard work day cut from eight hours to four.
Affected by the strike are the top animation houses: Disney Studios, Filmation, DIC, Hanna-Barbera and Marvel.
The guild has been bargaining separately for cartoon voice characters since 1967. The current contract actually was to have expired June 30, but was extended while there was hope for a settlement.
The guild's national executive committee voted unanimously Saturday to call the strike, which officially began at 12:01 a.m. PDT Monday.
Under the current contract, voice character actors receive a base fee of $361 a day for doing the voices of up to three characters on a show. The guild wants to change that to one main voice and two incidentals for one day's pay, and an additional day's pay for each additional main character's voice.
Producers offered a 5 percent increase over the current $361 rate.
Ed Prelock, chief negotiator for the five animation houses, said the guild actually seeks better conditions for the voice-actors than it has for members covered by its television contract.
"It's unfortunate," said Prelock, "that a small group of SAG members feel they should be treated in a more favorable way than the general membership."
Don Messick, the voice of Papa Smurf, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo, Boo-Boo Bear and Jellystone's Ranger Smith, said a four-hour workday is needed because of the vocal strain of "doing the crazy, squeeky things we do."
Among the shows affected by the strike are "The Smurfs," "Cabbage Patch Kids," "The Jetsons," "The Flintstones," "Gummibears," "Teddy Ruxpin," "Ghostbusters," "Huckleberry Hound," "Yogi Bear's Treasure Hunt," "Scooby Doo," "Top Cat," "The GoBots," "Rambo," "Lazer Tag Academy," "Popeye," "Masters of the Universe," "Heathcliff," "Punky Brewster" and "The Wuzzles."
All in all, the strike lasted only about five weeks, ending on July 24th when SAG and the animation production houses came to an agreement. This agreement featured the actors earning a pay raise of 10%, sessions shorted to four hours, and an additional 10% bonus for sessions where an actor has to do three characters. It's also worth noting that this deal affected all of the animation studios sans Hanna-Barbera, who came to a nearly identical agreement earlier in July. The voice actors who went on strike, now around 300, had succeeded in their efforts, and went back to work the following Monday.
One other interesting tidbit I found while researching this story was this old news excerpt on ITN that covered the strike. It's only a small part of what I imagine was a more extensive story, but in this clip, we see Henry Corden, the second voice for Fred Flintstone, on the picket line! Give it a watch below, and if you by any chance have seen other news footage on this subject, I'd love to hear about it! I'd also like to credit
UPI Archive and
The Los Angeles Times, both of whom were great resources in putting this together. That's all for today, and remember: support unions!
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