fleischer studios employs first female animator

Lillian Friedman (from "Talking Animals and Other People" by Shamus Culhane)

In 1933, when Fleischer Studios promoted a then-22 year old female artist to the position of animator, Lillian Friedman became the first ever female to be hired as a commercial animator at any animation studio. 

Lillian was just 19 when she joined the team at Fleischer Studios in 1931 as an inbetweener.  This was in and of itself a fairly prestigious position since women were generally employed only as inkers or opaquers. But head animator Shamus Culhane recognized Lillian as a highly talented artist and advocated for her advancement to animator. Convincing the other animators to accept a woman in their ranks was no easy task, as Shamus Culhane points out in his book Talking Animals and Other People. Ultimately he ended up having to devise tricks to get his all-male compatriots on board with the idea of a female animator. 

At the time, it was accepted as ‘fact’ within the industry that women did not possess the creativity necessary to be animators, just as it was widely believed in so many fields that women lacked in the competency, capability and commitment necessary to function successfully beyond a small range of basic, clearly-prescribed tasks. 

The unquestioning acceptance of this view can be seen in the article about Lillian on the right. As this write-up in a 1936 Paramount promotional booklet informs us: 

“Nobody knows just why, but women generally are not successful as cartoon animators.”

As late as 1939, Disney Studios did not accept “girls” into its training program. As the letters to the left demonstrate, when it came to the women animators, the response was simply a matter of policy: 

“Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school."

Though the language varies slightly, both letters go on to describe the work open to women as:

“...tracing the characters on clear celluloid sheets with India ink and filling in the tracings on the reverse side with paint according to directions."

And, not surprisingly, despite having achieved the title of Animator, Lillian was paid significantly less than her male counterparts. She remained at Fleischer’s until 1939 when she resigned to be with her family full time.

If you’d like to enjoy some of Lillian’s wonderful work, you can click on the following links to watch A Language All My Own and Pudgy and the Lost Kitten, both in our Fleischer Studios Theater. Lillian’s work can also be seen in Betty Boop's Prize Show (1934), Making Stars (1935), Judge for a Day (1935), Be Human (1936), The New Deal Show (1937), Pudgy Takes a Bow-Wow (1937), Buzzy Boop at the Concert (1938), Honest Love and True (1938), and the Color Classic Hawaiian Birds (1936).

Article in a Paramount promotional booklet for "Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor" 1936. Collection: Fleischer Studios Family