Walt Disney Studios grew to become an “equal opportunity employer” far before that phrase became coined and commonly utilized. As far back as 1922, Walt Disney was in the habit of hiring women animators (not just blackeners) to staff his Kansas City Laugh-O-gram studio. Twenty years later, Walt was hiring many female employees to staff his streamlined Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. During meetings of this era, Walt periodically took time to enthusiastically praise his diverse workforce of wome and men, who contributed to the manufacture of many short films, feature films, and government related projects for the war effort. I am reminded of Walt’s words uttered during one studio meeting held in the studio theater during the production of Dumbo (1941) : “If a woman can do the work as well, she is worth as much as a man. The girl artists have the right to expect the same chances for advancement as men, and I honestly believe they may eventually contribute something to this business that men never would or could.”
One of many empowered female employees who worked for Walt Disney Studios during the 1940s.
Still, many female employees from the 1920s to the 1950s went largely unnoticed as they fulfilled new and crucial production roles. One of those “trailblazing” women was Nelda Marshall (May 10, 1943 - August 23, 1945) who began her career with Walt Disney Studios during the wartime-era of the 1940s. During those troublesome times, there was also the Walt Disney Studio strike of 1941 and successive period of layoffs that thinned the staff. However, Nelda’s talent helped her maintain a very important position through this period.
Photo Credit : ACME
Sadly, a tragic chapter of Nelda Marshall’s home life would come to overshadow any details of her amazing talent. Nelda was married to a “much-decorated Corporal James D. Slaton”. James was a former taxi driver, who had received the Congressional Medal of Honor, Russian Order of the Patriotic Award, and the Purple Heart “for single-handedly cleaning out several German machine gun nests in Italy during the campaign there in 1944.”
During March of 1945. the thirty-two-year-old Nelda Marshall “discovered that the thirty-three-year-old Slaton had a wife and four children living in the South”. This news must have been a devastating blow, as it was soon be revealed that Nelda was the third woman James had married (unbeknownst to any of the women). Upon this shocking revelation, Nelda had their marriage annulled (an uncommon action at the time), on March 27th, 1945.
According to the information released on this same March 27, 1945 press photograph, she served as a “Walt Disney Studio film editor”. Author Mindy Johnson positively honors the memory of Nelda Marshall, suggesting more of her position at Walt Disney Studios. In Ink & Paint : The Women of Walt Disney Animation, Mindy further impresses Nelda’s role by stating,“Gail Mickelson and Nelda Marshall were lead editors at Walt Disney Studios.”
I only wish that there was much more to be said about this strong woman of Walt Disney Studios animation, but sadly Nelda is long gone and no longer has a voice. Still, what we know about Nelda Marshall stands a testament to the progressive nature of Walt Disney Studio during the 1940s!