Sometimes When One Does "Geek" Research, You Learn About Something Else-More On L'Oreal!

I'm not a fan of rehashing prior disagreements but I think on this one issue, it may be of interest to our readers and Afronerd Radio listeners. You might have noticed that I engaged in a rather lengthy discourse with a commenter in the Beyonce/L'Oreal entry (scroll downward) centered on the racially insidious nature of the Knowles' ad in question. The commenter took me to task for believing that L'Oreal and not Beyonce was ultimately responsible for an ad that appears to have "whitewashed" the singer to the point of being unrecognizable. Further, I was told that L'Oreal's denial of any wrongdoing should suffice in this matter. I mean why would a corporation as upstanding as L'Oreal do such a thing? Well, I am still a contrarian on this issue, in part due to my recent purchase (of all things) of the DVD series, DC Super Heroes: The Filmation Adventures. This DVD series is of the typical Silver Age Comic fare but the special feature entitled, The Lou Scheimer Story is what really piqued my interest. Scheimer's rag to riches journey is interesting on a number of different levels.

The viewer gets a behind the scenes look at the inner workings/machinations of the comic and animation business as well as the foreshadowing of the loss of an industry. Scheimer, along with the late radio business legend, Norm Prescott built Filmation Studios from obscurity to one of the premiere (and last remaining) US domestic animation houses before it was purchased by......you guessed it...L'Oreal in 1989. L'Oreal's acquisition, unto itself was not controversial-it's what occurred in the aftermath of the purchase that is. When you look at the Scheimer featurette, one quickly realizes the close knit and somewhat familial bonds that the animation/comic creating community engenders.

Scheimer was under the impression that L'Oreal's purchase was not going to affect any of the hundreds of animators and industry workers that were employed by him. This was not the case-L'Oreal demanded that these animators be terminated immediately a day before California legislators instituted a new law which would have required a company to give its workers 60 day notice. Funny what one finds out on a "geek" run. But then a fine company like L'Oreal would never have fired so many people with out good reason. I'm sure if asked, they would deny absolutely any wrongdoing-just ask Beyonce. For more on the Filmation story and Lou Scheimer, click on the links below. And as an added treat, check out the above vintage 70s Filmation cartoon (a testament to early multi-culturalism), Space Sentinels.


Wiki's take on Filmation Studios


LOU SCHEIMER: CREATING THE FILMATION GENERATION

And as an aside, Mr. Scheimer (in the DVD documentary) had some pretty fascinating and prideful things to say about his work on Dr. Cosby's Fat Albert series and why he thought Albert never won an Emmy-and that's one to grow on.