Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1937)

MEWS AND VIEWS OF THE PRODUCTION CENTER A Lost Cause By IVAN SPEAR THE studio employes who are v/earing out their good shoe leather picketing the major studios may as well make up their minds that their cause is lost; that the strike — under its present ramifications — cannot win for them the collective recognition they demand for the Federated Motion Picture Crafts. Negotiations with the individual unions comprising the Federation will come. The producers have voiced their willingness to participate in such negotiations, aside from the fact that they are assured under the provisions of the Wagner act. But, so far as they Federation, as such, winning its battle, it seems, at the present writing, to be out of the guestion. The strike was dealt its death blow when the powerful Screen Actors Guild successfully undertook individual dealings with the studio heads, won recognition, and voted not to throw its support to the strike. Without the support of the guild, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, and the other unions coming under the provisions of the existent basic labor agreement, the lesser union bodies participating in the walkout are not sufficiently strong to seriously hamper production — if they stay away from the studios from now on. Southern California, notorious among the most non-union communities of the country, is overflowing with unemployed men and women, competent and eager to fill the places vacated through the strike; and, after all, the highly technical work incident to making pictures is done by those belonging to unions already having won recognition through the basic agreement. Apparently fully cognizant of this situation, Charles Lessing has turned elsewhere for the support Hollywood has refused to give his Federation; and in going afield for such support he has made of the studio strike just another proving ground on which can be tested the strength of John L. Lewis' Committee for Industrial Organization. Lessing's plea for strike support from union workers the country over takes form in a movement to picket motion picture theatres in the nation's metropolitan and indus trial centers. His avowed purpose is an attempt to keep union sympathizers out of theatres in such numbers that it will force the hand of the producers by hitting them where it hurts the most — boxoffice grosses. Here it might be logical to inquire as to who is going to furnish the thousands of pickets necessary to form profest lines around the entrances of hundreds of theatres. Certainly it will not be the American Federation of Labor, to which belongs the lATSE and other unions under the basic wage agreement and with vrhich the Guild is closely affiliated. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that these theatre pickets — if any — will have to come from the membership of unions outside the AFL fold. Even assuming that Mr. Lessing is successful in establishing theatre picket lines on a wholesale and nationv/ide basis, it is doubtful that such lines will turn sufficient business away from the ticket windows to materially aftcci the situation, particularly since the Hollywood strike has not been given any recognition by heads of the AFL. True, universal union boycotts of manufactured commodities have in the past had some weight in forcing manufacturers to recognize striking organizations. But it must be remembered that in such instances the strikes were recognized by all unions and affected articles or commodities where the purchaser had an option of buying a union or non-union made ifem. Under existing conditions, theatre patrons have only the option of seeing pictures made in Hollywood — mostly by the major companies affected by the strike — or of seeing no pictures at all. It is hard to believe, therefore, that picket lines, even though they are established from the ranks of CIO unions, will succeed in influencing the rank and file of workers to forego their most popular form of entertainment. If these assumptions are correct, Mr. Lessing's last trump will fail to take a trick and the sooner the boys on the picket lines return to their jobs — while they still have jobs — the better off they will be. WESTERN EDITION Is One of the Seven Sectional Editions in Which BOXOFFICE Is Published Weekly. The Other Six Editions Are: NEW ENGLAND, MIDEAST, CENTRAL, MIDWEST, SOUTHERN, EASTERN, IVAN SPEAR. Western Manager. Suite 219, 6404 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, Calif., Phone GLadstone 1186. WALTER BARUSCH, 201 Golden Gate Bldg., 25 Taylor St., San Francisco, Calif. JOE COOPER, 2417 Second Ave., Seattle, Wash. JOHN A. ROSE, 1620 Clarkson St., Denver, Colo. VIOLA BROWNING HUTTON. 605 Utah Savings & Trust Bldg., Salt Lake City. Utah.