Jurisdictional disputes in the motion-picture Industry : hearings before a special subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, first-session, pursuant to H. Res. 111 (1948)

MOTIOIS -PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES 1983 Mr. SoRRELL. Let me tell you, Congressman, I don't believe in violence, and I don't believe it is necessary, and I have demonstrated it in the Disney strike. Mr. Laxdis. That is right; yes. Mr. SoRRELi.. But yon can't say that the violence is all by the strikers. Mr. Landis. That is true. Mr. SoRRELL. Most of the violence is not caused by the strikers. Now, I put in an affidavit in the record — and I can look it up — where M-G-M hired every policeman employed by Culver City, and they got a lot moi-e money from M-G-M than they did from Culver City. Now. I am prepared to show also, whenever this comes to court, which eventually iit will, that Eddie Mannix told these people when and when not to create trouble. Now, Eddie Mannix is a general manager of M-G-M, and I may say, I admire the guy. I think he is a great guy. I just got through telling you the other day how he took out of his own pocket when the people wouldn't live up to their obligations and pay off. And Eddie Mannix won't lie about this. But Warner Bros, not only hired the people in Burbank but in Glendale and surrounding cities. And don't you think that when a policeman is hired by the studio, he does what he is told? Do you mean to tell me that when these policemen threw these tear-gas bombs, thej^ did it because they liked to ? Let me tell you something else. It has been testified here that some guy said that some policemen seen him beat him, and said, "Well, he says he is a scab," or something, and so forth. That is a little hard for me to believe. But when we had the mass picket line attacked at Warner Bros, by the people who came from without and the people who came from behind, I have seen pictures that showed these policemen didn't want to hit the pickets. They didn't want to. Mr. Landis. Now, yon are talking about a mass picketing? Mr. SoRRELL. That is correct. ' Mr. Landis. Does that block the entrance? Mr. SoRRELL. The mass picket line blocked that entrance, yes. And instead of — the people who legitimately worked at the studio wouldn't go through the other gates. The advertisement was too strong. So they attempted to destroy the picket line with mass violence. Now, the police came out, and sheriffs, from within. They formed a corridor across the street on both sides so that to picket, we had to walk clear across the street, down the block, and back again. We still picketed. Instead of our picket line being six or eight deep, it was a single line going one way, and single line going the other way around these offices. Mr. Landis. Did you have pickets at every gate ? Mr. SoRRELL. Pickets at every gate, but not mass pickets. Mr. Landis. That is what I thought. Mr. SoRRELL. Now, this is what I did. You will be interested in this. I took a pad out of my pocket, I took a pencil, and I went up to each man, and most of these were sheriffs, and wrote down the number of his badge, and they were standing just so that they could touch hands like that, when they were stretched out. Then they were scattered along. And to each one of these fellows I would say, "I am taking yournumber because eventually you will probably be called to