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)

MOTION-PICTURE JURISDICTIONAL DISPUTES 2325 At 1 :30 p. m. Deputy Sheriff Frank Reap read Judge Vickers order over a loudspeaker. It called for the unions to restrict their pickets to four at the main gate, two at the administation publicity office, casting office, and music department entrances, and three at the north gate and laboratory entrance. BOOS GREET ORDER As soon as Reap began' reading, the pickets began booing. It was impossible to hear what the deputy was saying, despite the amplification of his words. A few minutes later a copy of the temporary restraining order was served on Herbert Sorrell, president of the Conference of Studio Unions, who headed the picket line. Sorrell said his attorney had advised him the order was effective only in case of violence. Th sardine-packed picket line of some 600 demonstrators, presenting a solid fouman barricade across the gateway, remained unchanged. An article from the Los Angeles Times of October 9, 1945, the headline reading : "Fists Fly, Many Injured in Film Fight." [Keading :] HUNDREDS BATTLE; 70 TREATED IN NEW STRIKE VIOLENCE For the third time in 4 days, fists, clubs, blackjacks, and bottles fiew yesterday in the 7-month-long interunion strhggle between striking and nonstriking AFL motion-picture studio workers, as hundreds battled it out in front of Warner Bros. Burbank studio. Nearly 70 persons were treated fo rinjuries, some of them serious, and five strikers were arrested on charges varying fro mdistubing the peace to carrying concealed weapons. Three nonstrikers, arrested earlier, were arraigned on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. With more violence expected in the strike flare-up as another mass picket barricade has been called for 5 a. m. today, Warner Bros, studio like a feudal castle of old, last night was preparing for a siege. WORKERS STAY AT STUDIO After the army of pickets outside the studio dispersed at 4 p. m. the several hundred nonstrikers who had crashed through picket lines into the studio yesterday morning were transported by limousines through studio gates to nearby parking lots. There, the nonstrikers raced to their individual cars and drove them back into the studio. This shuttle service continued for more than an hour. Inside studio walls, food for the nonstrikers was prepared and served at the studio commissary. Beds — from cots to items from the property department which included replicas of beds slept in by such notables as Washington. Disraeli, Mr. Skeffington ,and even Jezebel — were being set up in makeshift "dormitories." Families of nonstrikers were being notified that they were "besieged." The Los Angeles Times, October 6, 1945, the headline reads : "Film Strike Eiot Ended by Police." [Eeading :] DOZEN INJLTRED IN MELEE AT WARNERS' ENTRANCE ; UNION LEADER ARRESTED Interunion enmities, kindled 7 months ago b ya strike over control of 77 set decorators, yesterday flared into a full-fledged riot at the gates of Warner Bros, studio in which participants were knifed, clubbed, and gassed before police reserves from three cities and the county could restore order. Tlie riot which raged sporadically at the employees' main entrance of the Burbank studio, was precipitated by mass picketing by the striking Conference of Studio Unions lead by Herbert Sorrell. president of the union. Later in the day Sorrell and eiglit aides were arrested by Burbank police on suspicion of violating section 40.5 of the State code, outlawing rioting. They were released late yesterday aftermxm on $l,r)00 bail each. An article from the Los Angeles Times, October 24, 1945. The headline reads : "Scores Hurt in New Studio Riots." [Reading :]