THE FIRST JURISDICTIONAL BATTLES Meanwhile, <strong>IATSE</strong> faced enormous challenges from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the Carpenters and Painters unions, which coveted the Alliance’s contracts. There was a particularly long hard-fought battle with IBEW as it tried to claim jurisdiction of IA theatrical electricians. The IBEW, as one of the larger unions of the AFL, possessed a substantial political edge over <strong>IATSE</strong>. Unfortunately, the AFL did not then have mechanisms to settle disputes; it could do little more than revoke the charter of an affiliated union and that was a step it did not want to take. So the battle raged on. There was an attempt to settle the dispute by stating that all work back of the proscenium arch belonged to <strong>IATSE</strong>, but this proved difficult to enforce. Newly organized outdoor theaters had no proscenium arches and new moving picture machines had to be operated from the rear of the theaters, quickly made this ruling obsolete. VAUDEVILLE AND BURLESQUE During the era of <strong>IATSE</strong>’s founding and formative years, vaudeville was the mainstay of live theater. In 1919, there were reported to be more than 900 theaters in the country playing vaudeville. It began as burlesque, using spectacular scenery, beautiful and scantily clad women, music and comedy with heavily sexual overtones to attract large, predominantly male audiences. Early in the century, burlesque began to be transformed into modern vaudeville, which would appeal more to family audiences and became one of the most popular forms of entertainment until around 1930. Both Vaudeville and Burlesque employed many stagehands. But their days became numbered with the growth of motion pictures. By 1931, the Palace Theatre in New York was the only remaining large vaudeville house in the nation, all the others having been converted into motion picture houses. Indeed, We went to work on Friday, and we worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then on Monday, we would put on the new stock show for the week, and then we could go home. We always brought along two or three pairs of clean socks and we would change our socks when we got a coffee break each day. I was the apprentice boy in the theatre, and for six days, I received $8. No overtime. Nothing like that. The only thing I got that was a little lucrative was that they would let me take a part in the show, like standing at the door with a rifle or some such thing. So I would get an extra $2 for the week for that. — Richard Walsh, <strong>IATSE</strong> International President, 1941-1974, describing his work as an apprentice electrician at Brooklyn’s Fifth Avenue Theatre in 1917. from this period on, the legitimate theater struggled to stay alive, and the movies, especially after the “talkies” arrived, continued to take a larger and larger share of the skilled labor pool in the entertainment industry. CANADIAN THEATRE Canada’s close ties to the United Kingdom were evident through the British and Scottish theatrical companies that travelled to Canada to appear in shows in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. Alliance members worked as stagehands on these shows, as well as those produced locally. The Canadian IA grew accordingly. By 1928, the Canadian Department of Labour listed theatrical Locals in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Calgary, Saskatchewan and Vancouver. With these and other Canadian local unions, <strong>IATSE</strong> was quickly establishing itself as the preeminent theatrical union in North America. 12
13
- Page 2 and 3: EXECUTIVE OFFICERS Matthew D. Loeb
- Page 4 and 5: PRESIDENT MATTHEW D. LOEB reflectio
- Page 6 and 7: The year is 1893. Grover Cleveland
- Page 8 and 9: THE LEGACY OF LEE HART Lee Hart is
- Page 10 and 11: order its members to withdraw from
- Page 14 and 15: THE MOVING PICTURES When moving pic
- Page 16 and 17: at West End Park. The Holland broth
- Page 18 and 19: The city became an open battlegroun
- Page 20 and 21: never seen before. Steps, ledges an
- Page 22 and 23: 22
- Page 24 and 25: In 1921, the collective salaries of
- Page 26 and 27: (1927), Hollywood changed forever.
- Page 28 and 29: widely considered the Golden Age of
- Page 30 and 31: In the studios, craft workers gaine
- Page 32 and 33: The Alliance and a splinter group,
- Page 34 and 35: WAR: AT HOME AND ABROAD With the ou
- Page 36 and 37: 36
- Page 38 and 39: Carpenters, the AFL committee issue
- Page 40 and 41: systems set up in many theaters aro
- Page 42 and 43: the organizing difficulties when he
- Page 44 and 45: AND NOW FOR THE NEWS During this ti
- Page 46 and 47: THE STORIES IA MEMBERS CAN TELL As
- Page 48 and 49: “AND NOW IN LIVING COLOR” By th
- Page 50 and 51: manship of theater-based IA carpent
- Page 52 and 53: to start rebuilding its theater com
- Page 54 and 55: THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY TRANSFO
- Page 56 and 57: acting in a Cinemascope picture was
- Page 58 and 59: ALFRED W. DI TOLLA — PIVOTAL LEAD
- Page 60 and 61: CENTENNIAL In July 1993, the IATSE
- Page 62 and 63:
HEALTH AND RETIREMENT SECURITY Prov
- Page 64 and 65:
pants were primarily projectionists
- Page 66 and 67:
66
- Page 68 and 69:
4 Local 796 Texas, covering the Hou
- Page 70 and 71:
GAINING POWER AT THE BARGAINING TAB
- Page 72 and 73:
DIGITAL AGREEMENT As motion picture
- Page 74 and 75:
74
- Page 76 and 77:
The work in safety that began in th
- Page 78 and 79:
IATSE included George Fern Co., All
- Page 80 and 81:
NEW LEADERSHIP RISES The year 2002
- Page 82 and 83:
82
- Page 84 and 85:
Colorado. Workers at these faciliti
- Page 86 and 87:
opportunities in legitimate theatre
- Page 88 and 89:
history and culture. Young people o
- Page 90 and 91:
coverage with the Producers paying
- Page 92 and 93:
track the Hollywood Basic Agreement
- Page 94 and 95:
Office. The database has built-in r
- Page 96 and 97:
EMPOWERING MEMBERS THROUGH EDUCATIO
- Page 98 and 99:
In its first four years, the IATSE
- Page 100 and 101:
tainment Safety OSHA 10 class at th
- Page 102 and 103:
able, and taking other bold initiat
- Page 104 and 105:
AV ESSENTIALS For many years, sever
- Page 106 and 107:
A 21ST CENTURY UNION FOR 21ST CENTU
- Page 108 and 109:
INTERNAL RESTRUCTURING In, 2012, th
- Page 110 and 111:
time staff who work out of the IATS
- Page 112 and 113:
112
- Page 114 and 115:
Ratifying this wisdom of this strat
- Page 116 and 117:
Acknowledgments This special issue
- Page 118 and 119:
M 634 SUDBURY/NORTH BAY, ON‐Keith
- Page 120 and 121:
S 629 AUGUSTA‐Anthony Capaz, 2312
- Page 122 and 123:
M 616 MERIDIAN‐Benny Eggler, abeg
- Page 124 and 125:
(216‐621‐9537) (Fax: 216-621-35
- Page 126 and 127:
M 141 LaCROSSE‐Peggy Sannerud, ps
- Page 128:
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.