IATSE-2nd2018_web

a general strike against producers, demanding recognition of
IATSE as the bargaining agent for its members, a closed shop, a
wage increase, overtime pay and double time for Sunday work.
And for the first time, the IA called out the projectionists in a
secondary boycott.
Unfortunately, several studios remained open due to
strikebreakers from the Carpenters. The Department of Labor
eventually settled the strike with a wage scale granted but no
union recognition.
POST-WORLD WAR I HOLLYWOOD
At the end of World War I, the demand for propaganda films,
which had kept the studios busy during the war, dried up. The
influenza pandemic of 1918 killed thousands and kept people
from gathering in crowded places like theaters. Many members
who survived the pandemic lost their jobs, because theaters
closed as a result. The studios briefly closed as well.
Following this bleak period, there emerged a new Hollywood,
dominated not by the lines of work — production, distribution
and projection — but by major motion picture companies.
Fortunately, producers who had been associated with IATSE in
the legitimate theaters looked to Local 33 for skilled workers.
Thus by 1919, more than 900 new members joined the ranks
of the IA.
When the IATSE contract expired later that year, the Alliance
again went on strike. But this time there was even less success,
as IBEW scabs pledged to fill any jobs left by IA workers as a
secondary boycott. The production companies then began a
campaign of mergers and acquisitions which put the power of
the industry into just a few hands.
The enormous financial output of Hollywood proved a big
attraction for Wall Street. Bankers got involved in the operation
of the studios leading to a sense of insecurity among the workers.
The age of the Movie Mogul had arrived.
THE STAGEHANDS’ CONTINUING STRUGGLE
While IATSE members in Hollywood were grappling with anti-union hostility, stagehands across the U.S. and Canada were
struggling with problems of their own. With the rise of the movie industry and the decline of the legitimate theater, many
stagehands resented what they saw as their brothers’ prosperity coming at the expense of their own. They didn’t realize that
their Hollywood brothers were in a battle for their survival — they just knew that their own jobs were disappearing at a frightening rate.
In addition, the advent of the “little theater” — small regional
theaters, sometimes referred to as the “Straw Hat” circuit because
their busy season was during the summer — took attention
away from the well-established, metropolitan theaters. These
little theaters eventually evolved into community theaters, which
concentrated on producing potential hits in the hinterlands for
eventual opening on Broadway.
Compared with 1917, when there were at least fifty of these
small theater groups, nearly 2,000 community theaters were
operating by 1925. These small theaters operated on a shoestring
and did not employ union stagehands. In fact, many depended
on volunteers.
At the same time, a new trend was taking place — a “new
stagecraft” that reflected European trends in set design. It
was more impressionistic and less realistic; more visual and
suggestive, than explicit. Set designers began to use all sorts of
methods to create their desired effects.
On stage, platforms were raised and lowered in a fashion
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