the organizing difficulties when he said that “whoever has a majority of the workers in any station may get the bargaining rights for its entire technical staff, including the projectionists.” The technical demands of television also made organizing difficult, as <strong>IATSE</strong> members struggled to get the training they needed to win some of the better jobs in the field. But <strong>IATSE</strong> did have success in winning representation of electricians, lighting directors, prop workers, carpenters, wardrobe personnel, make-up artists and hairstylists, teleprompter operators and sound effects technicians. The creation of Broadcast Locals within the Alliance eased some of the organizing problems. When the opportunity came to seek representation of all the technical workers at a television station, the IA would bring these workers together as Locals of Television Broadcasting Studio Employees. President Walsh also established a Radio and Television Department with the authority to create new broadcast units separate from existing <strong>IATSE</strong> Locals. He knew this was necessary, since industrial organizing was the only way to successfully represent these workers. The IA had already lost several representation elections to the traditional broadcasting unions, and President Walsh rightly believed that the Alliance had to become more realistic and resourceful. However, organizing was never easy, especially under the restrictive, anti union Taft- Hartley Act of 1947. PRIME TIME OPPORTUNITIES Despite these obstacles, television was opening opportunities for <strong>IATSE</strong> members. In 1953, there were some 425 full-time and part-time stagehands working for NBC alone. These technical workers helped the network produce 135 television shows a year, as well as more than fifty commercials. According to a 1953 article in Chimes, NBC’s employee publication, these stagehands had to be versatile and quick: Not only must the stagehand make his scenery ‘fly,’ but he must be able to operate pop-up toasters, simulate rain or snow, and there have been cases when a stagehand on cue must make flies fly or buzz around a certain actor on set. ... Old hands at the game are an invaluable asset to any TV program. Split-second timing with no room for mistakes was the nature of television in its formative years, and IA members devised all kinds of ingenious ways to make it work. Costumers and wardrobe assistants hit upon a unique way to effect costume changes despite the limitations of tiny studio stages and the demands of continuous live action: actors wore two or three outfits at the same time and shed them while moving from scene to scene. Lighting technicians, many already experienced from years on the stage, learned to use lighting to simulate aging on actors’ faces, or to lead viewers from scene to scene. Lighting was especially critical to the re-creation of dramatic effects, such as storms and other weather changes. Boom operators had to learn to capture sound without getting in the picture, knowing all the time that they had only one chance to do it. Underlying all of this was advertising. Alliance members helped create the commercials which would quickly make the relatively new medium of television so profitable. Cartoon commercials became a mainstay of television, because it was cheaper to produce animation than live action. At one time, there were sixty studios in New York alone, employing approximately five hundred members of <strong>IATSE</strong> Local 841, Screen Cartoonists. Alliance animators were kept busy in these and other shops all across the U.S. and Canada. In addition to the cartoon commercials, the 1950s and 1960s saw the rise of children’s entertainment cartoons — the Saturday morning staple. This work brought many <strong>IATSE</strong> members longterm contracts, a welcome change from the uncertainty of the early days. Former <strong>IATSE</strong> Presidents Richard Walsh, Alfred Di Tolla and Walter Diehl 42
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- 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 12 and 13: THE FIRST JURISDICTIONAL BATTLES Me
- 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 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
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- 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
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- 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
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track the Hollywood Basic Agreement
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Office. The database has built-in r
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EMPOWERING MEMBERS THROUGH EDUCATIO
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In its first four years, the IATSE
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tainment Safety OSHA 10 class at th
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able, and taking other bold initiat
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AV ESSENTIALS For many years, sever
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A 21ST CENTURY UNION FOR 21ST CENTU
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INTERNAL RESTRUCTURING In, 2012, th
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time staff who work out of the IATS
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112
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Ratifying this wisdom of this strat
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Acknowledgments This special issue
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M 634 SUDBURY/NORTH BAY, ON‐Keith
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S 629 AUGUSTA‐Anthony Capaz, 2312
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M 616 MERIDIAN‐Benny Eggler, abeg
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(216‐621‐9537) (Fax: 216-621-35
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M 141 LaCROSSE‐Peggy Sannerud, ps
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