Word: petrillos
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Although the patrician Boston Symphony, one of the world's three or four greatest orchestras, sounds sweet to most U. S. citizens, it grates on the ears of James Caesar Petrillo, new boss of the American Federation of Musicians. For the Boston Symphony is the only big nonunion orchestra in the U. S. Because of the A. F. of M. hold on the radio chains, the Boston Symphony has not broadcast in more than a year. Last fortnight tough Boss Petrillo forbade RCA Victor to make any more Boston Symphony recordings. "They're through," explained Mr. Petrillo...
...union separate from A. F. of M., but not heretofore regarded as its rival, is the American Guild of Musical Artists (also an A. F. of L. affiliate)-1,800 concert musicians, headed by Baritone Lawrence Tibbett. Boss Petrillo singled out A. G. M. A.'s instrumentalists-including Violinists Jascha Heifetz and Efrem Zimbalist, Pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Jose Iturbi-and commanded them to join A. F. of M. by Labor Day. The alternative: they would be barred from radio and recording. The catch: once in A. F. of M. they would be forbidden to play as soloists with...
Chicago was a pioneer with the "standby" system, by which outside union men playing in its radio stations must either join the union local or pay a thumb-twiddling local musician to stand by. Jimmie Petrillo forbade Chicago men to make phonograph records which might be broadcast. He saw to it that political campaign trucks resound with live musicians, not recordings. When a giant panda was to be welcomed by a troop of Chinese Boy Scout buglers, Petrillo demanded that eight union men be hired as well. Italian as were his sympathies, he hit the ceiling when the Italian Consul...
Last week, five days after officially taking office as A. F. of M. president, Jimmie Petrillo was laying about him with Chicago vigor. In an attempt to bring two radio stations to heel, he cracked the whip over the three major networks. The stations were St. Paul's KSTP (NBC affiliate), Richmond's WRVA (CBS). Each was embroiled in a local musicians' strike, because it declined to pay a minimum yearly sum, or guarantee a minimum number of jobs, to local musicians, whether needed...
Most union musicians on the radio are paid by networks or sponsors. But many of Boss Petrillo's men play without extra pay in the dance bands picked up, usually after 11 p.m., in hotels and nightclubs, and fed to the networks as "remotes." Last week, after NBC and CBS refused to deprive KSTP and WRVA of these remotes, Boss Petrillo instructed dance bands not to make such broadcasts. MBS came under the ban when it helpfully piped its remotes to the other networks...