Hollywood Black Friday, also known as Hollywood Bloody Friday, marks a significant and violent confrontation in the history of organized labor in the United States. This event, which occurred on October 5, 1945, at the Warner Bros.' studios in Burbank, California, was the culmination of a six-month strike by set decorators represented by the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU). The day saw striking workers clash with non-striking employees, escalating
into a riot that had lasting repercussions for Hollywood's labor landscape and contributed to national labor legislation.
The roots of Hollywood Black Friday can be traced back to the formation of the Society of Motion Picture Interior Decorators (SMPID) in 1937, when seventy-seven set decorators broke away from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE). The SMPID then negotiated an independent contract with producers. In 1943, the SMPID joined the CSU, an international union led by United Painters organizer Herbert Sorrell, which also represented carpenters, United Painters 644, the Screen Cartoonists Guild, electricians (IBEW 40), laborers, and several other crafts working for Hollywood studios. The CSU represented the SMPID in their contract negotiations, but these negotiations were stalled by producers for nine months.
Jurisdictional Disputes and Escalation to Strike
The delay in negotiations was further complicated by IATSE questioning the CSU's jurisdiction over set decorators. This led to an additional five-month delay as the CSU and IATSE battled over who had the right to represent these workers. An independent arbitrator, appointed by the War Labor Board, assessed the situation in February 1945 and determined that the CSU indeed had jurisdiction over the set decorators. However, the producers refused to acknowledge this assessment, setting the stage for a major strike.
In March 1945, an estimated 10,500 CSU workers went on strike, initiating picketing at all the studios. This action caused delays for several films, including David O. Selznick's epic "Duel in the Sun" and the Cole Porter story "Night and Day." Despite the widespread strike, the studios were in a comfortable position, possessing approximately 130 films already completed and on their shelves, which allowed them to withstand a strike for a period. While Disney, Monogram, and several independent studios bargained with the CSU, major players like Columbia, Fox, MGM, Paramount, RKO, Universal, and Warner did not.
The Violent Climax of Black Friday
By October 1945, both financial resources and patience were running low for the striking workers. On October 5, an abnormally warm day for an LA autumn, about 300 strikers gathered at Warner Bros.' main gate. Tensions flared at 6:00 AM when non-strikers attempted to report for work. Barricades were erected, and as replacement workers tried to drive through the crowd, their cars were stopped and overturned. The situation quickly escalated as reinforcements arrived on both sides, swelling the picket line to around 1,000 people.
Local law enforcement, including Glendale and Los Angeles Police, joined Burbank Police and Warner Security in an attempt to maintain peace. However, when more replacement workers tried to breach the gate, a general melee erupted. Strikers mobbed the non-strikers, who retaliated by attacking the strikers with chains, hammers, pipes, tear gas, and night sticks. Warner security personnel on the roofs of adjoining buildings rained down more tear gas, and Warner firefighters used fire hoses against the strikers. By the end of the day, some 300 police and deputy sheriffs had been called to the scene, and over 40 injuries were reported. The picketers returned the following Monday with an injunction preventing police interference, while Warner responded with its own injunction limiting the number of pickets. Although violence continued through the week, national exposure eventually forced the parties back to the bargaining table, leading to the strike's end a month later. However, this was a Pyrrhic victory for the CSU, as disputes over arbitration wording led to further questions about CSU and IATSE jurisdiction.
Long-Term Repercussions and the Taft-Hartley Act
The aftermath of Hollywood Black Friday and the subsequent labor disputes had profound and lasting effects. In September 1946, after meetings between IATSE and studio representatives guaranteed IATSE workers would fill positions held by CSU employees, studios devised a plan to permanently remove CSU from their operations. On September 23, CSU members, including construction supervisors, foremen, and maintenance men, were reassigned to work as journeymen carpenters on "hot sets"—positions many had not held for years. This violation of their job descriptions led to a union grievance. When the men protested and refused the reassignments, they were given pre-prepared paychecks, effectively sent home, and locked out.
The pickets resumed, forcing the CSU into another financially crippling strike that lasted some 13 months. Despite a walkout by IATSE 683 film laboratory technicians in solidarity with the CSU, open fighting between CSU members and studio security, and a Screen Actors Guild vote that effectively abandoned the CSU, the union's efforts were hampered. The CSU never recovered, eventually voting to allow long-unemployed, impoverished members to cross the picket line and return to work. The CIO assisted struggling CSU members in finding jobs in other industries. The disorder in Hollywood, fueled by studio lobbying and accusations of Communist Party membership against CSU leader Herb Sorrell, contributed to the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, ultimately leading to Sorrell and the CSU's decline into obscurity. Thomas Pynchon later incorporated some of these events into his novel "Vineland."
