In the midst of the current labor unrest in the business I sometimes like to call Show Business, some of you might be interested in a little background on the Writers Guild and how tough it was to get it started. Pat Sierchio wrote an article for the Guild's magazine that lays it out pretty well.
And I'll even toss in my favorite anecdote about the formation of the Writers Guild, which involved Louis B. Mayer. A lot of people still think the legendary Mayer was the president of M.G.M., the movie studio he ran. Actually, during that era, a man named Nick Schenck was president. Mayer was just the guy who ran the studio.
Okay, so the Screenwriters Guild has just been formed and several other unions are springing up on the lot. This is shortly after the bombing at Pearl Harbor and a wave of patriotism and a willingness to sacrifice has swept the nation. Mayer calls all the studio employees to a big meeting, which is held at lunch hour so it's on the employees' time, not his. He gets up in front of them and makes an impassioned speech about how the U.S. is in trouble and there are menaces that must be fought and how since God blesses America, it will win but cannot take that for granted. Everyone must give maximum effort in everything they do and that includes the making of movies to entertain the country and the troops. It would be unreasonable and even treasonous if the unions — especially that new Screenwriters' one — did anything to impeded production or cost the studio money. Not in time of war.
It's a very convincing speech and some people in the room even buy it. And then, confident he's closed the deal, Mayer proposes a toast. Everyone in the hall picks up a glass of something liquid and raises it as Mayer proclaims…
"Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you a toast to our great president…Nicholas M. Schenck."