[Dixielandjazz] How The Union Cleared The Dance Floor

[♫ Sharp Bill - - B# ♫]

This is  "sent forward note" to me , which I find interesting - - - It will probably stir someone's pot ( when pot was something you cooked in, or you were so poor that you didn't have one to piss in, as daddy used to say).

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This is a note from our next door neighbor who played the trumpet in a big band group. He is now 87 and remembers all of the big band places .

The musicians union  had a  hand in killing the big bands. If you weren't in the union you could not play in ballrooms., dance halls, clubs and many other places. At one time, if a big band came to Akron to play at the Palace or Lowes theaters, the theaters had to hire an equal number of Akron musicians to sit in the orchestra pit. Isn't that ridiculous? When I came to Akron in 1947, I was playing in a band at East Market Gardens and was called down to the Union and fined for not being in the Akron union. ( I was in the Indiana union). In 1944  ?, the Union called a national strike and there were no recordings made with musicians on them.  Maybe you have heard some old recordings of Dick Haymes or Frank Sinatra with only vocal groups or choirs backing them up. The union was very strong then. Then after the big bands were dying out, along came the Rock groups. The young guys told the union to go to hell. There were troubles, but eventually a "Right To Work Law " was passed and the union has become very weak. All the old union guys are gone. I'd to say to them, " see what you did you smart asses. You killed the best music this country ever had".  Well, I'll get off my soap box. It's probably much more than you wanted to hear.   


♫BILL
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   (_III_)   \
retired educator,
avocation: musician,
(cleverly disguised as a responsible adult)