63 years ago, writers and actors were struggling. Looking for a small share of revenue to help fiscally survive, they asked simply for residuals from post-1948 films sold to television, while studios pled poverty. Both unions went out on strike, the first time two unions walked out at the same time. Today’s strikes echo those vintage ones in many ways, especially with unions supporting each other in solidarity as well as both asking for equitable pay for all their labor in creating entertainment product, especially with new forms of exhibition affecting how audiences access and view entertainment. These issues would be make or break issues for guilds, then or now.
While a few at the top of each profession earned huge salaries, the vast majority collected peanuts for their work, finding it difficult to pay bills. They also received no health benefits and no pensions. At the same time, studios earned high returns selling post-1948 films to television stations desperate for product. Studio heads received salaries putting most of them into the top ten list for highest paid executives in the United States, making tens of times the average studio employee.
This week’s mystery movie was the 1956 Universal picture A Day of Fury, with Dale Robertson, Jock Mahoney, Mara Corday, Carl Benton Reid, Jan Merlin, John Dehner, Dee Carroll, Sheila Bromley, James Bell, Dani Crayne, Howard Wendell, Charles Cane, Phil Chambers, Sydney Mason and Helen Kleeb. 
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