Replies

I am VERY surprised to learn about there being 5,000 strikes in 1944!

Although the Communist Party (known during the war as the Communist Political Association) opposed strikes as part of their efforts on behalf of Uncle joe, there were quite a few strikes during the war years.

At the end of July, 1942, instrumentalists in the musicians' union went on strike against the record companies. In the days before the strike, Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians worked frantically to finish their recording A Visit from St. Nicholas and just barely got it into the can before the musicians walked out. Had they failed to complete the project before the deadline, this classic recording, enjoyed by tens of millions of people over the past seven decades, would never have come into existence.

Since no instruments could be used, opular recordings that came out during the strike had a unique sound. Here are some examples:

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning--Frank Sinatra (1943)
Johnny Zero--The Song Spinners (1943)
Put Your Arms Around Me--Dick Haymes & the Song Spinners (1943)

When the strike was finally settled in 1944, many musicians found that there were no jobs to return to, since big bands had fallen out of favor with the public during the strike.