Petrillo's Thumb

A.F. of M. Boss Caesar Petrillo last week spotted a hole in the dike he had raised against new phonograph recordings. Record companies were waxing singers with all-vocal (hence nonunion) rather than instrumental accompaniment (TIME, June 28). Petrillo quickly stuck his thumb in the hole, asked singers to quit doing that. His request was really an ultimatum. Vocalists like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra or Connie Boswell well knew that failure to comply might bar them from future recordings or appearances with Boss Petrillo's union musicians.

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