A film titled 'Merchant marine, There is something about a sailor'. Views of a Merchant Seamans club in New York City providing rest and relaxation opportunities for allied Merchant Marines and Seaman from all over the world during World War II. View of the club building exterior at 109 West 43rd Street, New York City. Sign over doorway reads, "American Theatre Wing - Merchant Seamans Club". Men enter the club and their identification is checked at the door. Inside, they enjoy drinks, a game of darts, food, card games, and socializing with women present at the club and sometimes celebrities. Famous cartoonist Otto Soglow is present to do caricature drawings of some of the men, for fun, in the Food Bar area of the club. Soglow is seen creating a cartoon drawing. A Russian woman Merchant Seaman steps forward and Soglow notes that it is a nice change for him to get to draw a woman. American actress Shirley Booth comes forward and welcomes the Russian woman to the Club. Booth reads a welcome message that is partly in Russian. The Russian woman says that she knows Ms. Booth from her role on the radio as Miss Duffy in the show Duffys Tavern. The Russian woman describes her duties in the Russian Merchant Marines. She answers questions from Shirley Booth and describes her training and motivation in fighting the war.
Preparation for launch of the Light Cruiser ship, USS Houston (CL-81) at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia. Shipyard worker spreads grease on ways. He uses a wooden stick. Dock in the background.
A Boarding ramp is seen extending to the docket Swedish ocean liner, M.S. Gripsholm, from a covered pier at Jersey City, New Jersey, during World War 2. A policeman and a ship's crewman carry a sick man aboard on a litter. At the base of the ramp, Japanese Nationals and Issei stand in group waiting to board. Two armed U.S. sailors guard the ramp. View switches to the Gripsholm's deck where passenger families are happily greeting one another. Many are family and friends who know each other. Camera pans along the ship's deck, where many passengers are seated and others continue to greet one another. View of several passengers seated outdoors, on deck. Two small children squat near the railing to look outside. The Manhattan, New York City skyline is seen in fog, in the background. On the main deck, girl walks with a very small child. Two little girls descend a stairs to a lower deck. Several little boys stand by a railing to look out on the Hudson River. A mother brings a very small child up the gang plank.
Post-World War 1 United States marked by labor-management strife and strikes, especially in the garment industry. Clothing workers are seen busy at their jobs in a factory in New York City. A man is seen symbolically closing and locking a steel door (narrative refers to a company "lockout.") Footage of police officers and crowd of laborers on New York City street. Police try to maintain order as crowds fill garment district streets in protest. Montage of persons awaiting a June 1921 decision by the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County. Narrator announces that Justice James C. Van Siclen, has granted an injunction (against all picketing by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America). Narrator quotes Van Siclen's opening statement in the decision: "The court must stand at all times as the representative of capital, of the captains of industry..." View of Sidney Hillman, leader of the Amalgamated union (ACWA) sitting with other union members. View of a bustling New York City street lined with tenements and pushcarts in the lower east side of Manhattan. A man washing his face at a sink. A woman preparing a meal over a stove. Four children sharing a large bed. A gathering of idled clothing workers in a school room setting. Some in art classes. Dancers entertaining locked out workers. Young people presenting a puppet show. Narrator states that the lockout lasted 6 months, but the union prevailed. View of pleased union members.
The 12th Annual Communion Breakfast Mass of the Motion Picture Industry in New York City. Exterior of the Roman Catholic St. Patrick's Cathedral (5th Ave, New York, NY 10022, United States). Auxiliary Bishop Joseph F. Flannelly presides over the religious ceremony. The Cathedral is filled with worshipers. 700 participants from the Motion Picture Industry proceed to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (301 Park Ave, New York, NY 10022, United States) for the Communion Breakfast. New York's Lieutenant Governor, Malcolm Wilson, delivers a speech to the gathering. Among those seen are John O'Conner, of Universal Pictures, attending with his daughter, Mrs. James Vaughn; Actress Thelm Ritter, and her husband; and Monsignor George Kelly, the featured speaker. Also seen were humorist, Harry Hirshfield; Charles Aliquot of the French press and Martin Frigley, Jr.
The launching ceremony of the new warship Ticonderoga, a United States aircraft carrier of the United States during World War II. Scene at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. Various United States Navy personnel at the ceremony and sponsor Miss Stephanie Sarah Pell. The USS Ticonderoga is the sixth vessel of her class to go down the ways at this yard. The guests wave their hands. (Note: the narrator erroneously states that this is the 65th new U.S. aircraft carrier to enter service in World War 2. Actually the U.S. produced about 27 new carriers during the war.)
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