Where's Joe?
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| Where’s Joe? | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Robert E. Haviland[1] |
| Written by | William D. Ellis (Editorial Services)[2] |
| Produced by | United Steelworkers of America and Coordinating Committee U.S. Steel Companies |
| Starring | I. W. Abel James P. Griffin, Rev. William T. Hogan SJ, Edwin H. Gott, R. Heath Larry |
| Cinematography | Harry Horrocks |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 25 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Where’s Joe? (1927), a 25-minute, color documentary film was a joint venture between the United Steel Workers union led by I. W. Abel and the management of the ten largest steel companies in the U.S.[3]
The movie tackles the problem of productivity and foreign competition in the American steel industry. The "Joe" in the movie title refers to the workers who have lost their jobs in U.S. steel mills due to increased competition from foreign steel mills. "Joe has been replaced by Jose, Hans, or Toshika, all productive steel workers, but not in the U.S.," the narrator in the film says.[4]
The film targeted the half-million people who work in the steel industry, from steel company presidents and steel union leaders to millhands. The film was also shown for investors and analysts at steel company shareholder and civic group meetings. It played on TV in 16 cities and ran as a “short” between features at commercial theatres.[5]
The movie is credited with helping put in place the first "no-strike" negotiation in the history of the U.S. steel industry.[6]
Where's Joe? (1972) points to the disastrous effects of foreign competition on such American industries as automobiles, electronics, footwear, textiles and sporting goods. Where’s Joe? contends that because steel is a critical component for many American-made products, the slightest possibility that bargaining might result in a strike sets up “hedge buying” by American steel users to accumulate inventories just in case shipments are shut off. The movie was designed to convince labor that strikes – even talks of strikes - were harmful.
The film was a key component in an American steel company educational campaign equating the threat of a strike with the loss of jobs. Along with the movie, the message was carried into steelworkers’ homes by way of comic books, educational television, and even a game tentatively called “hedge” after the practice of hedge buying of steel in anticipation of a strike.[7]
An article on the movie in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp’s Steubenville plant bought nine copies of the film and ran the film 200 times. Two projectors ran around the clock. An estimated 18,000 people saw the movie on company time. Most other U.S. steel companies had similar plans.[8]
Some members of the United Steel Workers union resented union president I.W. Abel’s cooperation with steel mill management in producing Where's Joe? (1972) and making it compulsory viewing for union members.]] members of the United Steelworkers union resented union president I.W. Abel’s cooperation with steel mill management in producing "Where's Joe?" and making it compulsory viewing for union members. Kartemquin Films produced a rebuttal documentary titled Where’s I.W. Abel? that accused the leader of selling out for his cooperation with management and giving up workers' right to strike.[9]
Cinecraft Productions was given the Where's Joe? project in October 1972. Two months later, on December 14, 1972, the movie premiered at a joint union-management conference on productivity in Washington, D.C.[10]
In 2023, the National Film Preservation Foundation, an organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage, awarded the Hagley Museum and Library a grant to preserve a print of the film discovered in the Cinecraft studio basement in 2021.[11]