Caesar's Fun

Fun, money and power are what James Caesar Petrillo gets out of life as a union man. Dark, torrid Jimmy ("Mussolini") Petrillo is president of the Chicago Federation of Musicians (A. F. of L.). For his labors in behalf of unionized music, Mr.

Petrillo draws a yearly salary of $26,000, plus perquisites which in 1937 ran his total take from the union to $110,700.* His powers over Chicago musicians, and through them over Chicago theatres, dance halls, radio stations, are absolute. His great hates are: 1) canned music, 2) C. I. O.'s John Lewis, whose salary is $1,000 less than Mr. Petrillo's.

Last week Jimmy Petrillo had what he calls fun. He required the local managers of George White's Scandals and of the Kaufman-Hart comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner to drop references to John Lewis, announced that any mention of C. I. O. and its boss will be forbidden hereafter on Chicago stages. When Chicago newspapers fumed about Tsar Petrillo in a censor's role, Jimmy announced for local consumption that he was just joking. Impresario White took him at his word, at week's end put John L. Lewis back in the Scandals, waited to see what would happen. Said Manager Sam Gerson, as host to The Man Who Came to Dinner: "An actor used to say, 'Well, I guess John Lewis won't like that.' Now he's going to say, 'Well, I guess Mr. Petrillo won't like that.' "

*According to union figures, this sum included $25,000 for a new house, $12,000 to furnish it, $1,700 to keep up the garden, $16,000 to pay Mr. Petrillo's income tax, $25,000 for an armored limousine and bodyguards. Discovering that nobody cared to shoot at him, Mr.

Petrillo now travels in an unarmored Zephyr.

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