Selznick’s company also complained about IATSE and collected literature about the alliance’s gangster connections and its attempts to cover them up.58 Yet Selznick had other problems similar to those of the majors. He worried about the “odd chance that one of the girls in [the] stenographic has an Uncle or an Aunt on the picket line.” Fearful, the executives started typing their own documents, which—given their lack of practice—slowed the work process considerably.

Selznick had good reason to be suspicious. CSU joked about its intelligence-gathering capabilities within studio suites: “Take the case of Producer ‘A’: He raves and rants and hatches a move against us and dictates it to his sec, Miss ‘B’… ‘A’ leaves, convinced we’re cooked … ‘B’ grabs the phone and dials us and … well, it works as smooth as that! Sister of Exec ‘F’ is a strong union minded gal… but he doesn’t know! Exec ‘J’ wines his Sec at Mocambo, dines her at LaRue’s and reveals all in his ap’t! … Sort of a very direct wire service.”59