Charlie Chaplin began working in the motion picture industry in 1913, the same year that Henry Ford introduced the moving assembly line into his first automobile plant. Over the next few years the movie business would come to resemble Ford’s factories in many ways. Film producers rationalized production processes along the lines suggested by Frederick Taylor, who directed an army of stopwatch-wielding efficiency specialists on behalf of American business. Taylor subjected workers to close examination, resulting in the “scientific management” of their time on the job for maximum profit.

The first motion picture studios were not opened in Hollywood until 1911. From the inception of the movies in the mid-1890s production had originated on the East Coast. But poor weather during the long winter months idled the outdoor movie sets and brought exploratory expeditions to Los Angeles beginning in 1906. The advance scouts of the industry were pleased with southern California’s climate and the diversity of the surroundings—urban, rural, and natural—within easy driving distance all year round. But just as important was the economic factor. As film financier Benjamin Hampton put it, “the cost of the lumber was low and the wages of the carpenters and other mechanics was 25 to 50 per cent less than in New York.”

By 1915 film production employed more than 15,000 people, centered in Hollywood but sprawling throughout Los Angeles County. Under open shop conditions, most studio workers had little job security. As on the larger farms in the California countryside, the studio workforce was divided between a small permanent “inside” studio staff and a much larger pool of temporary or casual “outside” labor. When working, the hours were typically long; ten- or even twelve-hour shifts without breaks were common. There was no overtime or vacation pay, no sick leave or pension. The casual laborers would show up at the studio gate in the early morning, and if they were offered work they would work. If there was no work they would move on to the next studio and try their luck there.

Disneyland opened in summer 1955. A million eager visitors streamed in in the first seven weeks. Working families came on their days off from Bethlehem and Kaiser steel mills, from car manufacturing plants in Maywood, South Gate, and Van Nuys, from downtown Los Angeles garment factories, and from the area’s largest employer, aerospace. The other employees of “Uncle Walt”, who labored in Disney’s Burbank studios, came too, alongside the rest of the Hollywood workforce. From near and far, the children of the AFL and CIO made their pilgrimages to the spectacular new Anaheim amusement park, strolling up Main Street USA to Tomorrowland.

Four in ten members of the state’s workforce belonged to unions. In the industrial sectors, union density hovered around 50 percent. California, the third-ranking manufacturing state, led the nation in agricultural production and in international shipping. Automobile production in Los Angeles County was second only to Detroit.