Petrillo for Weber

A tough, profane, horny-handed labor boss is James Caesar ("Mussolini") Petrillo, head of the Chicago local of the American Federation of Musicians. The only instrument he ever played was the trumpet. But poorly as he played it, Petrillo's trump has sounded like Gabriel's to many an employer of musicians. No one has fought more fiercely than Petrillo against canned music in theatres, dance halls, on the radio. By forbidding men of his local to make records which might be broadcast, he led a successful nationwide fight to get more musicians employed by broadcasters. Grateful, 11,000 dues-paying Chicago musicians have made Jimmie Petrillo the best-paid union boss in the U. S. He gets $26,000 a year -- $1,000 more than John L. Lewis, whom he hates, and whose name he censored out of two Chicago shows last year.

Last week in Indianapolis an A. F. of M. convention elected Boss Petrillo president of the big, powerful union (130,000 members). He succeeds Joe Nicholas Weber, 73, who held the job for 40 years, retires in ill health to a life sinecure at the same $20,000 a year he has been getting.

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