Help Wanted (1939)

Director:

Fred Zinnemann

Writer:

Karl Kamb (original screenplay)

Release Date:

10 June 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Crime | Drama

Plot:

A racketeer sets up an employment agency, and then sends his henchmen to lineup foremen in companies that employ unskilled labor...

Plot Keywords:

Employment Agency | Gangster | Murder | District Attorney | Labor

Cast

Tom Neal	...	Joe Daniels
Jo Ann Sayers	...	Mary Daniels
Clem Bevans	...	H.L. (Pop) Daniels
Edward Pawley	...	Harry
Truman Bradley	...	Labor Commissioner's Representative
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eddie Acuff	...	Workman (uncredited)
Leon Ames	...	J.T. Evans - Labor Commissioner (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler	...	Ed - Workman (uncredited)
Cliff Clark	...	McGuinness (uncredited)
Lester Dorr	...	Workman (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Police Car Driver (archive footage) (uncredited)
Arthur Hohl	...	Graham - Head of Employment Agency (uncredited)
Arthur Loft	...	Mr. Warner (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	Workman (uncredited)
Phillip Terry	...	MGM Crime Reporter (uncredited)

Directed by
Fred Zinnemann

Writing credits
Karl Kamb		(original screenplay)

Produced by
Jack Chertok	....	producer

Cinematography by
Paul Vogel

Film Editing by
Ralph Goldstein

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (USA) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

"Crime Does Not Pay No. 23: Help Wanted" - USA (series title)

Runtime:

21 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Unskilled labor does not pay much, either.

Entry number 23 in M-G-M's long-running "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts finds a racketeer setting up an employment agency, and then sending his henchmen to lineup foremen in companies that employ unskilled labor. The foreman is promised a cut on each new man he hires, and the agency gets a whooping percentage of the new employee's first month wages. The foremen then fire the last new-hires (he had to fire all the old hands to begin with)and then another batch of new-hires goes through the cycle. And another after a month. And this continues month-after-month, as this was 1939 and companies did not employ Human Resources/Relations people in 1939 to track employee turn-over..."Gotta a full crew...good...put'em to work." Anyway, there is no little amount of complaint going on in the unskilled-labor circles of the city and some of it reaches the ears of the District Attorney. He steps in, with the aid of a young unskilled-laborer (Tom Neal) who had been tricked, and finally runs the gangster out of the Employment Agency business, after a murder has been committed.

About the only subject M-G-M missed in this series was one covering gangster control of some of the Hollywood craft unions-and-casting agencies at the time.