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Freige, Mern (audio interview #2 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the second of three interviews conducted with Mern Freige in her small Venice (California) apartment. The rapport established in the first interview helped to make the interview process smooth and comfortable. As before, Freige talked freely during the interview, and was frank and honest. Although she needed little prompting, at times she found the interviewer's questions unclear and these had to be re phrased. Unfortunately, the audio quality of side d is poor. 4/28/1980
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- 2021-07-23
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- *** File: rrrmfreige5.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:52)... Freige learned about job opportunities in the defense industry from her brother who frequently wrote home about how the jobs opening up. She also heard about defense jobs when she went into town or read the newspaper. After her husband died, she realized that earning $2a day cooking for cattle ranchers was not enough money to support her daughter, so she "packed up" and went to California. (1:52-6:27)... Her first job in California was at W.T. Grants dime store in Santa Monica. She quit this job three weeks later because she was not earning enough money and applied for a position at Douglas in October 1942. She was hired on the spot. When asked if she had any previous mechanical training, she told personnel that she was "very handy," having been raised on a farm. She was sent to a two-week training school located on what she believed was Pearl Street. During the training, she was paid .60 cents an hour, which was more than what she made at the dime store. (6:27-11:14)... The instructor of the two week training program was impressed with her work and told her and her partner that they were geniuses and did everything perfectly. They were required to purchase some tools in order to complete the program. The training class was predominantly attended by women; however, there were some older men in the class. When Freige went into the plant her first thought was, "How in the world am I ever going to stand that noise and how in the world am I going to talk to my partner." The work in the plant was on a grander scale than what she was familiar with while in training. She felt apprehensive about making mistakes and ruining the metal panels. (11:14-12:50)... She already owned a pair slacks when she was hired at Douglas. She was told not to wear anything "flashy" to work. Women were required to wear bandanas or hair nets on their heads to protect their hair from getting caught in the drill motors. They were told to wear hard-toed shoes with low heels that were comfortable enough for them to perform their duties. They were also issued safety goggles to protect their eyes. (12:50-14:20)... When Freige started in the plant she was assigned to rivet the nose cone for the motor of A-20 aircraft. She and her partner were told that they were "dog gone good riveters" because of the speed at which they worked. Freige mainly riveted and rarely bucked rivets while she was at Douglas. She worked on the nose cone section for about a year before she was assigned to do "pick up" work, which involved repairing parts that failed inspection. (14:20-18:19)... She was scared when she arrived at the plant on her first day. She was taken to an office and asked about her life history. She was told that she would have to provide them with her birth certificate to prove that she was a US citizen. During this initial meeting, she was told about safety precautions and assigned to a department. She also was told that she would be placed on a two-week probationary period at the end of which she could be fired if her work was not sufficient. After this meeting, she was taken to her department and introduced to the foreman and the supervisors. In addition to the noise, she was struck by the number of people employed at the plant. Although she was a little overwhelmed by her surroundings, her overriding concern was to "help those boys out over there and get these planes on their way." (18:19-20:22)... Freige brought the tools and toolbox she purchased while in training to work on her first day. Her toolbox carried basic hand tools such as a screwdriver, a hammer, pliers, etc. Employees obtained their rivet guns and other types of tools from the tool crib stationed in the department. For each tool they checked out, a piece of paper denoting their company identification number and department number was generated. (20:22-21:42)... Freige entered the plant with a group of new employees. After their initial meeting, the group was split up and assigned to different departments. She went into her department with several of these people, but they were assigned to different sections within that department. There were anywhere from 100-200 people working in all facets of production in that department. (21:42-23:45)... She describes how her section was organized. The lighting in the plant was good and there was a restroom and a drinking fountain near her section. Employees received ten-minute rest periods and a thirty-minute lunch break. Each break was signaled by a bell that rang throughout the plant. They did not have to ask permission to use the restroom, but were encouraged to work for as long as possible before using the facilities. (23:45-26:13)... The women's restrooms were supervised by matrons. Freige believes their job was to ensure that the restroom was clean for the women. Occasionally, the matrons referred women to the dispensary when they noticed cuts on their hands. Women were allowed to sit down in the restroom if all the toilets were in use. Although she did not linger in the restroom, she heard leadman and leadwomen complain about women spending too much time in the restrooms. Freige took her job seriously and abided by the rules outlined in her department. She was conscientious about meeting the production schedules established by her foreman. (26:13-27:33)... Freige discusses the temperature in the plant. (27:33-28:58)... There were no adverse reactions towards her when she came into the plant. Everyone she met was very friendly and welcomed her to the department when they were able to talk at breaks. Her leadman was friendly and willing to help his employees. End of tape. *** File: rrrmfreige6.mp3 (0:00-1:02)... Note: sound does not begin until 0:06. An airplane flying overhead can be heard in the background of this segment. Freige got acquainted with her co-workers when she started at the plant. Her crew never had any problems with their supervisors. They were always available to employees who needed help with their job responsibilities. (1:02-2:49)... Before she started at Douglas, she was not told what her specific job responsibilities would be, but that she would be sent to a department and a foreman would assign her to a production section. She also was provided with information on wages and pay raises, insurance benefits, and the union. (2:49-6:51)... After Freige was assigned to a department and introduced to her foreman, she was taken to a leadman who showed her how to assemble a part using a drill and a rivet gun. He also talked to her about safety precautions and showed her how to avoid workplace injuries. Even though safety was impressed upon employees, people were careless. Freige recalls an incident when a co-worker got her hair caught in a drill press. There were safety notifications posted on bulletin boards throughout the plant. Freige and her co-workers also tried to keep their section safe by telling new employees how to do their jobs more safely. She digresses regarding the the timekeeping process at Douglas. (6:51-9:39)... She describes her job responsibilities on the nose cone. Her first partner was a heavyset woman with whom she was trained. Freige describes this partner and notes that although she was a good riveter but had a very difficult time operating tools efficiently. A new partner was assigned to Freige when her original partner could not physically fit into the nose cone. Her new partner was from Louisiana and was responsible for bucking all of Freige's rivets inside the nose cone. The woman left Douglas a year later and Freige was assigned another partner, with whom she worked for two years. (9:39-15:02)... Freige believes that the ratio of women to men at Douglas was about fifteen to two. Many of the men held leadman positions and had been there for quite some time. The women in her department were about the same age as her. She cannot recall any problems between the older and younger women. Many of the women she worked with were from different backgrounds. She talks about her partners again and how their previous experiences affected their job performance. Freige never worked with a man while at Douglas, stating, "I guess they considered that [riveting] was a woman's job and the harder job was for a man." (15:02-16:52)... Describing her first day of work, Freige notes that she was not tired after work; she was very energetic in her younger years. However, she found her periodic work breaks a welcomed reprieve to standing on her feet eight hours a day. Occasionally, she was provided with a rubber mat to stand on while performing her duties. There were also times when she sat on a stool while riveting, but that rarely occurred. (16:52-21:25)... Freige and her partner were responsible for setting up and assembling an entire nose cone on their own. She describes this process. When they finished a cone, they set it aside for inspection and started on a new one. Eventually, Freige and her partner were assigned to pickup work because of their excellent job skills. (21:25-22:58)... After the war, Freige was assigned to work on the wing section of a DC airplane. She remembers when her supervisors and someone from personnel came to her department to watch her rivet. They later told her that she was one of the fastest riveters in the plant, which thrilled her. (22:58-24:11)... During the war, she worked the day shift from 7:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. so that she could be home in the evenings with her daughter, but she usually worked two hours of overtime each week. There were several occasions when she worked two weeks straight without a day off. She was not ordered to work that much, but felt that since there were so many men absent from the plant the company needed her and she needed the money. (24:11-28:04)... When she started at the plant, she was paid .60 cents an hour and then received raises in about .05 cent increments every couple of months. She notes that she was "getting along pretty good." In addition to living expenses, she used her earnings to purchase war bonds and put some of her money away into a savings account. She rented a room from a woman who boarded about nine men and women employed in defense plants during the war years. The woman prepared all of their meals and baby sat Freige's daughter in the morning and after school while Freige was at work. Freige took the load off her landlady by packing her own and her daughter's lunches. She remained close friends with this woman even after she moved out. Regarding security policies at Douglas, Freige notes that she had to open her lunch box and show her identification badge when she entered the plant. (28:04-30:19)... During the war years, Freige assembled the nose cone and worked on another large section A20 aircraft. She was eventually placed in pickup work until she was laid off at the end of the war. The interview ends just as she is discussing production quotas. End of tape. *** File: rrrmfreige7.mp3 (0:00-1:37)... Although she cannot recall the exact quota, she remembers that there were production quotas enforced at Douglas. She always fulfilled her production quotas for the day and was usually done and ready to go home before the whistle blew at the end of the day. The only time she remembers feeling rushed to finish her work was when she was assigned to pickup work and it was imperative that certain parts get repaired so that production on the rest of the airplane would not fall behind. (1:37-6:23)... Production employees were told to handle skins carefully in order to decrease mistakes and waste. Freige kept tight control over her rivets and was very consciousness about losing them. She saw other people, however, throw them around or leave them lying on the floor. Issues of sabotage were not discussed openly by supervisors of plant personnel. Occasionally, rumors of sabotage circulated in the plant and there were both uniformed and plain clothes guards who monitored potential saboteurs. She recalls security guards escorting employees out of departments. However, personnel never told anyone why the person was taken away in order to avoid a panic among employees. (6:23-8:21)... During lunch breaks, people usually went outside to eat their lunch. Employees were not allowed to smoke inside the plant and their lunch breaks was the only time they could smoke during their workday. Some people ate lunch in their cars while others sat outside on the curb. During the summer, they usually always went outside because they needed the fresh air after being in the plant for most of the day. (8:21-9:39)... During the war, employees were not permitted to roam the plant. They were discouraged from socializing during work hours. Freige was conscientious about following these company policies because "we were supposed to keep our mind on our own work and get out our quota" instead visiting with each other. (9:39-12:04)... Freige was never sexually harassed by her male co-workers. She remembers an incident when a Black co-worker made some snide remarks towards Freige and her partner when they walked by his section. Men flirted with women by looking at them suggestively or waving and smiling. Freige thinks that her leadman was attracted to her even though he was married. He constantly praised Freige and her partner for doing such good work. (12:04-14:52)... The minorities employed at Douglas were mainly Blacks. The plant was not segregated. Her second partner was a Creole from Louisiana who did a good job, but was very quiet and did not open herself up to Freige. A Black woman was assigned to work with Freige when her usual partner went on vacation, but she did not do a good job and was reassigned to another section. Freige did not socialize with the Black employees in the plant, stating, "Being from Texas, I never mingled with the Blacks or the Mexicans. We spoke to them and treated them nice... but we didn't mix too much." (14:52-16:49)... The only electrical machine that Freige worked with was the dimpling machine. It was marked with a safety sign that said "danger" - or something to that effect. Since she was not permitted to go into other departments, she does not know if warning signs were posted on other types of machines. (16:49-17:35)... Freige may have read the company newspaper once or twice during her time at Douglas. She really was not interested in the paper because she did not think that anything in it concerned her. Once she left the plant, her mind was focused on her life. She refused to talk shop when she was not at work. (17:35-19:45)... Freige recalls that there was a Welfare Department at Douglas. She went to this office to pay for a speeding ticket she got while driving in Santa Monica. She describes her reaction when the police officer approached her vehicle and gave her a ticket. (19:45-21:03)... Freige was afraid of the zoot suit gangs in Santa Monica. There were rumors about these gangs harassing motorists while they were stopped at signal lights. She heard that women were at risk of being raped during these encounters. She recalls seeing zoot suits on the streets, but they never threatened her. (21:03-24:59)... She was not involved in any recreational activities sponsored by Douglas. For a short time, however, she was a member of a bowling team comprised of Douglas employees. The company scheduled celebrity tours of the plant. Freige remembers when Howard Hughes toured the plant with his employee Jack Frye, an acquaintance from Texas. Celebrity visits were not announced to employees. They usually heard about these visits through the grapevine, which Freige remembers as a good source of information and "a lot of gossip." (24:59-27:18)... When Freige and her daughter rented a room, their only household responsibilities were cleaning their room and ironing their clothes. Her landlady did most of their laundry and cooked all of their meals. She also changed Freige's sheets at least once a week. Meals were served family style and the boarders served themselves. They were not expected to clean the table or do their dishes after meals and their landlady requested that they leave their plates at the table. (27:18-29:54)... Freige was "absolutely scared to death" when she first arrived in California. Maneuvering through the city was difficult and she did not even know how to dial a telephone. She stayed home for about a week until she got enough courage to go out and look for work. The first job she applied for was a waitress position. When she was offered the job, she turned it down because she was afraid that she would make a mistake. She remembers that there were help wanted signs posted everywhere along the street when she went out to look for work. End of tape. *** File: rrrmfreige8.mp3 (0:00-4:45)... Note: the audio quality in this segment is poor. Freige continues to discuss her experiences when she first arrived in California. One of the first purchases she made when was paid was a new pair of glasses; her landlady had told her that she was too pretty to wear her old pair. After moving in with her landlady, Freige became more sociable. Room and board was $60 a month, and her landlady also took care of her daughter after school until Freige got home from work. Her landlady also had children and her son played with Freige's daughter. Freige and her daughter lived there until 1945. (4:45-11:38)... Note: the audio quality in this segment is poor. Freige occasionally spent time with her brother after she moved out of his home. Both he and his wife worked and they were all very busy during the war years. She talks about spending time with her family and friends during the war. [Note: the audio quality is poor, making some of the narrative difficult to understand.] Only one of Freige's brothers joined the service during the war and he was never wounded in battle. She continued to stay in contact with her parents and her siblings who remained in Texas. Every payday, Freige called her mother on the telephone. After the war, more of her family members moved to California. (11:38-14:57)... Note: the audio quality in this segment is poor. On Saturday nights, Freige tried to go to a dance. She occasionally went out on double dates with a girlfriend who rented a room with her landlady. She met many of her girlfriends at Douglas. She usually discussed more personal matters with her sister. Freige rarely confided in other people about her problems because she had so few. Other than experiencing a brief period of homesickness when she first arrived in California, she was a "happy go lucky girl" during the war years. (14:57-19:55)... Note: the audio quality in this segment is poor, and beginning around 17:20 there are several skips in the tape. Freige figured that she would be laid off from Douglas once it was announced over the loud speakers that the Japanese had surrendered and the war was over. She was not worried about being laid off because she knew that there were plenty of job opportunities available outside Douglas. Layoffs occurred in stages and she was laid off during the third or fourth stage. She was summoned to personnel at which time she was told that she would be terminated and to return any company tools to the tool crib. When she exited the plant, her toolbox was inspected once again to make sure that she did not take any tools from the plant. (19:55-23:48)... Note: the audio quality in this segment is poor and there are incremental skips in the tape. The personnel office advised her that employees would be recalled to the plant on a seniority basis. In the interim, from 1945-1947, Freige worked for Jackson's Auto Seat Cover from 1945-47 and then at North American Aircraft, 1947-50. She was recalled to Douglas while he was at Jackson's Auto Seat Cover, but she rejected the offer because she liked her position at Jackson's. Around 1950, she went back to Douglas, but quit in 1953 because they she didn't want the lead position they offered her, feeling that it was too much responsibility. However, she returned to Douglas once again in 1954 and worked there until 1956. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Mern Freige went to work as an assembler at Doug's, Long Beach in 1942, after moving to Los Angeles one year earlier. Although she was born in southern California, in 1913, when she was one year old the family moved to Texas. She began working on her family's small farm in her teens, and then began working on a ranch as cook. She married a ranch hand ten years her senior, when she was eighteen, and spent the next ten years cooking for the cowboys wherever her husband was working. She left him and came to California in 1941 and worked as a clerk for one year before getting a job as a riveter at Douglas, Santa Monica. After being laid off from Douglas, she held a string of jobs, returning to work for Douglas again from 1950-1953 and 1954-1956. After that, she returned to working as a cook, first in her third husband's bar-cafe and then at ranches, convalescent hospitals and bars, until 1978. Freige was interviewed by on three separate occasions in her apartment in Venice by Cindy Cleary. They developed good rapport, and Freige talked freely during the interview. She did not seem intimidated, though at times she had difficulty understanding the questions. TOPICS - advertisements and publicity for defense jobs; application process at Douglas; training program; working conditions; impressions of plant on first day of work; work clothing; safety requirements; work assignment anworker relationships; work force demographics; wages and pay raises; safety measures; injuries; job responsibilities; work process and production partners; working conditions; hours and overtime; living arrangementproduction quotas; sabotage; security precautions; lunch breaks; company policies; gender relations; flirting; minorities and race relations; company newspaper; company services; zoot suiters; recreational activitiliving arrangements; housing; childcare; living expenses; friends; family life; social activities; and postwar layoffs and recalls at Douglas; Note: the sound is muddy on this side of the interview and there are
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