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P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 43 agent had worked, in an executive position, with the great producers and directors. Business agents, as a rule, are persons having the necessary credits for union membership, who devote themselves far more to unionism than to their own filmmaking careers, becoming well-versed in the IATSE yet depending more upon their rank-and-file for their grasp of the contemporary production scene. Mr. Allen arrived from the opposing position, abandoning a lucrative, if recently stalled, mid-career as a top craftsman in order to devote his further efforts to his craft's collective labor effort. It was the relatively close-knit nature of the 300-member Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors which made his rapid rise within the union, and his "benevolent dictator" status, possible. Circa 1971, Mr. Allen arrived at the SMPTAD during a moment of trauma for the industry and for the nation. The conflict in Vietnam raged, as did the divisions within America, and motion picture turnstiles were demonstrably slowing in response. As the 1970s wore on, shortages and embargoes and scandals and inflation were orders of the day. All the while, the film industry slowed overall, as unions vainly attempted to keep their membership employed and salaries apace. Television had become the leading employer in Hollywood. Mr. Allen quickly aligned himself with the dominant national leadership of the IA, headed by longtime president Richard F. Walsh. When Mr. Allen became the executive director of Local 876, many within the Hollywood IA believed that Walsh's days as chief were numbered; that he was the stagnant product of a retrograde projectionist-based confederation of increasingly diverse unions; that the rising tide of 1970s local-based activism, particularly within certain Hollywood locals, would soon sweep him aside. In addition, Walsh had negotiated, during 1973, a three-year pact with the producers which was proving inadequate in coping with 1970s inflation. However, ultimately, it was Mr. Walsh and Mr. Allen, not the IA dissenters, who were proven correct. Walsh continued to be elected to the International's presidency and, when he chose to step aside in 1974, the presidential office was delivered to Walsh's chosen successor, Walter Diehl. Despite enduring a rougher ride than Walsh's, Diehl also proved adroit in the IA saddle, remaining atop the union for an additional fourteen years. Part of the momentum for this conservative, non- confrontational trend in union officialdom was provided by Mr. Allen. Early becoming a key member of the IA's Hollywood negotiating committees, versus the producers, Mr. Allen was appointed, by Diehl—in 1979, during a vital round of negotiations—to a vacated IA vice presidency. He was soon elected to this same vice presidency in 1980. An IA vice presidency is a rarer achievement, for a Hollywood personage, even than being presented a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Still more impressively, Mr. Allen was also, in 1980, named Chairman of District 2 of the IATSE, comprising the entire western United States. Variety described him in 1980: "Allen, low-key business representative of Art Directors Local 876, has built a reputation as an effective conciliator, both in intra-union disputes and in dealings with management, since his appointment by Diehl..." In 1988, following four successive two-year terms as an IATSE vice president, Mr. Allen continued as "benevolent dictator" of his Hollywood Local 876. He declared his well-earned retirement from that administrative post in 1997, having served his Local, on a full-time basis, for more than a quarter century. It still remains for someone to surpass his Hollywood IATSE achievements, in longevity and historical moment. During his lengthy tenure as SMPTAD's executive director, Hollywood, albeit with relative order and civility, had convulsed in its most bitter labor-management conflict since the 1940s. Many fundamental adjustments were made to overall business practices in filmmaking during Above: Gene Allen (far right) on location in Lahore, Pakistan, for BHOWANI JUNCTION (1956).