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Orwin, Isabell (audio interview #2 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the second of three interviews with Isabell Orwin conducted in the front room of her old-style bungalow home. The dark paneled living room is filled with momentos of her Lockheed years, which she enjoyed showing off. Orwin still sported the reddish hair seen in many of her photographs, and dressed up for the interviews. A very cordial person, she greatly enjoyed the interview and the interviewer's company and was very disappointed when the interviews original date for this interview had to be postponed. 1/16/1981
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- 2021-01-25
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- *** File: rrriorwin4.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:04-3:13)... When Orwin applied at Lockheed, she knew that her chances of getting hired were good because the interviewer wrote "soldering" in big, red letters on her application. When she heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor, she anticipated being hired within a short time. Technically, Orwin was hired by Vega, and when Lockheed and Vega merged, workers were differentiated by the number on their time cards. She was placed on the swing shift for a starting wage of .50 cents/hours, which was comparable to what she made at the radio companies. Although she averaged $35/week soldering radios, once production quotas were met, the companies laid people off which meant the work was somewhat seasonal. (3:13-5:17)... Orwin's family was unhappy about her going to work at Lockheed, fearing that she would be bombed. However, the plant was camouflaged and Orwin felt safer there then she did at home. The company frequently organized "blackouts," during which employees were drilled on what to do in case of an emergency. Her parents also were disappointed that she cut her hair, but Orwin tired of her co-workers referring to her as quaint or old-fashioned girl. She comments that she was starting a new job and a new life and so went and had her hair cut. (5:17-6:52)... Orwin expected that she would be hired to solder because she was skilled in that area. She knew some women who worked at the plant and assumed that she would see some familiar faces. She was the first woman in her department to receive a raise even though some of her co-workers had more seniority. She was so naive about the process that she asked some of her co-workers what the raise notification meant. In order to get this raise, she had to show her supervisor that she could complete a specific job operation. (6:52-9:39)... As part of the hiring process at Lockheed, Orwin had to have a physical examination. Having never had a physical before, she was shaken by the process and the nurses and the doctors had to calm her. The examination was completed at the plant in what she referred to as a hospital. She notes that the company also had an ambulance, a fire department, and several security guards. When Orwin started in the electrical department, she was the only women with previous experience. There were approximately ten women in her section. (9:39-14:47)... During the interview, Orwin's mechanical skills were not tested. She was informed that she would be assigned to the swing shift if she was hired. At that time, the company only operated a day shift and a swing shift. Although she applied in September, she was not hired until December, 1941, and worked at Packard Bell Radio during that interim. She preferred working he swing shift because there was less supervision. She worked six days a week and only had two Sundays off per month. (14:47-18:35)... Orwin purchased a pair of pants in preparing for her job, and although she had never worn slacks before, she did not feel uncomfortable in her new work attire. Lockheed operated a company bus, but because it did not travel to her neighborhood, she took the city bus. Prior to starting at Lockheed, she owned a few tools. Later, she was required to purchase more tools, which she purchased at a store located near the plant. Soldering irons and larger tools were obtained at her department's tool crib. (18:35-22:31)... On her first day of work, Orwin and a group of new employees, mostly older men, received a brief orientation and were taken on a tour of the plant. Along the way, the new hires were dropped off in their departments. As they toured the plant, Orwin and the women in her group were greeted with whistles from the men. She thinks that some men resented women coming to work at the plant. When they got to Department 7, Orwin was introduced to her supervisor. The majority of people in the electrical department were women because women's hands were better suited for electrical wiring. (22:31-24:30)... Orwin never received any formal job training before she started to work. Her supervisor familiarized her with the department and demonstrated the job she was expected to complete. She was not nervous or insecure about her skills, and whenever she had any questions, she did not hesitate to ask her supervisor or her co-workers. (24:30-27:41)... During the three and a half years that Orwin worked in the electrical department, she was promoted to leadman, commenting that this was how she was identified on her badge despite the fact that she was a woman. After the war, Orwin was transferred to "the field" because she had seniority over most of the women in the electrical department. She was teamed with a man who trained her how to assemble the parts in the airplane. Because she had seniority, she took over his position when he was transferred to a lower-classified job. End of tape. *** File: rrriorwin5.mp3 (0:16-2:43)... Orwin thought that she would get lost when she entered the plant on the first day because the building was so large. The atmosphere was extremely active and people "were really working." Her work area was located on a balcony above the noisy production line. She notes "you didn't know what you were doing... but you didn't care as long as you got paid on payday and whistles blew for your break." Workers received two, ten-minute breaks and a half hour lunch. Initially, people could purchase donuts and coffee from a cart inside the plant, but when people started lining up at the cart before their break time, the company ordered that the cart be placed outside. Orwin brought her lunch to work everyday and ate in her work area. (2:43-5:39)... Orwin describes an average day. When she got home at the end of her shift, she went straight to bed. She woke up at 11:00 a.m. and began getting ready for work. She left home at 2:00 p.m. so that she would arrive for her 4:00 p.m. shift on time. Once she got to work, she clocked in and prepared her work station. She cannot recall feeling tired or exhausted after the first few days of work. (5:39-7:27)... Her work schedule changed Orwin's social life, and she lost a lot of boyfriends because she did not have time to date. Her household responsibilities included washing dishes, keeping her bedroom tidy, and doing her own laundry and ironing. Rather than socializing, she spent her days off taking care of her laundry needs. (7:27-8:37)... Even though Orwin worked six days a week, she claims that she didn't exceed forty hours/week. Because the plant was operating three shifts during the war, she did not work any overtime. She believes that the company gave employees automatic raises based on time in the plant and job classifications. (8:37-10:35)... After a week in the plant, Orwin felt confident and enjoyed her work. She and her co-workers could talk while they worked, it was difficult to hear each other over the noise. When one of their supervisors discouraged them from talking, they sang songs instead. Orwin did not have time to learn about her co-workers' personal lives during their brief conversations at work. (10:35-13:32)... Most of the women in Orwin's department were single and her same age. Some of her co-workers married later and got a job at Lockheed when their husbands went into the service. There were no Black employees in or around her department, and although quite a few workers were from the south, none of them were Black. Minorities did not start working at Lockheed until much later. The only Black employee she could recall was the attendant in the ladies restroom. (13:32-15:31)... Orwin discusses the pace of production and how work was distributed throughout the day. Work was usually waiting for her to finish when she started her shift. Her work was inspected before she received a new part. Before Lockheed airplanes were produced at Vega, she worked on the Ventura, an airplane that was manufactured for England. (15:31-18:22)... Initially, men resented the women who were hired at Lockheed, but eventually accepted them, realizing that they " were going to have to do the jobs as all the boys kept disappearing." Also, it was to their advantage, because the older men were promoted to supervisory positions. Orwin discusses flirting and romances among the workers. She did not date anyone at work. Most of the men were either married man or 4Fs. (18:22-19:21)... There were so many migrant workers at the plant that Orwin use to joke that there would be no more housing shortage if "the Okies, the Arkies and the Texans" all went home. Nevertheless, she enjoyed working with these migrants and believes that many of them returned to their hometowns after the war. (19:21-21:11)... Orwin talks about the times her co-workers played practical jokes on her. In discussing these incidents, she mentions that stools with backs were reserved for the pregnant women in her department. These women worked up to their six month of pregnancy. (21:11-22:02)... The company was strict about safety and required workers to wear safety glasses when operating a drill. Women had to wear closed-toed shoes and hair nets to prevent their hair from getting caught in the machinery. (22:02-22:55)... Because Orwin did not work with heavy machinery, she witnessed very few injuries in her department. The most common injury among her co-workers was getting burned by the soldering iron. The plant had a dispensary where employees sought medical treatment when necessary. There also was a "quiet room" for people who wanted to lay down and rest. The ladies' restroom was equipped with a rest area as well. (22:55-25:23)... With regard to special services provided by the company, Orwin mentions the Buck of the Month Club and the union. She never went to the union with any problems or complaints because she preferred to settle any issues with her department supervisor. She joined Local 727 of the IAM after she was transferred to the production line following the war. She will be eligible for her thirty-five-year pin in a couple of years. End of tape. *** File: rrriorwin6.mp3 (0:03-1:23)... Supervisors distributed paychecks to workers in their departments. Occasionally, Orwin cashed her check at a place across the street from the plant. The company had a bond drive every year and she signed up for war bonds. (1:23-6:24)... Orwin could not recall any company stores inside the plant. There was a cafeteria on the premises and the company built the Lockheed Recreation Center. During the war, the Lockheed Band played music on Fridays. The recreation club organized athletic teams, company picnics, dances, and arts and crafts activities. She participated in these activities while she was employed at Lockheed and continued to attend events after she retired. (6:24-7:08)... War news was a regular topic of conversation among her friends and family. Her neighbor had a radio and regularly filled Orwin in on the latest war news whether she wanted to hear it or not. (7:08-8:28)... Orwin still receives both the company and union newspapers. She is a member of the IAM Retirees club and regularly attends their social events. (8:28-8:55)... During the war, company representatives talked about the employees' role in helping the war effort. When one of her co-worker's sons died in battle, they dedicated a plane to him and the workers signed their names on the plane. (8:55-10:04)... Talking about how the war affected her life, Orwin comments: "I have no regrets. It was the best part of my life. It really was." Rationing was occasionally a problem, and she recalls that she bought her stockings from her butcher. (10:04-13:14)... Orwin bought war bonds with her earnings and put some of her money away into a savings account. She used this money to purchase her first home during the war. When she had a difficult time finding a place to rent, her real estate agent suggested that she buy a house. The property she purchased had a house in both the front and the rear. (13:14-14:07)... Orwin either rode the bus to work or got a ride with someone else. She did not purchase a car until later and drove herself to work only her last year at the plant. (14:07-19:12)... Orwin traces progress in the electrical department and her promotion to leadman. Her supervisor was reluctant to promote, but she convinced him to give her a chance and he was not disappointed. She received a .20 cent raise when she was promoted. She never had a dull moment supervising the other workers, some of whom were housewives who had never worked outside the home. Accustomed to running their own homes and being boss, initially, these women had a difficult time taking orders from Orwin. (19:12-21:16)... When she started working at Lockheed, Orwin did not think about whether or not she would have a job after the war. At the time, she was naive about war and how it changed lives. She talks about her fears of being bombed and the fact that they were not supposed to discuss these things at work. (21:17-24:50)... Towards the end of the war, Orwin was still employed in electrical assembly. When she was called into the office and told that she was going to be laid off, she pointed out that she had more seniority than some of the men in the plant and asked them to reconsider. She was called in the next day and told that she would be transferred to production. She watched most of her women co-workers get laid off. In production, she worked along side men and did whatever she could to keep busy when there was a shortage of work. She remembers working on Dwight D. Eisenhower's airplane, which she felt was quite a honor. She also worked in mockup. (24:50-26:26)... By the time Orwin was transferred to the production line, the company had already begun laying people off. Before she went into production, she and the few people still employed in electrical assembly organized the department and cleaned out the stock room. End of tape. *** File: rrriorwin7.mp3 (0:02-2:24)... Toward the end of the war, Orwin was transferred to a position outside, "in the field." Her responsibilities there involved installing new wiring and upgrades to the airplanes. (2:24-3:27)... When VJ-Day was declared, Orwin was still on the swing shift. She rode a bus to downtown Los Angeles to celebrate their victory, but discovered that all the businesses were closed and the streets were dark. She believes that business owners were afraid that overzealous celebrators would ruin the city like they did in San Francisco. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Isabell Orwin applied for a job at Lockheed even before Pearl Harbor, but was called to work only after the attack. The first of three children born in Park City, Utah, Orwin completed the ninth or tenth grade in Salt Lake City. After her father's death in a mining accident, the family moved first to Wyoming and then to Nevada, following her step-father's work. She attended school in Nevada for a while until the family moved to Los Angeles in 1923. She held a variety of jobs until 1929, when she went to work at Packard Bell and Gilphelan Radios. Because of her eleven year electrical assembly work and the skills she had acquired, she was confident that she would be hired at Lockheed. As a forty-one year old single woman at war's end, she made herself a "key" person and was not laid off. She worked at Lockheed until her retirement in 1972, working her way up to lead position. Even after retirement, Lockheed remained an important element in her life and she regularly participated in functions sponsored by both the union and Lockheed Employees Recreation Club. TOPICS - Lockheed hiring process; physical examination and medical services; family's reaction to her new job; changing her appearance for work; plant's camouflage; job expectations; wages and raises; hours; work attire; defirst impression of the plant; working conditions; work hours; raises; daily routine in the plant; working swing shift; household responsibilities; social life; labor force demographics; migrant workers and minoritbond drives; entertainment and recreation at Lockheed; union retirement club events; life during the war years; rationing; family history; home puchase; transportation; promotion to leadman and supervisory responsitransfer to production work towards the end of the war; job responsibilities; and memories of VJ-Day; This interview is only 3:27 in length;
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