The Girl With The Rivet Gun

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Built entirely by women filmmakers, THE GIRL WITH THE RIVET GUN is an unconventional animated documentary short based on the adventures of three real-life 'Rosie the Riveters' - Esther Horne, Susan Taylor King and Mildred Crow Sargent. From vastly different backgrounds, these three women came of age in an America united by war but struggling with divisions of gender, economics and race.

THE GIRL WITH THE RIVET GUN serves as an entry point into a rich, layered, and adventurous rewriting of history as herstory, inspiring conversations about working women everywhere and taking viewers beyond the iconic 'We Can Do It' poster girl to the millions of real-life women who shook the foundations of the American workplace - forever changing not only their own lives, but the very perception of what women can do.

'The Girl with the Rivet Gun tells Rosie's story in a new and irresistible way. Esther, Susan, and Mildred's wartime adventures come to life in stunning and clever visuals. Their stories will provoke lively discussions about empowerment, racism, sexism, self-fulfillment, labor conflict, femininity, and wartime in secondary and college classrooms. Students will be enchanted and challenged by what they see and hear on screen. A speedy and memorable delight!' Meghan Winchell, Professor of History, Director of Gender Studies, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Author, Good Girls, Good Food, Good Fun: The Story of USO Hostesses during World War II

'This is astounding! A funny, fascinating, and inspiring film. Students of all backgrounds will delight in the story of how Americans came together to help one another - and make the world we have.' Elizabeth Cobbs, Professor of American History, Texas A&M University, Author, The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers

'The Girl With the Rivet Gun melds photography and oral history with the most riveting animation to explore through the sagas of three actual Rosies the ways that WWII transformed women's consciousness on the home front. This film is short enough to fold into any class and long enough to raise all the big questions on how race, class, and place (urban-rural, North-South) among women impacted the fight for equal wages and dignity on the job.' Eileen Boris, Professor of Feminist Studies, Professor of History, Black Studies, and Global Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara, Author, Making the Women Worker: Precarious Labor and the Fight for Global Standards, 1919-2019

'I absolutely loved The Girl with the Rivet Gun. This is an important educational tool that paints a vivid picture of how women from different backgrounds made powerful contributions to the war effort, illustrates the challenges of factory work, and highlights how these women adjusted to changes in our society.' Marne L. Campbell, Associate Professor, African American Studies, Loyola Marymount University

'This short film captures the drama of women's pathbreaking recruitment into industrial jobs during World War II, drawing on oral histories with three 'Rosies' and vivid images from the era. The clever animation enlivens the women's enduring pride in having contributed to the war effort as well as their memories of struggles to overcome barriers of race, gender and class. Perfect for classroom use!' Ruth Milkman, Professor of Sociology, Chair of Labor Studies, City University of New York, Author, Immigrant Labor and the New Precariat

'The animation is just as unique as the stories behind it...The figures breathe new life into the women's stories, emphasizing that there's more than one face behind the famous 'We Can Do It' poster girl.' CBS New York

'Seeing The Girl With The Rivet Gun was quite the treat...Beautifully animated.' Katharin Mraz, Reel Chicago

'Unique...creative, beautiful and fun...This new visual storytelling serves an important and very real story.' Laurie Delaire, OC Movie Reviews

'Cleverly presented...I couldn't help but be utterly entranced by it...If you get the chance to see The Girl with the Rivet Gun please do take it.' Susan Omand, The Dreamcage

'Remarkable...Impressive...Provid[es] new understanding of this pivotal time in the transformation of America.' IndieActivity

'Kudos to the filmmakers for keeping the story of 'Rosie' alive.' David Ferguson, Red Carpet Crash

'Truly beautiful...Insightful...A very enjoyable short that I will definitely watch again!' Rosie Hughes Reviews

'Charming and creative...This all-female production celebrates the resourcefulness, adaptability and ingenuity of the first generation of Rosies as well as their descendants.' Tim Brinkhof, Bubble Blabber

'Compelling personal tales...A great watch...The compositions and arrangements have an experimental/DIY edge...and give the film a lot of interesting flair.' Viddy Well

'The effect of #MeToo and Time's Up has heightened a greater desire for more female-based storytelling - and no better example of this is in a fantastic new short...The Girl with the Rivet Gun takes us on an enlightening journey!' John Higgins, Film and TV Now

'With intricate artwork, sparkling music, and a set of compelling interviews, this short film immediately captivates. A fine centerpiece for classroom instruction and community forums on women's history, equal pay, diversity in the workplace, and the importance of lived experience and stories to telling history. Viewers will not soon forget these women who picked up tools, put on pants, earned more money, and challenged unfair norms as they were able.' Jane Caputi, Professor, Center for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Florida Atlantic University, Author, Call Your 'Mutha': A Deliberately Dirty-Minded Manifesto for the Earth Mother in the Anthropocene

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Main credits

De Mare, Anne (film director)
De Mare, Anne (film producer)
Kelly, Kirsten (film director)
Kelly, Kirsten (film producer)
Hemmerdinger, Elizabeth (film producer)
Ash, Danielle (animator)
Ash, Danielle (artist)
Ash, Danielle (voice actor)

Other credits

Artwork and animation by Danielle Ash; edited by Anne de Mare.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

World War II; WWII; rosie the riveter; women and work; american history; gender equality; pay gap; feminism; the greatest generation; animation; stop motion; war effort; labor; "The Girl With The Rivet Gun"; Bullfrog Films; documentary; doc; history; his; short; shod;

[00:00:04.08] - This is Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt's regular Sunday evening broadcast at 6:45 Eastern War Time.
[00:00:10.93] - Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
[00:00:13.35] At the present time, it is of paramount importance that the women and girls of our country be given training so that they may do their share in the war emergency.
[00:00:25.03] Hundreds of girls are gaining experience and training in sheetmetal work.
[00:00:29.93] This training is essential for many jobs and aircrafts and other war industries.
[00:00:35.31] (MUSIC PLAYING) - This picture was taken outside of Gussack's Machine Products in Long Island City.
[00:00:53.89] And I'm dressed in my work clothes.
[00:00:56.53] The first department I was sent into, I stood at a kick press.
[00:01:02.23] There were machines here, you felt like you could do something.
[00:01:11.05] The drill presses and the lathes and the spool machines and the milling machine all had big belts, pulleys on the ceiling, flapping.
[00:01:22.84] Noise!
[00:01:28.48] My then-husband went into the service six months after Pearl Harbor, and many of the young women were in the same position.
[00:01:40.21] I was living with my sister at the time.
[00:01:42.49] I'd come home from work and she said "Number one, you stink.
[00:01:45.61] Get out, go take a shower." We worked in a spray of turpentine or something.
[00:01:59.42] You cleaned yourself with motor oil at the end.
[00:02:04.12] But you felt you were doing it for the war, you know?
[00:02:09.41] - ...Brooklyn Navy Yard.
[00:02:11.42] Do your part!
[00:02:11.96] We could use all the hands we can get.
[00:02:13.61] There's a war going on!
[00:02:15.01] Put down that apron and pick up a rivet gun!
[00:02:20.77] - I was seeking employment because I really wanted to be a nurse or a teacher.
[00:02:25.60] I had seen enough young mothers who had a house full of babies.
[00:02:29.75] So two other girls and I went to what we called the Defense Training School, and that landed us in the old Chevrolet plant, riveting.
[00:02:41.77] That's how Rosie the Riveter came into my life.
[00:02:44.38] At that time, it wasn't important except that we were riveters and we were doing something and making more money than anybody in our family.
[00:02:58.05] Well, I repeated to myself, when I get enough money, I'll have more than two pairs of shoes.
[00:03:02.91] Because when I was young, we had a pair of shoes to wear to school and a pair to wear to church.
[00:03:09.21] So my dream was to have more than two pairs of shoes.
[00:03:12.93] So when I got my first money after I bought the war bond, gave Mother some, I would buy a piece of clothes for my wardrobe.
[00:03:23.67] People of color could not try on clothes downtown.
[00:03:27.91] If you bought it and didn't fit it even, you couldn't take it back.
[00:03:32.00] And some stores we couldn't even go into downtown.
[00:03:37.49] So that's one part of Baltimore that people don't want to dwell on.
[00:03:51.60] (MUSIC PLAYING) (TRAIN WHISTLING) - Well, it was really hard because we had to wear pants to work in.
[00:04:08.60] Nice girls didn't wear pants.
[00:04:10.94] And I'd never worn pants in my life.
[00:04:13.58] So first thing when I get there, they said, "Put pants on." And that was hard to do.
[00:04:34.56] I worked at Woodall Industry in Detroit.
[00:04:37.53] I made the Curtiss-Wright Helldiver, which was a dive bomber that traveled on ships and then bombed from the ships.
[00:04:50.41] Pilots didn't really like to fly them, but when they went out they knew they were coming back because they were serviceable.
[00:04:58.18] They'd get shot up every which way and then almost always get back to the ship with them.
[00:05:03.92] But when they got back to the ship-- and here's my tear-jerker-- they'd push them off in the ocean.
[00:05:11.41] Because I couldn't stand it when they'd say they pushed my Helldiver off in the ocean, but they weren't fit to fly again.
[00:05:17.63] But it really did hurt to think my Helldiver was going in the ocean.
[00:05:27.94] (WATER BUBBLING) - Your supervisor was always over your head because he said, "You cannot dent this aluminum!" A small crack in the aluminum would cause the planes to come down.
[00:05:45.25] So I was the riveter, my girlfriend was on the back, called the "bucking," so we would have breaks every so often during the day so we wouldn't get tired or nervous.
[00:06:14.41] - Tricks were played on newcomers like me.
[00:06:17.83] I'd be sent to the tool room-- that was like a big cage with all kinds of tools-- to get a left-handed hammer.
[00:06:26.98] Or ask for a "bastard file" just to make me blush, you know?
[00:06:34.72] So I grew with it.
[00:06:39.13] The bosses were MIT profs who managed to get some kind of cockamamie contract.
[00:06:49.52] We never knew what we were working on, it was always part of something that was going to be sent somewhere else.
[00:06:57.31] - I had a wonderful person working with me who was called the bucker.
[00:07:02.08] It was different from what I was expecting because we'd always thought, you know, this Civil War thing, that Yankees were just not nice people.
[00:07:12.35] And so I go to work with this young girl and it's a very close relationship because she's down in the speed ring that I was working on, and I'm outside.
[00:07:21.71] And I have to depend on her, how she hits that rivet, as to how hard I'm going to shoot it.
[00:07:27.43] And I have to have confidence in her.
[00:07:29.68] But she was a very nice person.
[00:07:31.69] The North-South thing soon disappeared with her.
[00:07:37.48] - The work was boring.
[00:07:40.48] Factory work is always boring.
[00:07:42.58] It's the most boring thing you can imagine.
[00:07:45.23] So you get to talk to people.
[00:07:47.34] (WOMEN CHATTING) I met some terrific people there, from every walk of life, every level of education.
[00:08:00.25] Lunch hour, for the longest time we would sit around, sit on crates with our long work aprons.
[00:08:11.93] And one of the bosses, Moe Hammer, would read a scene from "Othello," and we would discuss it.
[00:08:23.57] I saw all around me, people, some of whom had never finished eighth grade, just entranced.
[00:08:35.70] We all went to see "Othello" and we saw Paul Robeson and Uta Hagen, and Jose Ferrer as Iago.
[00:08:44.15] (AUDIENCE CLAPPING) From a factory.
[00:08:50.97] - Roosevelt, his wife mostly, said, "If you don't hire black women, we're going to take your contract." So it didn't take long for them to hire black women.
[00:09:02.92] And so when they came in, the white women, some of them, went down to the offices and protested.
[00:09:10.77] They wanted me to go.
[00:09:11.64] And I said, "No, I won't go with that." There was a black man working on the next jig.
[00:09:22.62] Well, that was a little bit hard for me to take right at first, but I began to like him and, you know, they had the race riots there while I was there.
[00:09:33.39] And that poor man, I felt so sorry for him.
[00:09:35.93] He had eight children, and he couldn't leave-- He was afraid to leave his wife and family at home.
[00:09:43.08] And yet he needed to work, because he couldn't feed them without it.
[00:09:47.70] So it really made me feel differently about black folks than I had before.
[00:10:00.86] - When I walked up and said, "I'm Susan King," looked over my shoulders and she said, "Mrs. King?" And I said "Yes." "Oh, I didn't know." I said, "Sure, you did not know that they had black Rosies at Eastern Aircraft, did you?" And she just turned red, kept on going.
[00:10:17.99] But I'm sure she expected Susan King, coming from Zone 15, to be anything other than black.
[00:10:32.84] - I had started working at 40 cents an hour.
[00:10:38.28] After two years, I made it up to 45 cents an hour, and I was working side by side with men who were getting 75 or 85 cents.
[00:10:51.29] So I went to the shop steward first and I said, "We have to do something about equalizing the pay, it is not fair. " - "What do you want me to do about it?" - And he said, "This is not an issue now.
[00:11:04.93] The war is on." So I went to the boss.
[00:11:13.94] "This can't be.
[00:11:16.84] "I know I can get a job tomorrow starting at 75 cents an hour." So he said, "I won't stop you." - If I were to compare the Rosies of yesterday, it was just as far-fetched for us to do what we were doing as the first woman to go up in space.
[00:11:59.17] What are they looking back?
[00:12:00.68] You look back and you say, "I've done this." Now, the woman up in space, it'll be years before she understands why she went in space.
[00:12:11.24] And I guess we're somewhere up there.
[00:12:12.91] Rosies actually did not know what they were doing and why they were doing it.
[00:12:17.17] If I could compare us, I guess we were out there in space, but we did it.
[00:12:23.73] - When you think about it, the world was on its knees.
[00:12:27.13] Europe was down, you know?
[00:12:29.88] England was gone.
[00:12:32.28] France was gone.
[00:12:34.82] And here we were.
[00:12:36.86] Most of our Navy was gone, except the carriers.
[00:12:41.96] And the plane I built flew from a carrier.
[00:12:46.85] Now that's a wonderful story, that my little plane could help bring us out of that.
[00:12:54.66] It was a little plane, but it was noisy.
[00:12:57.74] And it was-- it blasted 'em.
[00:13:02.14] (PLANE ENGINE WHIRRING) (MUSIC - The Four Vagabonds "Rosie The Riveter") (SINGING) All the day long, whether rain or shine, she's a part of the assembly line.
[00:13:23.24] She's making history working for victory, Rosie the Riveter.
[00:13:28.67] Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage, sitting up there on the fuselage.
[00:13:34.04] That little friend can do more than a man can do.
[00:13:36.80] Rosie the Riveter.
[00:13:39.48] Rosie's got a boyfriend Charlie.
[00:13:42.14] Charlie, he's a Marine.
[00:13:44.87] Rosie is protecting Charlie, working overtime on the riveting machine.
[00:13:50.45] When they gave her a production lead, she was as proud as a girl could be.
[00:13:55.76] There's something true about, red, white, and blue about Rosie the Riveter.
[00:14:30.67] Rosie the Riveter.
[00:14:33.28] Rosie, Rosie, Rosie, Rosie, working on assembly line.
[00:14:44.01] Rosie, Rosie, Rosie the Riveter, on the assembly line.