By 1941, Rockefeller Center Inc's manager Hugh S. Robertson was in a dispute with the Rainbow Room's workers' union. Robertson threatened to shutter the restaurant and blame it on war-related reasons if they kept demanding wage increases. The Rainbow Room was closed at the end of December 1942 due to World War II, which contributed to the "increasing shortage of manpower" in American civilian life, according to Robertson. The Rockefeller Center Luncheon Club remained open through this time. However, the restaurant would not reopen to the public until 1950, and then only as a cocktail lounge that shuttered at 9 p.m.