Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2022 - 19

for $250,000 by the National Theatre
Owners Association (Shane 2006, 79).
1919 saw the Shuberts emerge from the
wreckage, while the Theatrical Syndicate
never made it to the 1920s (Shane 2006,
79). Today, the Shubert Organization is
still producing and presenting and owns
and operates 17 Broadway theatres as
well as six off-Broadway theatres (The
Shubert Organization).
In response to producers and managers
taking such a prominent role in
the theatrical industry, actors decided
to form the Actors' Society of America
(ASA) (Shane 2006, 80). The goal of this
professional organization was to " assist
members in securing contracts with responsible
managers only " (Shane 2006,
80). It was not yet a labor union and relied
heavily on the clout of the most profitable
actors to agree to participate. Actors were
required to book work either through an
executive committee of the ASA or directly
with the theatre, and to avoid booking
agencies such as Klaw and Erlanger,
which was the booking agency for the
Theatrical Syndicate (Shane 2006, 80).
Actors could be fined up to $5,000, a not
insignificant sum at the time, for breaking
this agreement. As a result, there was
very limited participation (Shane 2006,
80). The ASA ultimately disbanded after
discussion of unionization polarized the
members (Shane 2006, 81). Of note, during
this same period, stagehands were
the first creative sector to unionize under
the National Alliance of Theatrical
Employees, and musicians were quick
to follow as the American Federation of
Musicians (AFM) (Shane 2006, 84).
December 22, 1912, saw the first
meeting of the Actors' Equity Association
(AEA, or " Equity " ), which was meant to
deal only with economic issues for actors
(Shane 2006, 84). Eventually, AEA clarified
its purpose as " secur[ing] a standard
minimum contract for actors with the
managers " (Shane, 2006, 85). It would
not be an exaggeration to state that the
19-teens were an incredibly dramatic
period for Equity. Famously, entertainer
and producer George M. Cohen said, " I
will drive an elevator for a living before I
will do business with any actors' union "
(Actor's Equity Association). An issue
that popped up was the desire to join the
American Federation of Labor (AFL),
but the AFL would only grant one union
charter per profession, and there was a
vaudeville union called the White Rats
Actors' Union of America, which held the
charter for performers (Actor's Equity
Association). The White Rats eventually
agreed to relinquish their charter, and
the members of Equity voted 890 to 21
to join the AFL, giving them some muchneeded
leverage to negotiate with the theatrical
producers in what had become the
United Managers' Protective Association
(UMPA) (Shane 2006, 87).
In August 1917, AEA and UMPA met
to negotiate a standard minimum contract.
Provisions of this agreement included:
a two-week notice clause, limitation of
free or unpaid rehearsals, full pay for all
performances and extra pay for extra performances,
payment for costumes of actresses
making less than $150 per week,
transportation standards for touring, and
the elimination of something called the
" Joker Clause, " which previously allowed
actors to be fired for not giving a satisfactory
performance (Shane 2006, 90). A
revision of this UMPA-AEA agreement
was adopted in October 1917 (Simonson
2013) and has the clear beginnings of
the agreements that Equity has in place
SUMMER 2022 | THEATRE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY | 19
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