Variety (September 1919)

VARIETY DAILY BTT1 VARIETY DAILY BULLETIN PRODUCING MANAGERS IN TEARS AS COHAN LEAVES ASSOCIATES :#■ ;■ * Resignation From P. M. A. Put in by George M. Cohan Yes- terday. Denial It Will Have Any Effect on Cohan & Harris as Firm. Cohan Goes Before Actors' Fidelity Association, as Its Presi- dent, as an Actor. •'"■' Y Cohan said that he would have his whole say at last night's- meeting of the A. F. L. *£~ Mr. Cohan's resignation to tie Managers' Association read: Aug. 27, 1919. Secretary Producing Managers' Association, Dear Sir: Kindly accept my resignation from the Producing Managers' Association. My only reason ts that tonight I am accepting the office of president of the Actors' Fidelity League and think It la best for all concerned that I do not attempt to carry water on both shoulders. With all good wishes to your organization of which I am proud to have been a The, principal moves in the strike situation at the meeting yesterday af- _ tcrnoon of the Producing Managers' H^v Association were the completion of "^he-contract which the managers offer the acting profession at large and the . Actors' Fidelity League in particular Hand the resignation of George M. |KCdhan as a member of the P. M. A.__( J|§7:'.'The ^meeting was in -session until long after six o'clock. It was stated' ?by those who left the session after] bar K only tor a short time believe me h«Fi .. . ........ Sincerely Yours, Cohan s resignation that it was one; ■ -C.r of the most dramatic moments in the. .history of the strike. Cohan also dur- ing the afternoon insisted, that the , Ai F. L. accept the $100/100 which hej offered the organization, but the A. F. yL.in turn again refused to accept it And a compromise was affected by the' turning over of the sum to the Actors' JfanoV ■■;■' • ■ ' -— ' The meeting was called at the usual hour, 3 P. M., practically all of the managers being present and the busi- ness of the C9ntract was discussed at length. The managers agreed that jfjl§]»iy • will give the actors full salary p .after four weeks of rehearsal in dra- _^raatic productions, and five weeks in musical productions. Eight perform- M-', m ances are to constitute a week and all additional performances, no matter if they are played in what heretofore i|j! was known as "Sunday territory," are Ip'tobe played pro-rata. ' 1 ^;After the details of the contract had \ been worked out there came the busi- - ; ness of George M. Cohan resigning as *1i|:■■member of the P. M. A. Every onej of the managers present was against; tis doing so, but without avail. He a ad made up his mind to leave them ' ;p<?7fox,the cause of the actor and he was limping to do that very thing, irregard- ■ Wmij$t -of what their feelings in the mat- er. He sat down and wrote put his resignation and during those minutes fwhile his pen was scratching there; fflgjwre those very "tears and fears" that/ ihe wrote into his letter to the A. F. LJ only a few nights ago. A lot of them had the tears in their eyes as they came from the meeting. j A. L. Erlanger was not at the meet- ing, but as soon as he was informed ;-as to what had taken place he rushed oyer from the Amsterdam with Flo ^Ziegfeld, and they got Cohan into a Hvfcorteer, the three being closeted for liHabout half an hour. M The open subject of discussion be- P^ tween the managers after the meeting Wj Was what effect the resignation of . :. Cohan from the P. M. A. would have ■ on the future of the Cohan & Harris H■ fii;m. The angle advanced was that Cohan had said at the A. F. L. meet- ing Monday night that when he came Ijjj&ytfvthat body as president or as a mem- ber he was not coming as George M. V". Cohan the producer, but as George M. •%;;■. Cohan the actor. Taking this stand, many argued that ■V it would mean that Cohan & Harris as a firm might cease to exist. This, :'■/ however, was denied last night by Sam H. Harris,, who stated that if George M. Cohan had any such idea in his head he had not mentioned it. Mr. (Signed) Qto. M. Oohan. WALK OUT ON "LESTER." (Reprinted from weekly edition of Variety) Atlantic City, Aug. 27. John Cort, himself, his own execu- tive staff and members of the Apollo Theatre management set the scenery last night for "Listen Lester," when the stage hands walked out. The members of Local No. 77,1. A. T. S. E., placed a story in local papers this morning claiming the friendliest desires toward the managements of. the local theatres. Hence this walk- out was more a matter of orders than of sentiment and followed the depar- ture of the union orchestra Monday night, The trouble started when "Listen Lester" arrived minus the "extras" from the New York union and also minus its own scenery—only a few props getting here. • An injunction obtained Sunday* failed to hold the men over tonight and their walkout occurred just as the evening's performance was called. At the Globe and Keith houses there appears to be an immediate effect of the situation as they are playing vaudeville. FIDELITY AND CHORUS GIRLS. Just how the Actors' Fidelity League will place the chorus girls aligned with it has not yet been settled. The A. E. A. has a separate auxiliary for the chorus girls who are members. The question/with the Fidelity seems to be how to give the choristers direct representation in the parent body. This may be accomplished through a comparative vote for the choristers as against the total membership, or their vote may be represented by a com- mittee especially appointed for the choristers and to be permanent. It appears to be the intention of the Fidelity to give its chorus members full voice at all meetings. IDEN PAYNE JOINS A. E. A. ' B. Iden Payne, general stage man- ager for .Chas. Frohman, Inc.,' joined the Equity yesterday, and issued an announcement through the Equity press bureau that "he would use no strike breakers in the cast of any play he produced hereafter." MANAGERS' PROPOSED CONTRACT. The following was issued last night: The Producing Managers' Associa- tion hereby authorizes Mr. Geo. M. Cohan to convey to the Actors' Fidel- ity League the following revisions of future contract between actor and manager: That eight performances shall con- stitute a week. Additional -perform- ances to be paid for on a basis of one- ■ eighth salary. That dramatic companies shall re- hearse four weeks. For additional re- hearsals the artist shall receive full salary. \ That musical companies shall re- hearse five weeks. For additional re- hearsals the artist shall receive full salary. | That all costumes, wigs, shoes and i stockings shall be furnished the chorus by the manager. That in both dramatic and musical companies all artists' gowns shall be i furnished by the manager. That salaries be paid on Saturday night. ' That if a play be rehearsed less than j ten days and abandoned by the man- | ager, the manager shall pay actor one weeks salary. That if an actor be re-engaged for i a part he shall not be subject to the ten-day probationary clause. That in case of dispute or claim of contract violation, the dispute or claim shall be submitted to arbitration. The manager shall choose one arbitrator and the artist a second. If within ' three days these arbitrators shall not agree, then within that time they shall choose a third, a person not in the theatrical profession. The decision of a majority of said arbitrators shall be binding and no suits shall be brought after the arbitors' award has been made in writing. The Producing ' Managers' Associa- tion stands back of all contracts made by its members and will bring all its influence to bear to see that its mem- bers shall live up fully to all contrac- tual relations with artists. The Producing Managers' Associa- tion seeks to do its full share in estab- lishing in the future the validity of in- dividual contract As to the week before Christmas and Holy Week, the managers find that so many routes have already been booked in . which • these weeks ' have been omitted that it is impossible to make general agreement as to this. How- ever, wherever possible these weeks will be booked and full salary paid. Beginning next season full salaries will be paid all companies the week before Christmas and Holy Week. MISS BARRYMORE NOT CALLED. The company to play the new Froh- man, nlc, piece in which Ethel Barry- more is to star, was called for the reading of the script yesterday at the Empire. All responded with the ex- ception of Miss Barrymore. She was not called, as is customary with the star of a play, in the preliminary stages of rehearsing. Miss Barrymore may receive a call to attend the rehearsals early next week. The title of the play has not been divulged as yet by the Frohman office. EQUITY'S 2nd AVE. The Equity added another theatre to its list yesterday, taking over Kessler's Second Avenue, which they will open Labor Day night with a musical revue. Kessler's is located at 35 Second av- enue, and has been conducted hereto- fore as a Yiddish theatre. An admis- sion scale of $2 top will prevail. EQUITY BUTTON. The Actors' Equity now has an offi- cial button, which made its initial ap- pearance yesterday. The button is about the size of a quarter, blue field with the letters A. E. A. in white. Only members of the A. E.. A, pre- senting a paid up card can secure a button. CENTRAL MANAGERS DENY. York, Pa., Aug. 27. D. Appell, secretary of the Central Managers' Association, denies that at any meeting of the Association was there any endorsement by the Central Managers of the Producing Managers' Association's stand in the strike. 18 JUDGE SIGNS ORDERS. The formal signing of restraining orders on the injunctions prayed for against Francis Wilson as president of the Actors' Equity Association and members, was made yesterday in Spe- cial Part, Term 1, of the Supreme Court by Justice Hendrick. The de- cision given was virtually (he same as the opinion printed in Tuesday's edi- tion of Variety's Daily Bulletin. The decision held that the actors had a perfect right to combine and agree not to work for any manager who did not recognize their associa- tion. But that that applied for future contracts, and since subsisting con- tracts had been breached "the courts will enjoin such actor who has violated his contract from appearing in other employment." The court held the Actors' Equity Association to be a third party to the contracts at issue. It said in answer to the claim of the defendants' counsel that the managers' association was an illegal combination, that in the cases at hand the Producing Managers' As- sociation did not figure but that the .cases were by individual managers in relation to individual actors. Attorneys for the A. E. A. said yesterday they had a good reason for not supplying supporting affidavits to their contentions. Nathan Burkan, one of the man- agers' attorneys, stated yesterday the injunction decision would be followed up and that attempts would be made to enjoin any player who was under contract from appearing elsewhere. This was taken to refer to the Lexing- ton theatre bills or .the co-operative shows which the A. E. A. are reported preparing. He said that injunctions would be applied for in other states if necessary. : V Today a Federal action-will be heard. This is the suit for injunction asked for by the Winter Garden Co. against Francis Wilson and some 200 actors as listed in the early days of the strike. The matter.will be heard before Judge Julian Mack in the U. S. District Court. FRITZ I SCHEFF-THEN AND NOW. Among the new members announced by the Actors' Fidelity League Tues- day night was Fritzi Scheff, with the assumption that Miss Scheff preferred the Fidelity through its non-union at- tachment. It recalled to vaudevillians that early last season Miss Scheff refused to play the week at Keith's, Toledo (vaude- ville), and laid off that week through her announced reason that that house did hot have a union orchestra. ^WAITING FOR LABOR DAT. Lbs Angeles, Aug. 27. There is great unrest brewing here, and there is a feeling Labor Day will bring about a big move on the part of the labor bodies to aid the striking acto.rs. J : There is a report here by A. E. A. people that the musicians in the local theatres and the studio hands in the .picture producing plants are all ready for a walkont. Two Oat of Six Join *A. E. A. Horace Sinclair, Chairman of the British Committee of the A. E. A. has announced that two English actors out of the six from that country over here who played or rehearsed after the strike was ordered, have since joined the A. E. A. The British Committee recently sent out a letter to those six, appealing to them to come in with the actors' association. Oscar Shaw reported as Joining the Actors' Fidelity League, sent out a denial yesterday, through the A. E. A. press bureau. .i ; "*' "^SWfc:: .<£ i^-.J ■^.•iM.ihai'^ ..... '^-.V...'. .V « \. . - - .,