Theo: An Autobiography

12: Union Dues

Good IllY lord, will you see the players well bestowed? })o you hear, let thein be well used.... -HAJ/Ll: H / ; ACT II, SCENE :2 rJ'\ UltlNG THE FlltST YEAlt ()F The Sound of Music, 1960, the 'LJActors' Equity collective-bargaining agreel11ent with the League of New York Theatres ran out, and the negotiations for a new contract were not going well. Although at the tinle I was not involved with any union ll1atters, I was aware that the situation nlight inlpact on all of us working under Broadway or touring contracts at the tinle. By the end of May 1960, nlatters becanle critical. The issues which led up to the strike were unusual for a negotiation involving actors. The questions of wages and working conditions could be settled nl0re or less to the satisfaction of both sides-I say nlore or less because no negotiation is ever totally satisfactory for all parties-but the sticking point was pensions. Actors had never had that before; the producers argued that with the sporadic pattern of el11ploy111ent in the theatre, no syste111 could be devised to achieve what the actors were after. C0l11plicating the issue was the fact that ll'lany of the actors did not grasp the significance of the issue thenlselves. The younger ones, especially, were clearly puzzled about being forced by the dictates of 220 · T-l-fEO labor solidarity to be out of work and pounding the pavenlent over pensions fronl which they would derive no personal benefit for nlany years to COIne, if ever. Consequently, we argued not only against the ell1ployers but also anlong ourselves. Nowadays an actor's contract without health and pension benefits is unthinkable-just as unthinkable as a contract was in 1960 UJith those provisions. On1inous nlessages fronl n1anagell1ent were tacked up on the bulletin board backstage to the effect that everyone's job was being jeopardized by Equity's demands. Pressure was brought to bear on stars who were told that they were being victinlized by nlinill1unl players, and chorus was told not to be idiots and go out on strike for pensions they would never qualify for anyway. On June 1, 1960, the Equity Council called a n1idnight n1ell1bership nleeting at the Edison Hotel, one half block fronl the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, to inforn1 the actors of the critical state of affairs. So n1any showed up that the streets outside were jan1nled with actors, creating a problenl for police. Hurriedly, the nleeting was nloved to a larger space, the Grand Ballroonl at the Astor Hotel a few blocks down. Pedestrians and nl0torists on Broadway were treated to quite a sight. Over two thousand Actors' Equity Il1enlbers ll1arched down the street toward the Astor in orderly fashion, carrying an An1erican flag, the Equity banner, and signs proclainling the naIl1es of their Broadway shows. At the Astor, menlbers nlade fiery speeches blall1ing the producers' intransigence for what was rapidly turning out to be a labor crisis of SOBle nlagnitude. Only once before in the history of the Anlerican theatre, in 1919, had there been a SiIl1ilar upheaval, COIl11l10nly known as the "Revolt of the Actors." It, 1l10re than anything else, had served to consolidate the collective resolve of the then fledgling actors' union not to be pushed around and Il1ade to kowtow to the whill1S of ll1anageIl1ents who exploited actors with inlpunity. I attended the Astor nleeting and all the ones that followed and was strangely moved. I had reached a stage in Iny life when I was conlfortably off and had COll1e a long way since 111Y days as a worker on a cOll1nlunal farin. Yet, despite nlY position in the theatre, in n1usic, and in filn1s, I never allowed nlyself to forget what I had received in n1Y genetic knapsack fronl my socialist father. That included the conviction that working people as individuals are helpless and powerless unless they band together to ll1ake COl11n10n cause. The actors' strike of 1960 gave the iIl1petus to what became a serious involvenlent on Illy part for over three decades in the affairs of actors' unIons. Once the strike was under way, I becan1e an active participant in lA.J'1Um Vu&s • 221 the nleetings, spoke at sonle, and offered nlY services to the union in whatever capacity it deellled helpful. Sonle stars of the various shows were sinlilarly involved, while others chose l1lerely to obey the union's directives but otherwise to...