The transition from stage to screen was not only a shift in popular entertainment, but a challenge for those working in the industry as well. This book looks at all the attempts to organize film actors into a union, starting in 1912 when the Actors’ Equity Association seemed the best platform for such an effort, to the establishment of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in 1933 as the best vehicle to represent film actors; another four years passed before SAG was formally recognized by film producers and the first contract was signed.

Cultural historian Kerry Segrave is the author of dozens of books on such diverse topics as drive-in theaters, lie detectors, jukeboxes, smoking, shoplifting and ticket-scalping. He lives in British Columbia.

Kerry Segrave
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 216
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4276-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5285-9
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

1. Early Efforts and Equity’s First Attempt, to 1923      3

2. A Brief Lull, 1924–1927      18

3. AMPAS and Salary Cuts; Equity’s Second Attempt, 1927      33

4. A Second Brief Lull, 1928–1929      58

5. Equity’s Third Attempt, 1929      68

6. Organizing Founders; Salary Cuts, Again, 1930–1933      111

7. The Coming of SAG, 1933–1936      126

8. SAG Negotiations and First Contract, 1936–1937      149

9. Conclusion      167

Notes      183

Bibliography      195

Index      205

“Segrave…has covered an important topic with good research”—Communication Booknotes Quarterly.