1919 Actors' Equity Association strike

The 1919 Actors' Equity Association (AEA or “Equity”) strike officially spanned from August 7, 1919 to September 6, 1919. The AEA had, only a few weeks prior, become affiliated with the AFL and called the strike against the Producing Managers’ Association on August 7. Before the strike, many actors were required to give hundreds of hours of free rehearsal time, pay for their own travel and costume expenses, and could be fired immediately for not playing their roles to their managers' satisfaction. Between August 7 and September 6, hundreds of actors walked out of theaters predominantly in New York City and Chicago. As the strike gained support, other laborers in the industry walked out with them, including musicians and stagehands. During negotiations on September 6, 1919, the managers gave the actors all of their demands after losing millions of dollars.

The 1919 Equity strike was especially significant because it helped to reshape the definition of labor. Before the strike, legitimate actors had not attempted to strike due to the idea that they were not in the same class as industrial workers. The strike served to broaden the idea of what it means to be a laborer as well as the notion of which industries should organize.

In the late 19th century, the theater industry underwent significant changes that helped to create an increasingly poor work environment for actors. One of the most important changes was the formation of the Theatrical Syndicate, or the Klaw-Erlinger Syndicate, which was created in 1896 by several successful theater owners and booking managers including Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlinger. These men gained control over the majority of theaters in America by applying big business methods to the theater industry, creating a booking monopoly.

Shortly after the formation of the Theatrical Syndicate, the Shubert brothers started their own monopolistic venture, gaining control over much of the industry. By the 1919 Equity Strike, powerful managers controlled the booking of virtually every theater in the country. It was in this world of managerial combining that the strike of 1919 would occur.

By the turn of the century, the average actor or actress was consistently taken advantage of by his or her managers. In addition to often paying for their own stage costumes and travel, actors were forced to agree to as many hours of free rehearsal time as their managers desired. They spent weeks, even months, rehearsing performances without any sort of compensation. Furthermore, company performance routes were subject to change literally overnight – sometimes evening performances that had low ticket sales would be cancelled, and the actors would not be paid for the cancelled show. Managers would make up for these cancelled shows by traveling during the night to the next destination and performing an additional matinee there. Even though actors lost the pay from the cancelled show the previous evening, they would not be compensated for doing the additional matinee. Finally, another industry-wide grievance regarded the “satisfaction clause,” which was commonly referred to as the “joker clause.” This clause was found in most contracts between actors and managers and stated that the manager could fire the actor if the actor did not play his or her part to the manager’s satisfaction. This gave managers the right to fire players for simply not …could have their salaries cut without warning for any reason.

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