August 12 - Singing a Union Tune

On this day in Labor History the year was 1919.  That was the day that the chorus girls of the Ziegfeld Follies formed a union.  They called their organization the Chorus Equity Association.  The Ziegfeld Follies were the hottest ticket on Broadway during the early 1900s. The show was most famous for their chorus girls in elaborate costumes, bedecked with feathers and sparkles. In 1919 performers on Broadway as well as Chicago were standing up for fairer wages and better treatment on the job.  The Actors Equity Association’s contract had expired, and the actors demanded a fair contract.  The producers banded together into the Producing Managers Association. Actors and producers faced off.  The actors held a meeting and decided not to go on stage unless the contract was settled.   Membership in the union swelled. Twelve shows in New York were cancelled. When Florenz Ziegfeld, the head of the Ziegfeld Follies joined the producers’ group, the chorus girls took this a bad sign.    They decided it was time that they too joined the union movement.  A former chorus girl named Marie Dressler was elected the first union president.  The chorus girls joined the striking actors for a march down Broadway.  The Ziegfeld performers formally went on strike, and the curtain fell on the Follies.  Chicago theaters also went dark.  In all, 37 productions are shut down in the two cities.  Finally, on September 7 the strike is settled and the Follies returned.  In 1955 Chorus Equity merged with the Actors Equity Association.