The evening world. Newspaper, August 12, 1919, Page 13

Bets iawn ee, - ae EVENING WORLD, TUESDAY, AUGUST * SN PERI SN OS NINERS: SNE BE PRODUCING MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION desires to give expretsion to its sense of the loyalty:and see conscience of those members of the acting profession who have declined to compromise indi- «© vidual freedom as ae and to break contracts which have been fairly and freely entered into by them. The Producing anagers’ Association hereby gives notice to all whom it: I ag gys that it will stead- fastly stand by thie ant pete omy of th erongee dl profession who are loyally standing oe true interests of the theatre and its patrons in the’ discreditable strike now in progress. DAVID BELASCO. GEORGE ( . TYLER FLORENZ ZIEGFELD, JR. “HENRY W. SAVAGE A. L.. ERLANGER GEO, M. JOHN CORT SELWYN & CO. GEO. BROADHURST ALF. HAYM ANY J. FRED ZIMMERMANN, JR. =A. H. WOODS WINTHROP AMES. F. RAY COMSTOCK "WALTER F. WANGER WM. HARRIS, JR. LEE SHUBERT JOHN L. GOLDEN. RICHARD HERNDON L. LAWRENCE WEBER WM. A. BRADY. CHAS. EMERSON COOK RICHARD WALTON TULLY OLIVER MOROSCO Cs B. DILLINGHAM H. H. FRAZEE MORRIS GEST CHARLES COBURN THUR HAMMERSTEIN EDW. MacGREGOR HARRISON GREY FISKE ADOLPH KLAUBER ARTHUR HOPKI ABE LEVY SAM. H. HARRIS “MORAN & ANDREWS All bers of the Acto: Ausocition are liable fo For damages and be At the Managers bythe yy ile strike,” DO NOT . | BE'MISLEDCONSULT YOUR OWN LAWYER. Attention is called to the following letter sent by Mr. Nathan Burkan to the Actors’ Equity ‘Association; copy of which was transmitted to Mr. John L. Golden by _Mr. Burkan. . August 10, 1919. | ' Mr. Frank Gillmore, Executive Secretary, Actors’ Equity Association, New York City: ait My dear Mr. Gillmore—My attention 'was.called last night to a list of your membership, in which was included my name as a life member, j : In view of the strike called against the enterprises managed by my clients, Messrs, Winchell Smith and John Golden and Charles Dillin respectively, and in view of the action of the organizers of the strike in wilfully bringing about the breaking by <3 of your association of von- tracts of service existing with Messrs. Smith.and Golden and Dillingham, respectively, balck have long sera 9 9 to run, and particularly in view of the fact that Messrs. Smith and Golden and Dillingham, respectively, have at all times and on all occasions treated their players with the utmost ost considera- : tion, justice and fairness, as the striking players as well as all other players associated with them will admit, and against whom the players can have no . legitimate grievance, I must insist that my name be forthwith stricken from your membership roll. ° The action of the organizers of the strike in knowingly and wilfully ordering players under written contracts of ‘ with these erga ge to leave their employers and break up their attractions, manifests an.utter a! ‘disregard not only of law ‘ , and order, but of the welfare of your membership, as well as of the rights of these managers, and it Pb # crass stupidity on the part of the officers of your association in permitting such acts to be committed. : Mi } ‘ Ms j " Let me call your attention to the decision of the Appellate Division of this Department i in the’case of} ‘Contracting Co,v. ‘Bennett, 1% wr A. D., page 249, where the court held that ie * ; It is not lawful to call a strike, the result of which will be the Mee or ta of contracts of its members with their ‘ { and the United States es wena Court, in Hitchman Coal & Coke Co. v. Mitchell, 245 U. S., * held that a combination to procure ¢ breaches of contract by plaintiff's employees is as plainly unlawful as if it involved a i Same ad the peace. aa aagey In that case the members of a union were enjoined from inducing or seeking to induce the Plaintiff's employees from violating their contracts ‘ of employment. The:Court, in protecting those contracts, said, at page 251: , “Plaintiff, having in the exercise of its undoubted rights, established a working ent between it and. its employees, with the free assent of the latter, is entitled to be protected in the enjoyment of the resulting status, as in any be ae legal right. That the pow: wt cpa was at will and termin- able by either party at any time is of no consequence.” , “The right of action for persuading an employee to leave his employer is universally recognized.” plying this principle to sag facts involved in the sttike, the strike organizers, the officers of the Actors’ Equity Association, and its membe: » were and are qi Ity of unlawful acts in directing, inducing, persuading or coe: aang purer under con’ relations with managers to strike, to break their contract, and not to play at scheduled performances. contract need not be for any specific Fed (although I know of my own personal knowledge that a great many of the contracts are for long terms, and some have a two weeks’ notice clause In justice to the many players who are members of the association and who do not realize the consequences of the acts of the organizers of ® the strike, and the officers of the association, in permitting the organizers to commit the er which the courts have pronounced illegal, me call your attention to the famous Danbury Hatters’ case, known as Lawlor v. Loewe, 235 U. 5., 522. In that case the members of a labor union attempted to compel a hat manufacturer to unionize his factory, wt en g oper and apace ' others from — employment therein, and with the assistance of members of affiliated organizations declared a “boycott” on : held that all the members of the labor union who paid their dues were jointly liable with the officers of the union forthe damages pel me their acts. It is not essential that each member of the Union should have knowledge of the details of the action proposed to be taken by the strike orguntaers and the officers of the Union. The court said, on page 529: “The individual members are liable as principals for what their officers did in the performance of their duty, even though they did not know of the particular acts done, or may have disapproved of or have forbidden it.”’ In that case the plaintiff recovered a judgment for $222,000.00, and many of the members of the Union had their bank accounts qpeched, their property sold at public sale under execution, and many were obliged to pay whatever they had, to make good the jamage. The damages in such cases are not apportioned, but each member is liable individually and collectively for the entire damage done, and if he has sufficient property, he must make good the entire damage. It is beyond dispute now that very serious damage has been inflicted upon a number of managers by the closing of their theatres. The dam- ages are not speculative, because the managers will be entitled to recover for moneys refunded by them to patrons who were deprived of the opportunity to see the attraction, moneys paid as rent for the theatre while it remained dark, moneys paid to bapa who had to be laid off in consequence of the strike, moneys paid for advertising, current expenses, and possible losses wherever they can be estab The resulting damage of this strike may run into millions of dollars, and all those players who have contracts with Mana: as well as the officers and strike organizers, and the individual members of this association, though they did. not participate in or fed any knowledge of the strike, may, within a short period of time, find themselves involved in a serious predicament. By the acti of the organizers of the strike and the officers of your association, the life savings of many players have already been WB Fay I ties it is your duty to at once direct all players who have walked out in breach of their contracts to return and to minimize the damage as far as possible. This letter is written, not with the idea of giving you advice, but simply to justify my action. Very truly yours, NATHAN BURKAN. ‘ Mr, Howard Kyle, founder of the Actors’ Equity Association, who for more than six years served as a member of the Counsel and in other capacities witous remuneration, has resigned from the Actors Equity Association. In connection with his resignation Mr. Kyle sent the following letter to Fur. E. » who has also since resigned from the Actors’ Equity Association: joslagy dys nat enact i 1 ket @ word to you before you wi torn’ wing the course its officers und Counei tae ER nat Ihave reeoanized the “AE tore realtek “Eclat prtunfeation And Ther Tani Rte Te crepececstat ere fe meet them and snake Smead ma ge in niform lion gas Unit Protective Asso ty Assockathon rect te cover if three or five years, . & agreement ve theall; ene og Seats ord 810.000 "7 Ky breach \¥ saree nt by his mal That ae Bay consuinmulicn. toward wintey the Ais li iy, Association | * been almina six years. sone ves of feur, whereupon an utterly foolish mature ‘wan ‘eone ‘extra ato inehs ae taken despite insistent warnings I made to the Connaet of ite ib Viewdness, The a6 g cue, ves pint = hen the for clause ry which ail malarien shall be reckoned by. the ves i to Dp TANCE, represeu Bropowed'publlely “that the ‘chele matter of = contrat be wives to an oui <a neil aes to arbitrate, anid they "Have ceeded to ‘use the siundard teutsiet—Unlicd Memsgare’ Protective fh sttalice- Arter? astee eaonnereenaldty ores tts Seane oa who ar tually Under 'ratdiable condition are forced ‘te marike os 8 rewilt ef the ‘umpo: the “accented Actors’ Kaulty ‘Kteodlailonstnited anager, Protective ‘Association “contract | wa ot, im ret Instance by the Actors’ fo te clauses ng, te olay Sunday age roran oe and loge! holiduy tstinese, were. put tole thie sentrwst ox f , Po a) over the pit whe s has ever pretended that the contregt. wi ‘¥ io alnlmatin one. one, Sear'te tha ba t lz 0 i "Tw r ‘Dessciation. tification supper im November, 4017, “bis be th oun sara signed) Your Yours Very PARA OR A Pa aa ears ‘ ra si 5 : a. 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