Film Actors Organize: Union Formation Efforts in America, 1912-1937

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.