The New York herald., 1921-12-19
Actors Appear in
Sketches at Dinner
for Head of Equity
John Emerson Predicts Better
Days and Says a Few Things
About Managers.

Sunday is the average actors night
off. assuming that there is such thing
as an average actor Consequently
enough actors to fill the rooms Of the
Green Room Club at 139 West Forty
seventh street so that the walls bulged
gathered there last night. and naturally
enough talked about managers and
what disagreeable profession acting
is, and then, inevitably gave show.
II was called revel. but it was a show
with curtain. applause. delays. and
everything.
The particular excuse for the enter
tainment and having dinner was John
Emerson. president of the Actors
Equity Association, and everybody pres
ent agreed that he was a pretty good
excuse. They told him SO. He re-
sponded by warming the hearts of those
present with a few words of prophecy
concerning the coming of much better
days and by saying a few things about
managers. The particular thing he said
about managers which seemed to please
the jewellers most was this conclusions:
But it does seem to US that COM
petent producers themselves would be
better off, as we'll as the authors and
actors and the stage in general, IL we
could drive from the field the other So
called managers who have nothing to
contribute to the stage but colossal ig-
norance, bad taste, cheap, fiashy senti-
mentality and an outgrown, outworn,
autocratic spirit"
Nearly every actor present seemed to
have somebody in mind as the applause
H.. A. .r.. ~ Ia.
harassed walls.
Mr. Emerson was by no means against
all managers. He explained that this
has been terrible season for managers,
authors and actors alike but did not
mention audiences. He said something
very fine was to come out of the chaos.
with actors and authors coming into
their own.
THE increasing number Of actors and
authors taking over 4 part and in many
cases all of the management of their
own affairs augurs well for the future of
the drama in this country" he said.
Not that we wish to eradicate the man
ayers. We have no such thought. Many
of them are men of distinctive talent,
with very fine appreciation and great
discrimination, who really have within
them something to add to the work of
the author and the actor in making
play an artistic as we'll as q commercial
success. And with these we are grad to
work in hearty cooperation to the end
of time"
After Harry Relchenbach. Hal Briggs,
Pedro de Cordoba, Grant Mitchell, o.
j. Heggie and John w Cope had had
something to say, the business (stage)
of the evening commenced--after a de-
lay. After Caryl S. Fleming's usual
musical annoyance''--the quotes are the
program's-had punctured the stiffness
and Ed Randall had libeled his club
members in an "agitated news sheet" of
cartoons, the actors drifted back to the
subject of managers again in a sketch
| entitled Heavens Stage Door"
George Burton, sylphlike heavenly
spirit, made the hit Of the evening
when. poking his head through the door.
he announced with solemn thankful
ness. There are no managers here"
Seventy-two actors reformed Immediate
~. And since no show would be a
success unless everybody got their name
/ in the paper, let ii be said here that
! Bernard Randall was boss Of the revel
and the following men appeared on the
I program or were due to appear before
dawn:
/ Thaddeus Grey, Vincent Coleman,
James McDuff, Richard r. Rainier, Ed
ward Reese. Charles T.. Delany
Barry McCullum, George Trimble. Leslie
King, Leslie Hunt Franklin Hanna,
Frederick Vettle. Samuel Siegel, Mario
Majeroni. Jack Rollins, Henry Travers.
| Walter Catlett, Bert Levy, Andrew
Tombes, Edward Butler. Morgan Wal
| lace, Francis Joyner. Norval Keedwell.
Walter Jones. Percy Holton. Richard
Carlyle, Philip Bishop, Michael Rale and
| William Corbett.
Also Otto Kruger, Joe Marba, johnny
Ballas. Leo Curley. Louis Fierce, Capt.