The New York herald., 1922-05-26
Shubert Approves
Equity's Plan for
actors Theater
Believes 1t Will Result in Ben
eft to Both Players and
Managers.

Lee Shubert expressed cordial APP
proval yesterday of the plan of the
Actors Equity Association to have an
actors theater." presenting their own
productions at the Forty-eighth Street
Theatcr next season.
II am very much in favor of the
undertaking" he said in his office. II
only wish they had more than one
actors theater. / would be willing TO
let them have a couple of my houses
This enterprise will result in bene-
fit for the manager as we'll as the actor
1t Will be touchstone that will test out
all the theories Of the relationship be-
tween manager and actor. 1t will
snow the actors. on the one hanf.
whether they can get along without the
manager, as some Of them have said.
1t will show the Equity council. on the
other nand, just what trials and hard
ships the manager has to meet in deal
ing with actors, especially with large
group of stars.
"All the varied temperaments in a
company are no easy matter to handle.
Actors have to be temperamental t
would seem, by the nature of their call
ing. They are not business men. Actors
would rather work for themselves in
dividually than for the ensemble
"Have Their own Ideas"
"Tney cut in on one another's laughs.
The star will demand that he be given
IL HxA. yxyA nIVaXG
follow the stage directors instructions.
but will put In business OF their own.
Often they won't take the parts that
are picked for them. but have their
own ideas as to what they should play.
"All this is rot by way of complaint
1T Is simply q statement or what
every producer finds daily. Playing for
a mutual undertaking by actors them
selves won't train this tendency out OF
the actors or change their nature es-
sentially.
"But do think it will give the Equity
better understanding Of the difficulties
of the producer. and thus create
much closer sympathy between the
leaders of the actors and the man.
agers."
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.. spared moment
from rehearsals Of the new 'Follies" to
say that the Actors Theater was an
enormously interesting experiment" He
didn't believe, however. that 1t would
affect the regular managers to any de-
gree worth mentioning.
"It won't cut into the revenues of the
regular producers" he said. ANY more
than it does to have one more manager
start producing. Every year new
manager springs up. stays around for
a couple of seasons and then is never
heard of again.
"Need Strong, Guiding Hand"
'I don't think from what I know Of
actors that they are likely to pull to-
gether without some. strong guiding
hand. But they may have lot of
Belascos hidden away in their ranks
we can't tell. Their success will depend
on the plays they pick and the way they
produce them.
They may produce big success and
then go booming along like anyone else
who makes a hit. Or they may have
bad shows and be forced to close. It's
all a matter of the material
cooperative organizations of actors
appear to have been so successful thus
far that all Of them have closed. Actors
may now become used to the idea Of
low salaries-they seem to have grown
accustomed to that in all their coopera-
tive productions. In a recent organiza-
ton of this kind II was stated that the
average salary received by the cast
was s26 week during The few weeks
the show ran.
"If they're not successful $4,000
won't take them very far II requires
four times that amount to present the
'Follies.'"