Well, the Ol’ Dog finally got around to reading the classy 75th Anniversary edition of the Screen Actor Magazine, and imagine my pleasant surprise when I found the pristine foldout (suitable for framing) photo of our Screen Actor Guild Founders.
They were a gutsy group that took on “the powers that be” at that time, in order to form our guild. Unlike today, where there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of employers, (SAG currently has 500 hundred Indies who have signed guaranteed completion contracts) back then, there were basically only seven employers Paramount, RKO, MGM, 20th, Warner’s, Universal and Columbia! You pissed off one of those studio heads, and you were on shaky ground--and if you piised off all seven, you were done in pictures.
In spite of all the odds against them, our founders pictured below prevailed. And today over a hundred thousand members of the Screen Actors Guild are benefactors of their guts, determination and vision.
All of this got me to thinking, what if these gutsy guys and gals had not been around back then--and instead, the founders of our guild, would have been those actors, who put their own careers ahead of their guild, by putting expediency before quality of contract! What if our founders had been those actors who provided compliance in place of resolve! And did it by siding with compliant producer-friendly AFTRA, in its effort to sidetrack SAG’s negotiations to get a fair contract. A contract, unlike AFTRA's, because it would not just benefit producers, but actors as well.
Yes, what would a photograph of our founders look like, if these go-along-to-get-along, and fence setting members, had been around back then, when pressure was being applied by the studios that the guild be subservient to the “Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences," at that time, the producers company union.
It’s not a pretty picture.
The Founders of PUD "The Producers Union Detail"
"A detail of actors dedicated to doing whatever we’re told and taking whatever we are given!"
Well, thank God, these actors were not our founders, and thank God, we still have high profile members like Sean Penn, Jack Nicholson, and others who still, 75 years later, maintain the spirit, vision, and fortitude of our founders.
Now, if we could, only, get more of them to come forward and stand up for the greatest actors guild in the world…before it’s too late.
A.L. Miller SW Editor & Chief 
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What if THEY had been our guild founders?
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