This strike lasted nearly a month in the summer of 1919 in New York City. It happened for the reason that the theater industry had harsh working conditions for the actors. In 1913 a union with all the actors on Broadway was created, and with many years of negotiations that failed to gain a proper working environment. This led to them going on strike and walking out of the theaters, they held parades through the streets and did shows for the public. This all happened across Broadway as the Ziegfeld Follies were performing at the New Amsterdam Theater during this time period, which was just down the street. The strike itself was led by former Zeigfeld Follies comedian Ed Wynn, who at the time was a part of the Lambs Club, which was a social club that involved individuals within the theater industry. The Follies at the time did not participate in the strike, but I don’t believe that this means they didn’t agree with the reason why the strike was occurring. There has to be something wrong with the behind the scenes actions when they are paying these individuals lots of money to work for them but many are still leaving. In 1918 they had the highest paid showgirl in the World, Jessica Reed who was originally from Houston. The average salary for a showgirl was around one million dollars, which is a large amount of money especially back in the 1920’s. These individuals made more than enough but still continued to leave the Follies to pursue roles in other theater groups around the United States. 

Citation List

Fitzpatrick, Kevin C. “Actors Strike of 1919 and the Lambs | the Lambs, Inc.” The-Lambs.org, 6 Aug. 2019, the-lambs.org/actorsstrike1919/.

Simonson, Robert. “When Actors’ Equity Staged Its First Strike.” AMERICAN THEATRE, 1 Mar. 2013, www.americantheatre.org/2013/03/01/when-actors-equity-staged-its-first-s....