On this day in Labor History the year was 1919.
That was the day that the chorus girls of the Ziegfeld Follies formed a union.
They called their organization the Chorus Equity Association.
The Ziegfeld Follies were the hottest ticket on Broadway during the early 1900s.
The show was most famous for their chorus girls in elaborate costumes, bedecked with feathers and sparkles.
In 1919 performers on Broadway as well as Chicago were standing up for fairer wages and better treatment on the job.
The Actors Equity Association’s contract had expired, and the actors demanded a fair contract.
The producers banded together into the Producing Managers Association. Actors and producers faced off.
The actors held a meeting and decided not to go on stage unless the contract was settled.
Membership in the union swelled. Twelve shows in New York were cancelled.
When Florenz Ziegfeld, the head of the Ziegfeld Follies joined the producers’ group, the chorus girls took this a bad sign.
They decided it was time that they too joined the union movement.
A former chorus girl named Marie Dressler was elected the first union president.
The chorus girls joined the striking actors for a march down Broadway.
The Ziegfeld performers formally went on strike, and the curtain fell on the Follies.
Chicago theaters also went dark. In all, 37 productions are shut down in the two cities.
Finally, on September 7 the strike is settled and the Follies returned.
In 1955 Chorus Equity merged with the Actors Equity Association.
December 8 - The American Federation of Labor is Founded
December 7 - Strong Arming Goldminers
December 6 - Breaking Through the Racial Divide
December 5 - Striking in Solidarity
December 4 - Organizing to End Slavery
December 3 - Learning & Labor at Oberlin
December 2 - 21st Century Corporate Greed
December 1 - Standing Up for Themselves and Their Patients
November 30 - Angel of the Stockyards is Born
November 29 - The Fight for $15 & A Union
November 28 - Disaster in the Mines
November 27 - Death Trap in Newark
November 26 - The Birth of William Sylvis
November 25 - Chicago Printers Walk Off the Job
November 24 - The Hollywood Ten
November 23 - The Thibodaux Massacre
November 22 - Uprising of the 20,000
November 21 - Autoworkers Join the Postwar Strike Wave
November 20 - Birth of the Time Clock
November 19 - Joe Hill’s Final Words
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