Mr. George Robey and Equity Nobody who knows anything about
Mr. George Robey will suppose that his refusal to join the British Actors' Equity Association is due to lack of public spirit or sympathy with his fellow artists. The position is far from simple. There is no community of workers whom it has been more difficult to bring together into an effective organisation than those whose work is in the theatre, and there is none whose weaker members are more in need of protection against exploitation. But uncmploy-- merit among actors and variety artists has never perhaps been more serious than it is now, and it is undoubtedly aggravated by the fact that managers, especially those contemplating tours in the provinces, are increasingly unwilling to take risks when handicapped, as they some- times feel themselves to be, by stringent trade union rules. There is great need for strict conditions to protect artists, yet it is the fact that they have had the effect of diminishing employment. Mr. Robey's view may not be the long one, but it is at least intelligible.
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