September 6, 2008 by WW.

Anita Page started in New York doing BG, but got her break and made the most of it at MGM. She appeared alongside Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford and Buster Keaton. In 1928 she and Crawford did the Charleston in “Our Dancing Daughters” - Page playing the doomed bad girl - both became instant stars.

The last of the silent movie stars passed away at her home in Los Angeles this morning, at age 98.

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September 6, 2008 by Editor.

Steve Diamond’s thoughts on how to break the TV-Theatrical impasse.

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September 6, 2008 by Editor.

Last night we told you about Dan Gilvezan, the one independent candidate for the Hollywood Board who showed up for Jonathan Handel’s interview series who stood well above the rest. While all the candidates deserve our thanks, there were three others among the group of nine who deserve special attention.

If Gilvezan (#20 on the ballot) represents the best of the moderates, by far the strongest of the hard line anti-merger independent candidates would be Mark Carlton (#58). Carlton, who has run previously on the Membership First slate and has served on negotiating committees, hasn’t abandoned the group’s goals.

Carlton was sharply critical of the previous negotiating committees, which, he said, negotiated downward with themselves, rather than submitting proposals and bargaining with the producers. An advocate of threatening strikes, if not going out on strike, Carlton said the only power actors have is to withhold their services, and that the current board made a mistake by not seeking a strike authorization before the TV-Theatrical negotiations began. “It used to be automatic,” Carlton said.

His view of the current situation, “The basic core of our system that we have worked under is at dire threat. We have got to maintain our residuals. we have to get money from dollar one in every platform and distribution.”

Though he’s strong as a hard liner, Carlton loses points is with comments like, “I’ve never understood New York. They’re affected differently by contracts than we are. If I were an actor I’d defer to Hollywood.”

Well, he is an actor, but seems not to understand that others outside of Hollywood are actors, too, and there’s zero chance of the RBD or New York “deferring to Hollywood.”

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Another moderate deserving special mention is Susan Boyd Joyce (#12), who, like Morgan Fairchild, is endorsed by Unite for Strength, though she’s not running on their slate. Susan has served several terms on the SAG board, and also is active in AFTRA’s leadership.

Proudly pro-merger, Susan served on the committee that drafted the 2003 merger proposal. She says SAG should remember that it represents more than actors, and that singers, stunt performers and dancers work under the contracts and deserve allocated representation on SAG’s boards.

Demonstrating a level-headed approach to SAG’s problems, she said, “the first thing SAG needs to do is mend its own fences.”What I disagree with is the tendency to make this about AFTRA, we have to fix SAG. At the moment SAG is undercutting AFTRA - that’s the way it goes.”

Presumably refering to Membership First, she said, “There’s a lot of aggressive ignorance going around.”

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Perhaps the saddest story among the candidates comes from Rico Bueno, (#27). A Vietnam Veteran who says he has cancer, Bueno is anti-merger and hard line, and his interview was not particularly articulate nor did it show any suggestion of new ideas or solutoins.

But the real message in Bueno’s candidacy comes out when he speaks of trying to work - and getting BG work - despite his illness, something he says he does to protect himself from losing his SAG pension, presumably due to the Pension Plan’s break in service rules.

We wouldn’t support his canididacy, but note the problem he represents among older actors.

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The other five candidates who appeared:

Scott Tracy Griffin (#83) - a member of SAG for five years, surprisingly, he called himself a “hobbyist” earlier in his career, apparently because he had a day job.

John Tremaine (#45) - anti-merger, he sounds like he needs better writers, getting lost in questions, and suggesting that SAG’s negotiators will do fine, because “they have more experience than the AMPTP.”

Dwayne Williams (#22) - is a background actor and former Membership First supporter who used his time to talk about his work with the Hollywood Hosts committee. “I know nothing about Unite for Strength,” he said, and brought up the Enron hearings when speaking of merger.

Lanie Miller (#7) - said her husband works the contracts. She’s had experience working for the IATSE.

Damara Reilly (#10) - is a former child actress who says she wants to represent elder actors. On the negotiations she said, “I believe Membership First is not doing such a bad job from all I know,” but added that Unite for Strength “also has some good platforms.”

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