Copyright © 2020 by Wendy Waszut-Barrett
In 1918, Thomas G. Moses wrote, “September 1st, I resigned as President of the Sosman and Landis Company which severs my connection with the firm after thirty-eight years of service. I joined the New York Studios and expect to get a studio and an office to do business.”
Quick recap about New York Studios: Former Sosman & Landis secretary and treasurer, David H. Hunt, established New York Studios in 1910. The firm was intended to be an eastern affiliate of Sosman & Landis. Remember that Sosman & Landis established Kansas City Scenic Co. as a regional branch in the nineteenth century. However, the relationship between the two studios became strained after Moses became president of Sosman & Landis. Moss and Hunt had never really got along well, so I was quite surprised that Moses left Sosman & Landis to work at New York Studios in 1918. It must have been quite bad for Moses at Sosman & Landis for him to pull the plug after thirty-eight years. One has to wonder what was going on between the studio and the stockholders, as well as the company’s finances.
Of his new job, Moses wrote, “Marshall of the New York Studios and I had to hustle out for a studio. Got an office in the Consumers Building. I did two borders for the Chateau Theatre at the old place. We tried very hard to buy out the old place, but they want too much money. I was willing to make a big reduction on my claim, but it was no use. We have to find a studio.”
Moses was referring to Fred Marshall, a scenic artist who would later represent the United Scenic Artists’ Association of New York City. Born on March 24, 1895, in Woodridge, New Jersey. He was the son of Louisiana native, Frederick Marshal, Sr. (b. 1851), an artist who specialized in mural paintings and contemporary of Moses. WWII draft records describe the younger Marshall’s appearance as 6’-2” and 190 lbs., gray hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion.
While looking for information about Marshall, I came across three interesting finds that are worth sharing to give some context to his role in American theatre history. The first was a 1936 Columbia University doctoral thesis by Charles Lionel Franklin, A.M., entitled, “The Negro Labor Unionist of New York, Problems and Conditions among Negro in the Labor Unions in Manhattan with Special Reference to the N.R.A. and post- N.R.A. Situations.” The dissertation included interviews with Max Graft (Secretary of the U.S.A.A.) and Marshall (business representative of the U.S.A.A.). Graft was quoted as stating that the United Scenic Artists’ Association was “Organized in 1918. First it was explained that this local has jurisdiction over all workers in the Eastern United States. In its membership there were at one time two Negroes. One, a New York man who joined in 1918, dropped out in 1925. He was one of the first members. The other Negro member now in the union is a resident of Pittsburgh. In the local there are 339 members. The initiation fee is $500.00, $250.00 with application and $250. With initiation and yearly dues of $48.00.” On August 29, 1936, Marshall explained that the union’s “Membership was open to “any person who follows any branch of work within the jurisdiction of the scenic artists crafts for a livelihood.” Here is a link to the entire dissertation as it is certainly worth the read: https://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/22326/GIPE-014119-Contents.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
Marshall was also interviewed in 1937 for the Emergency Relief Appropriation Hearings before the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate Seventy-Fifth Congress, First Session on H. J. Res.361 The following is included from June 1937:
“Statement of Fred Marshall, United Scenic Artists’ Association of New York City.
Mr. Marshall: Gentlemen, I have nothing further to add to what has been said. I represent just the local in New York. We have three locals throughout the United States but I speak for New York. We had a membership of 490 in 1928, and we have some 320. We did try to discourage people from coming into the business. We closed our books and tried to discourage the schools teaching scenic designs, and so forth, as we did not see any advantage in bringing a lot of people into a business that had no future. But we did notice a pick-up since the Federal Theater started and we do dope it will be made a national institution, that the Government will make it a national theater. It is purely seasonal theater now with work for 5 months a years and the other 7 months of intermittently here and there; nut we do get about five months regular employment for all our people, and the other 7 months they do nothing; but we would like to see it become a national institution.” He spoke alongside Dorothy Bryant, Chorus Equity Association, Alfred Harding, Actors Equity Association, Fred J. Dempsey, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and David Freed, American Federation of Musicians for Emergency Relief Appropriation (page 236). They were concerned with the Woodrum amendment. Dempsey explained that of their 30,000 members, only 15,000 have work.”
Finally, in 1939 Marshall was listed as part of the Amusement Committee for the NY Worlds Fair, as the business representative for the United Scenic Artists of America, Local No. 829, 251 West Forty-second Street, NY. He was mentioned in the New York World’s Fair Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives Seventy-fifth Congress, First Session on H. J. Res. 234 and H. J. Res 304 Authorizing Federal Participation in the New York World’s Fair, 1939).
The point that I am trying to make is that Marshall was a mover and shaker in the scenic art world, but as a young man of 23 in 1918 he was walking around New York in search of a studio for Moses.
To be continued…
