Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, A. L. Erlanger, Marc Klaw, Samuel F. Nirdlinger (Nixon), and Frederick Zimmerman met for lunch at the Holland House in New York City in the early months of 1896.
The men had united all of the theatres they owned or represented into a national network within weeks of their lunch meeting, marking the commencement of the Theatrical Syndicate.
Theatre companies in America thrived through touring in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
The Syndicate just required key theatres between the big touring cities to gain control of the situation.
Through Frohman they would also have control or be actively managing lead actors, such as, William Gillette, John Drew, Annie Russell, Maude Adams, Henry Miller, and many more.
"They determined that its only economic hope was in a centralization of booking interests, and they acted promptly on this decision," he says, after addressing the developing turmoil in the theatre sector.
Due to fierce competition, smaller travel companies found themselves in debt.
Nat Goodwin, Francis Wilson, and Richard Mansfield were among the most notable actors to speak out.
The conflict, however, was cut short when Nat Goodwin, the rebellion's original leader, was "caught" by the Syndicate.
Wilson was offered fifty thousand dollars for a half interest in his business, which he accepted.
Sam was in charge of theatres in Utica, Rochester, Syracuse, New York City, and Troy by the age of twenty-one.
The Shubert brothers took advantage of this by following the Syndicate to specific cities and conducting similar but higher-quality work there.