Vaudeville Managers Association

Soon afterwards the Western Vaudeville Managers Association (WVMA) was formed as a cartel of theater owners in Chicago and the west, dominated by the Orpheum Circuit.

Although rivals, the two organizations collaborated in booking acts and dealing with the performers' union, the White Rats.

The Theatrical Syndicate was formed in 1896 by Marcus Klaw, A. L. Erlanger Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, Samuel F. Nixon and Fred Zimmerman.

They called a meeting in May 1900 in Boston of most of the major vaudeville managers, including Weber & Fields, Tony Pastor, Hyde & Behman of Brooklyn, Kohl & Castle, Colonel J.D.

[8] On the positive side, performers who paid their dues gained access to the best theaters, with schedules that minimized travel distances and gaps in engagements.

[7] The theater managers continued to act independently in setting pay and competing for turf, so the main goals of the VMA were not achieved.

[5] The Western Managers Association (WMA) originated in 1903 when Meyerfield & Beck of the Orpheum arranged to provide bookings for the Sullivan & Considine theaters in the northwest.

[10] The UBO was eventually incorporated in 1906, with the stated aim of eliminating inefficiencies and making sure there was enough proven talent to meet demand.

[16] In 1913 the WVMA included over ten circuits and supplied shows to over 300 theaters, mostly in the Midwest, South and West, although it advertised national coverage.

The chains included the Orpheum, Gus Sun, Butterfield, Allardt, Theilen, Finn & Heiman and Interstate.

The WVMA imposed strict rules, as did the Keith-Albee circuit, to ensure that the shows were suitable for family audiences.

"Everything of a vulgar, suggestive, profane or sacrilegious nature is forbidden..."[17] The USA had 2,973 large and small vaudeville theaters by 1913.

[19] Almost immediately after the VMA was founded the performers responded by forming a union named the White Rats, led by the comedian George Fuller Golden.

[9] In 1910 the White Rats was granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor led by Samuel Gompers.

A hostile report of the meeting in the New York Age asked performers "Does Mr. Albee give you an equitable contract, or does he simply promise to do it?

[24] In 1916 Harry Mountford of the White Rats organized a strike against the UBO that began in Oklahoma City and then spread to Boston and New York.

It dominated big-time vaudeville, forced performers to pay excessive fees and punished union members through the blacklist.

[25] Marcus Loew, who had regional agencies for Famous Players and Universal Pictures, was seen as a co-conspirator by the government because many of the Keith theaters showed Loew-controlled films.

[25] The only result of the hearings was that the VMPA agreed to drop the requirement for a performer to belong to the NVA to obtain bookings.

"[24] In the 1920s a small hospital/lodge was built in Saranac Lake, New York, for performers ailing from tuberculosis and other respiratory ailments.

In October 1928 the consolidated Keith-Albee-Orpheum company combined with the Radio Corporation of America and the Film Booking Office.