Lew Ayers

We were finally treated like human beings when the Guild got its contract. There was a big difference in our working conditions. Originally I played banjo and guitar with the first orchestra in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel at night and during the day I'd get some sleep then I'd go around to the studios all dressed up, stand around for fifteen minutes, then leave. I didn't know anybody, I only saw that there were doorways at the studios people were always going in and out of and they seemed to be actors. Then I had a break. I was playing the Blossom Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and asked a lady for a dance. A man stepped in and asked if I was an actor. Turns out that she was a French movie star and he was her agent. He got me a test and my first job.