Burgess Meredith

I came out to Hollywood to do Winterset (1936), my first picture. I knew the union movement well from my days as a merchant seaman. Young people today do not realize the furor that we experienced in the early days of the Guild and Equity, of which I president. When I came to the West Coast, there was always some kind of a flurry with the studios, back then it was a little more embattled. Now it's a much more pleasant atmosphere than it was in the old rising days. Good things happened immediately after the Guild was accepted by the studios. For example, not working on Saturdays anymore! That was the most gratifying. I just think that it's settled down to what the Guild wants, the Guild gets of course, it doesn't ask for the impossible.