Arthur Vinton #12

Career worries and doubts were no strangers to the Guild founders. The last week of May, 1932, found Arthur Vinton on a train to Hollywood with the Broadway company of "Whistling in the Dark." Approaching Los Angeles, Vinton shared thoughts with fellow cast-member, the charismatic Edward Arnold: "Eddie, I'd like to feel about myself the way I feel about you. You're going to bowl them over." Vinton was correct: Arnold went on to a sensational movie career. Vinton's remained more modest. Upon the Guild's founding, Vinton chaired the membership committee and reminded his fellow-Guilders if they "contact actors or actresses who are important, or semi-important, I will be very glad to arrange a get-together at Ralph Morgan's home." Vinton's tenacity was so effective that he was the first member to get the entire cast of a film to join the Guild. Two days later, on November 6, 1933, Guild Secretary Kenneth Thomson dashed off an eager note to him: "Dear Arthur-I have just been informed that Fay Wray is on Stage 12 at Universal, and that she wants to join the Guild...so do your stuff!" He did, and Fay Wray became the Guild's 1,475th member.