Freedman Forum Opening : Pickets Try to Upstage Festivities at Theater

Freedman Forum, the 2,300-seat theater-in-the-round in downtown Anaheim, had its long-awaited official opening Tuesday night, with a band of union pickets attempting to steal attention from pre-show festivities.

About 50 pickets from the Orange County-based stage workers’ union walked the sidewalks as customers arrived to see the musical “42nd Street” and watch a ribbon-cutting ceremony that featured old-time musical star Ruby Keeler.

Picket leader Wayne Brandt of Anaheim-based Local 504 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said: “We want to tell our story directly to the customers about how the Freedman people have refused to talk to us. They won’t even give us the time of day.”

But theatergoers, who included government and civic leaders invited for the opening, paid more attention to Keeler than to the union demonstration.

Freedman Forum has hired 40 performers who are members of Actors’ Equity Assn., but until Tuesday it had contracts with neither the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees nor the Musicians’ Assn.

Tuesday night, however, spokesmen for both Freedman Forum and the Musicians’ Assn. said they had reached agreement on a contract to cover the show’s 16-member orchestra, leaving only the stage workers’ union without a contract.

Spokesmen for the Musicians’ Assn. and the stage workers’ union had contended that many of those hired for the Forum’s “42nd Street” production were being paid below union standards.

The show’s producer-director, Phillip Randall, confirmed that “apprentice-level” people, including high school students, have been hired for some backstage jobs. He refused to discuss what the Forum was paying show personnel.

The contract signed Tuesday night calls for $78 per performance for an orchestra member, compared to the $65 previously paid, Douglas Sawtelle, president of Santa Ana-based Local 7 of the Musicians’ Assn., said.

Brandt said the Forum management has not been in contact with his union since October. His union’s scale is $15 to $20 an hour--substantially higher, Brandt asserted, than Forum stage workers now are paid.

“It’s all a sign of a drastically reduced vision for this theater. They may be cutting costs, but they’re also cutting quality,” said Brandt, Local 504’s business representative.

Of the musicians’ contract, he said: “We’re a little peeved at being left in the lurch.”

The $8-million Freedman Forum next to Anaheim City Hall was built by Leo Freedman, who was the owner of Melodyland, the 3,270-seat Anaheim theater-in-the-round that offered musicals and headliner acts for six years until it was closed in 1968.

Besides “42nd Street,” which is scheduled to run four weeks, the only Freedman Forum booking thus far has been singer John Davidson, who gave a “preview opening” concert Dec. 31.

At Tuesday night’s official opening, the appearance of the 75-year-old Ruby Keeler was a nostalgic touch. Keeler, a former longtime resident of Corona del Mar who now lives in Palm Springs, starred in Warner Bros.’ original 1933 movie version of “42nd Street.”

She was there not only to see yet another “42nd Street” revival but also to see one of the featured performers in the Freedman Forum version--her daughter-in-law, Gwen Hillier Lowe.