Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T08:36:13.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

American Theatre Versus the Congress of the United States: The Theatre Tax Controversy and Public Rebellion of 1919

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Ronald H. Wainscott
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

For eight days in January 1919 the theatre industry was at war with the U.S. Congress, a nationwide event surprisingly overlooked in previous theatre history. Theatre management and its host of workers joined with the public to wage a well-orchestrated campaign in the newspapers and mail, in the theatres and on the streets to stop what was perceived as a gross injustice to the American theatre and its paying audience.

When the United States Congress was framing a six billion dollar tax revenue bill to recover exorbitant war costs from the first world war, it attempted to slip in a new tax which would raise theatre admissions by ten per cent in order to return between seventy-five and eighty-one million dollars to the government. The original bill levied a twenty per cent tax on all tickets of admission above thirty cents (thus most movie houses were exempt). In addition box seat holders at theatres and the opera were to be taxed twenty-five per cent.

Type
Research Article
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , May 1990 , pp. 5 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 “Admission Tax Up to 20 Per Cent,” Variety, 17 01 1919, 7Google Scholar; “Kitchin Fights for profits Taxes,” New York Times, 17 01 1919, 5Google Scholar.

2 H.R. 12863 [Report No. 767], “A Bill to Provide Revenue, and for Other Purposes,”Bills and Reports of the U.S. Congress, Library of Congress,3 September 1918,122–124.Google Scholar

3 “The Year in Legitimate,” Variety, 27 12 1918, 14Google Scholar.

4 “Broadway and Mr. Kitchin,” The World, 17 01 1919, 10Google Scholar.

5 “Protests Flood Washington Killing 20% Tax Increase,” Variety, 24 01 1919, 18Google Scholar.

6 H.R. 12863, “An Act to Provide Revenue, and for Other Purposes,”Bills and Reports of the U.S. Congress, Library of Congress,6 December 1918,188–191.Google Scholar

7 “Revenue Bill's Clauses,” Variety, 3 01 1919, 7Google Scholar.

8 “Kitchin,” New York Times, 17 01 1919, 5Google Scholar.

9 The Congressional Record, 65th Congress, February 1919, 3015.

10 Representative Moore, The Congressional Record, 65th Congress, February 1919, 3017.

11 “Specs Organize to Fight Constitutionality of Law,” Variety, 10 01 1919, 12Google Scholar.

12 “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 16 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

13 “Stage Interests Raise $200,000,000 for Nation,” Morning Telegraph, 19 01 1919, 5Google Scholar.

14 “Stage Interests,” 5.

15 “Theatre Men Object to Proposed Tax,“ New York Evening Post, 16 01 1919, 4Google Scholar.

16 “All-Comedy Week Invites War Tax at Current Rates,” Washington Post, 19 January 1919, sec. 2, 9.

17 “Theatre Men Object to Proposed Tax,” New York Evening Post, 16 01 1919, 4Google Scholar.

18 “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 16 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

19 “Invoke President on Theatre Taxes,” New York Times, 16 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

20 “Theatre,” Evening Post, 16 01 1919, 4Google Scholar.

21 “Invoke,” New York Times, 16 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

22 “Invoke,” New York Times, 16 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

23 “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 16 01 1919, 1–2Google Scholar; “Double Tax Their Doom, Theatre Managers Assert,” New York Herald, 16 01 1919, part 2, 7Google Scholar.

24 “The Tax on Theatregoers,” New York Herald, 16 01 1919, 10Google Scholar.

25 “Overtaxing the Theatre,” New York Globe, 17 01 1919, 14Google Scholar.

26 “The Double Tax on Theatre Tickets,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 18 01 1919, 6Google Scholar.

27 “Double,“ New York Herald, 16 01 1919, 7Google Scholar.

28 Wolf, Rennold, “Marc Klaw Rebukes Government for Additional Theatre Tax,” The Morning Telegraph, 16 01 1919, 4Google Scholar.

29 “Invoke,“ New York times, 16 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

30 “Theatre Managers Fight 20 Cent Tax,” The Sun, 17 01 1919, 7Google Scholar.

31 “Theatres Fight War Tax Raise,” New York American, 17 01 1919, 10Google Scholar.

32 “Theatre Men Fight War Tax Increase,” The World, 17 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

33 “Start Fight on Increased Tax in 500 Theatres,” The Morning Telegraph, 17 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

34 “Theatres Begin Fight on New Tax,” New York Evening Journal, 17 01 1919, 10Google Scholar.

35 “Thousands Sign Theatre Tax Plea,” New York Times, 17 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

36 “Start,” Morning Telegraph, 17 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

37 “Theatres Fight War Tax Raise,” New York American, 17 01 1919, 10Google Scholar.

38 “Thousands,” New York Times, 17 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

39 “Public Protest, Managerial Tact and the Newspapers Saved Theatres in Crisis,” New York Herald, 26 01 1919, part 3, 9Google Scholar; “Theatre,” World, 17 01 1919, 11Google Scholar.

40 “Protests Flood Washington Killing 20% Tax Increase,” Variety, January 24, 1919, p. 6Google Scholar.

41 “Showmen Plan National Fight on Tax Boost,” New York Tribune, 18 01 1919, 16Google Scholar.

42 “Theatre Men Cable Appeal to Wilson,” New York Evening Post, 18 01 1919, 9Google Scholar.

43 “Showmen,” New York Tribune, 18 01 1919, 16Google Scholar.

44 “Send Theatre Tax Appeal to Wilson,” New York Times, 18 01 1919, 9Google Scholar.

45 “Showmen,“ New York Tribune, 18 01 1919, 16Google Scholar.

46 “Entire Nation Protests Theatre Tax Increase,” Morning Telegraph, 18 01 1919, 1Google Scholar; “Showmen,” New York Tribune, 18 01 1919, 16Google Scholar.

47 “Conferees at Odds Over Profits Taxes,” New York Times, 18 01 1919, 13Google Scholar.

48 “Protests Showed Theatres' Power,” Morning Telegraph, 27 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

49 “1,500,000 Sign Protest of Tax; One State Acts,” Morning Telegraph, 19 01 1919, 1Google Scholar; “Mr. Kitchin Chief Champion of the Double Theatre Tax,” New York Herald, 19 01 1919, part 1, p. 14Google Scholar.

50 “All-Comedy Week Invites War Tax at Current Rates,” Washington Post, 19 January 1919, sec. 2, p. 9.

51 Broun, Heywood, “Protest Against Law Which Threatens Drama,” New York Tribune, 19 01 1919, part 5, p. 2Google Scholar.

52 “Exacting a Pound of Flesh That Lies Very Near the Heart,” New York Tribune, 19 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

53 “Stage World Sees Ruin in Proposed Tax,” New York Tribune, 19 01 1919, 6Google Scholar.

54 “Say Theatre Tax Will Take Work from 1,000,000,” New York Herald, 20 01 1919, part 2, p. 6Google Scholar.

55 “3,000,000 Oppose Theatre Tax Jump,” Sun, 20 01 1919, 7Google Scholar.

56 “60 Per Cent of Theatres Face Ruin, Says Gest,” New York Tribune, 20 01 1919, 14Google Scholar.

57 “3,000,000 Protest High Theatre Tax,” New York Times, 20 01 1919, 13Google Scholar.

58 “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 21 01 1919, 2Google Scholar.

59 “250,000 Soldiers and Sailors Join in Tax Protest,” Morning Telegraph, 20 01 1919, 2Google Scholar.

60 “3,000,000,” Sun, 20 01 1919, 7Google Scholar.

61 Ibid.

62 “Managers Halt New Show Plans; 60,000 Affected,” Morning Telegraph, 21 01 1919, 1Google Scholar; “Tax Bill Stops 71 New Shows, Say Managers,” New York Tribune, 21 01 1919, 14Google Scholar; “May Drop 75 New Plays,“ Sun, 21 01 1919, 7Google Scholar.

63 “Protest on Theatre Tax,” New York Times, 21 01 1919, 15Google Scholar.

64 “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 21 01 1919, 2Google Scholar.

65 “Canvass Shows Ticket Tax Will Not Be Raised,” Morning Telegraph, 21 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

66 “Tax,” New York Tribune, 21 01 1919, 14Google Scholar.

67 “Managers See Victory Ahead in Fight on Tax,” Morning Telegraph, 22 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

68 “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 22 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

69 “Senator Jas. A. Reed Finds Theatre Tax Conditions Favorable,” New York American, 22 01 1919, 6Google Scholar.

70 “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 22 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

71 “To Stop Theatre Tax Fight,” New York Times, 22 01 1919, 9Google Scholar; “Six Million in Theatre Tax Protest,” New York Evening Journal, 22 01 1919, 18Google Scholar; “Managers,” Morning Telegraph, 22 01 1919, 2Google Scholar.

72 “Theatres Win Fight Against Tax Increase,” New York Tribune, 23 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

73 “Drop Tax Increase on Theatres,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 22 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

74 “Congress Yields to Demand to Kill New Theatre Tax,” Morning Telegraph, 23 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

75 “Theatre Tax Not Raised,” New York Herald, 23 01 1919, part 2, 6Google Scholar; “Congress,” Morning Telegraph, 23 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.

76 “Old Tax Restored on Show Tickets,” Washington Post, 23 01 1919, 3Google Scholar.

77 Congressional Record, 65th Congress, 8 February 1919, 3007.

78 Congressional Record, 65th Congress, 3rd Session, 25 February 1919, 4245.

79 “Theater Managers Win Fight Against Tax of 20 Per Cent,” New York Call, 23 01 1919, 3Google Scholar.

80 “Old,” Washington Post, 23 01 1919, 3Google Scholar.

81 “Protests Flood Washington Killing 20% Tax Increase,” Variety, 24 01 1919, 6Google Scholar.

82 “Public Protest, Managerial Tact and the Newspapers Saved Theatres in Crisis,” New york Herald, 26 01 1919, 9Google Scholar.

83 “Entire,” Morning Telegraph, 18 01 1919, 2Google Scholar.

84 “Protests Showed Theatres' Power,” Morning Telegraph, 27 01 1919, 1Google Scholar.