The Waldorf Conference • A Play

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Cast of Characters

The Waldorf Astoria Hotel
The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

Waldorf Conference Participants

The names are known of the 48 men who attend the Waldorf meeting; they were printed in the Motion Picture Herald and Daily Variety, the industry's main trade papers, the day after it was held.

Many of them are faceless executives—lawyers, vice presidents—whose functions have been lost to time and anonymity. Some work with the industry's lobbying groups, Motion Picture Producers Association (MPPA) and Association of Motion Picture Producers (AMPP) , the forerunners to today's Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). There are some notable independent producers among them.

And many are the colorful, profane dynamos who built Hollywood and are prepared to do anything to keep their domain intact. The twelve major players are characters in "The Waldorf Conference" but among the others are:

Maurice Benjamin
Attorney, MPPA
Nate Blumberg
Co-President, Universal-International Pictures
Edward T. Cheyfitz
assistant to Eric Johnston, AMPP, MPAA
Jack Cohn
VP Finances, Columbia Pictures
J. Cheever Cowdin, Sr.
Co-President, Universal-International Pictures
Ned Depinet
Producer, RKO
Y. Frank Freeman
VP, Paramount
Herbert Freston
Lawyer
Henry Ginsberg
VP, Paramount
James Grainger
VP, RKO
Earle Wooldridge (E. W.) Hammons
Founder, Educational Pictures, MPAA
Lt. Col. Francis S. Harmon
Assistant to Will H. Hays
William Levy
Supervisor of International Sales and Distribution for Disney
Eddie Mannix
Chief of Operations, MGM
Paul V. McNutt
Counsel, MPAA
James Mulvey
President of Samuel Goldwyn Co.
Donald M. Nelson
President, Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers
Joyce O'Hara
Assistant to Eric Johnston, AMPP, MPAA
J. Robert Rubin
Lawyer
Joseph M. Schenck
Producer
Abe Schneider
VP, financial affairs, Columbia Pictures
Sidney Schreiber
Legal Counsel for MPAA
Charles Shlaifer
Chief of Ad-Pub for 20th Century-Fox
Nate Spingold
VP of Columbia Pictures
Paul Terry
Animation producer
Steve Trilling
VP, Warner Bros
Walter Wanger
Independent producer
Alfred Wright
Lawyer, 20th Century-Fox.
Gordon Youngman
Lawyer, RKO

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