For Major Leaguers

To Washington, D. C. last week went Baritone Lawrence Tibbett, not to sing but to lobby. As president of American Guild of Musical Artists, Inc., Mr. Tibbett sought the ear of the House Immigration Committee. Chairman of that committee is a citizen of Manhattan's lower East Side named Samuel Dickstein, who made his political reputation framing tenement and kosher food laws. Mr. Tibbett had come to persuade Mr. Dickstein & committee that the present arrangement by which foreign musical artists are permitted to perform in the U. S. is far from kosher to the musical profession.

Under existing U. S. immigration laws, an alien artist who claims distinguished merit may obtain a U. S. visa merely by showing a contract for U. S. performances to a U. S. Consul. England is not so liberal toward foreign artists, permits them to enter for professional purposes only when there is proof that the applicant has qualifications which place him beyond competition with native artists. The French ruling is almost as stringent. Germany, Poland, Russia refuse to let alien artists take their earnings from the country. Italy bans all foreign performers save those who establish residences.

To rectify this unfavorable trade balance against U. S. talent, the Immigration Committee was considering a bill which would require all foreign actors, singers, and orchestra conductors except those of "distinguished merit," to secure special permission from the Department of Labor before being allowed to work in the U. S. The merit qualification was what brought the Guild to Washington. Also no mention had been made of solo instrumentalists and dancers. The Guild wanted to put all foreign artists through the Department of Labor's strainer. "You have taken care of those in the bush leagues," complained Tenor Charles Hackett, no bush leaguer, "but not those in the major leagues." Furthermore, to protect its members, the Guild wanted some sort of provisional reciprocal agreement between the U. S. and foreign countries put into effect instanter while Congress ponders a permanent measure.

The American Guild of Musical Artists' first public gesture apparently made a favorable impression on the Immigration Committee. Probably the only trade association ever formed on a fairway, the Guild was born when Baritones Tibbett and Frank Chapman, Gladys Swarthout's husband, went to Englewood, N. J. for a golfing holiday in 1933, spent their time talking musical politics and economy instead. Formally launched last April, the Guild has 115 charter members whose names, accustomed to appear in electric lights, include: Jascha Heifetz, Efrem Zimbalist, Alma Gluck, Lily Pons, Rosa Ponselle, Mischa Elman, Lucrezia Bori, George Gershwin, Grace Moore, Artur Bodanzky, Artur Rodzinski, Fritz Reiner, Paul Whiteman, Deems Taylor, Albert Spalding.

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