Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324         Page 338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354355 of 592

information, fill it out.” Anything we did we were beginning to keep lists of people, to simplify our ability to get to people.

When we were thinking of Bread and Roses, I came up with the idea -- and it seemed like a natural to me. I knew that we could not have theater programming on a large scale if it was going to be dependent upon selling tickets. I just couldn't do it on that kind of consistency of program. So I came up with the idea of, “Look, we are uniquely situated. We have auditoriums in hospitals.” I devised the idea that Bread and Roses was bringing the arts and humanities to hospital workers directly at the work place, in their union community and where they lived. 1199 Plaza, we had some members there. So it was like a rounded out program. We're bringing the arts to the people. The advantages are obvious. You don't have to sell tickets in the hospital because you can't sell tickets in the hospital. The program in the hospital is available free to members, staffs, patients, etcetera. That concept worked. It was a stroke of luck -- I don't want to call it genius. It was a very good move. Most unions can't do that.

Most other work places don't have auditoriums.

Work places don't have auditoriums -- I'll explain the problems that are involved.

We do a program, say that we wrote in. We want to do a different program every three months, to tour the hospitals. We want to tour the hospitals for five weeks. So that in five weeks you're going to hit five places a week, twenty-five places. Some places we went six weeks. Twice a day, early and late lunch. But in addition to that, you're only going to cover thirty, thirty-five hospitals, and they're going to be large places. What about the people who are not going to be covered? Can't cover them all, but okay. “We're going to do concerts at the union headquarters.” So we would do Friday evening theater 1199 programs, concerts. We would do a series of three, and another series of three. Not the same program, but Billy Taylor, Odetta, Sam Levenson -- different kind of programs. What is his name? Off hand I can't remember. But that would be open to the union members generally, plus we were getting p.r. on the thing. I was always able to get through Dick Shepard -- who still is doing the Going Out Guide at the New York Times -- to insert, we had a concert with Pete Seeger or with so and so, whoever it was. That night in the Going Out Guide, that day, would say it, “Bread and Roses program. For more information call the union.” We begin to get people who read the Times calling up to come to these programs, too. So we were