The Failing System
by Paul Petersen

The following was extracted from an article written by Paul Petersen concerning the education of child actors. It explains the history of the situation and how a system designed to protect the children has come to be a major part of the problem.

There are those who have asked what type of hard statistics exist for the claim of harm done to children in Entertainment. As a result of the recent Conference (Webmaster's note: The full text of the Conference report is available on this site), the first ever scientific survey of former child stars is now underway. This is being done by Wayne State University under the direction of Dr. Lisa Rapport of the Psychology Department. It is hoped that the results will properly address some of the issues about the relationship between professional experience and psychological well being. While we are awaiting the results of the study, however, the anecdotal evidence remains quite compelling.

The "education" of the professional staff at Screen Actors Guild was something to see. Many of these "insiders" had no idea of the problems facing young performers, and to see twenty-five year veterans of the Guild with tears in their eyes as we revealed these structural impediments and sought solutions was heartening. When I tell people we are winning this fight, I mean it. Education is the key!

Some Names:

• Dick Moore's Book, "Twinkle, Twinkle"
• Lauren Chapin's Book, "Father Always Knows Best"
• Tai Babalonia's Book
• Cathy Rigby's Book
• Greg Louganis' Book, "Breaking the Surface"
• Shirley Temple's Book, "Child Star"
• Mine, "Walt, Mickey and Me"
• Patty Duke's "Call Me Anna"

Early education in Hollywood was a haphazard affair. There were, literally, no guidelines and the early studios didn't have an Education Department as they would in the 30's.

The Los Angeles Unified School District became involved by default when the need for Studio Teachers manifested itself. Interestingly, the dual credential requirement was almost an after-thought as the reality of kids' age range became obvious, particularly at MGM. Those early teachers were extraordinary, given enormous power by the State and the LAUSD, and further empowered by the famous (or infamous) movie moguls of the day. Work rules were gradually developed, even though the 1938 "exemption from national Child Labor Laws" granted in the Fair Labor Standards Act of that year (sometimes referred to as the "Newsie" exemption since paper carriers were also exempted. The paperboys represented an enormous slice of the child labor pool in that era; crucial to the delivery of the newspapers that provided the foundation for empire builders like Hearst and the Chandler Family).

You did not lightly cross a Studio Teacher in the heyday of kid actors, 1930 to 1940. They could and would appear on a set where someone had used foul language or berated a child and with a quiet word all was set right. At my studio everyone knew, from the highest to the lowest, that Dr. Lillian Barkley had absolute authority (and access) thanks to Harry Cohn, the penultimate mogul and the pivotal figure of King Cohn (and the studio owner in "The Godfather").

A corp of teachers grew in size and influence during the Thirties, names still recognized as Giants to this day. The era of Work Permits was ushered in, the establishment of Screen Actors Guild (60 years ago) helped codify certain rules (remember, show biz was exempt so we invented the rules and the language), and of course the Coogan law was passed here in California after the public debacle of Coogan's parents (mostly his father) squandering his fortune. Coogan's dad was a failed actor who quite enjoyed letting his kid do the work. Coogan Senior died the year the Coogan law was enacted in most curious circumstances. He had told the Superior Court that there was no money. "No money at all," yet he died in a Pierce Arrow coming back to Los Angeles from the Del Mar Race Track. You might know that a Pierce Arrow was the equal of a Rolls Royce in those days.

Before Coogan, there was Mary Pickford (a teenager when her Star was Born) and the Gish sisters who started work in the Nineteen Teens and became powerhouses. Pickford was an earthy little angel who swore like a sailor, drank like a fish, but had the image as America's Sweetheart. Ahhh, Hollywood! We invented and perfected public relations.

By the time Liz Taylor and Roddy McDowell came around, the laws surrounding children were in place and (perhaps I'm too soft here) working well. Remember, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland had, despite all the favorable press, been desperately abused by the system. Judy's life-long addictions began at MGM, and Rooney's departure from reality also started in the 30's. Rooney rightly states, "At nineteen I was the biggest star in the world, and at forty this Industry wouldn't give me a job." This when he accepted his Emmy for "Bill."

Trouble of another sort was brewing for Margaret O'Brien and the ill-fated Bobby Driscoll Both won Special Oscars in 1949. They were pure products of Hollywood, rising on the shoulders of those who came before. The System ... the Star Making Machine was well entrenched by this time. Kid Stars had "saved Hollywood" (that happens to be true) and in the old Studio System they were totally protected from outside forces ... and themselves.

The pool of Studio Teachers worked mostly out of Studio Departments, assigned by the LAUSD, and supervised by woman (all women) who honestly knew not only their educational business, but the studio business as well ... as in where the dangers were, how character portrayals could affect children...whose interests the parents were really serving...and the usual shenanigans of what are, after all, children.

And special children they were. At or near the top of their class when they entered the Business, gifted emotionally, small in stature (a decided advantage - but only until adolescence ends) and possessed of those kinds of verbal skills that can mask impending troubles.

Remember: A child actor makes a living lying about his feelings and speaking other people's words. That's dangerous!

As with any system and any institution, the cracks began to appear as the whole system matured. People (studios, new teachers, stage-parents and the Industry generally) learned to manipulate the System. Work before the Work Permit process was actually intimidating (How well I know since my first was dispensed in 1955). Over the next twenty years the system degenerated to such an extent that the LAUSD threw in the towel. It's teachers had been compromised, the rules were routinely disregarded (violations were just never reported) and frankly, those folks down on Grand Avenue in Los Angeles Unified headquarters had had enough. Teacher credentialling was shifted over to the Labor Department which knew  nothing  about teachers, let alone the movie business. The deterioration of the Studio Teacher's union (Local 884) began at this point in time. The twin evils of union business which must now be reversed ... closed shops and closed membership ... reared their ugly heads.

In 1986 the "Twilight Zone" tragedy illuminated just how far we'd slipped. With everyone turning the other way, two immigrant children where hired illegally, made to work illegal hours (kids can't work past 12:30am) midst explosions and directly beneath a helicopter. When the choppers tail rotor was blasted off because it dropped too low, the copter dropped down on Vic Morrow and decapitated not only Vic but the two children he was carrying.

Incidentally, but for the minor guilty verdicts of no work permits and illegal hours, no one was found guilty of anything substantial. Steven Spielberg went on with his life and career. John Landis paid a minor fine and went on directing.

But the two people who testified for the prosecution, the helicopter pilot and the special effects man, have not worked since! Hollywood is a tough town. Blacklisting is as real now as it was in the 50's ... only this time it is the liberal left doing the Blacklisting and acting holier than thou. The sole changes to the law that matter is that kids can no longer work around whirling helicopter blades. How lame!

Also in 1986 the labor Department softened its stand on duel credentials and started "accepting" single teachers with no experience in the movie business at all. There are now in California some 700 teachers authorized to work on movie and television sets. Guess what has happened to the standards?

Of course. The tests are a joke and credentials are as easy as pie to obtain.

There was also a softening of the work rules ... with Labor expecting the Teachers (who had all the authority in the world granted to them by the State) to uphold fair labor standards in terms of work hours and education. Little did Labor understand the pressures Teachers were under,

Violations became so commonplace over the next ten years that we who belong to "A Minor Consideration" (all former kid stars who have been there), 349 as of this writing, returned in our fury to the Guild to take up the challenge of saving a sinking ship.

Our access to the media ... added to the fact that we lived the life and know the lie when we hear it ... has given us a great deal of clout. Folks in this Industry live in fear of what we'll say not only in meetings but on shows like Oprah. As I said, we're winning.

Waivers of the work rules (with or without courtesy payments to labor officials) became commonplace. Kids who could not be paid overtime were working overtime nonetheless and the Guild never knew it. Mind you, this was in California which has the most progressive child labor laws for entertainment in the world.

Where before only the best and the brightest children were in the business we were suddenly inundated with children with no training and no experience ... with little solid education but all the ambition in the world ... and they entered a business that had learned to bend the rules. It was and is worse elsewhere in this country ... not to mention internationally.

Production companies are now routinely told to "Come to our State with your movie because we have no Child labor Laws."

Shameful.

Here's the bottom-line. Until we former kid stars from "A Minor consideration" reentered the fray no kid had lost a work permit in thirty years. no teacher had lost his or her credential, and no company had ever lost (to this day) its very important "Certificate of Eligibility to Employ Minors."

Premature infants were hired to play newborns, twins were treated as One instead of sustaining their individual adherence to published work rules, teachers accepted "considerations" to not report violations, and Labor was instructed to "help" this 17 BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS.

And curiously, what we used to take for granted, that work in the Industry was worthwhile, came under assault. There are no provisions for an "excused absence" in our Educational Codes when it comes to studio work. Some schools refuse to accept the work done by kids in the business because they know the teachers that give the grades on the sets are incompetent. ADA funds are withheld when a kid works.

And the whole process of banking hours, testing children, passing uniform work permit standards has come to grief.

How poisonous is it?

Edward Furlong at fifteen ends up sleeping with his studio paid teacher, Jackie Domac who, at thirty years old, was not only married, licensed by the State, and paid by the Studio, but accompanied him across State lines to do a picture in New York in direct violation of the Mann Act and neither the District Attorney in New York or Los Angeles would file charges!

That's how rotten it's become.

Self-esteem and outcome based education affect us here, too. Home schooling is used as an excuse to call a holiday so the kid can work more. And the terms of Emancipation are thrown around like confetti.

It is beyond sick.

Well, we're going to fix it from the Babies up.

This is just the beginning.