When the Government Decided Artists Deserved to Eat

In 1935, saying "I'm an actor" often meant "I'm starving."

By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the entertainment industry had collapsed alongside everything else. Broadway saw half its theatres go dark. Vaudeville circuits shut down completely. Film studios slashed payrolls. Thousands of trained actors, directors, designers, playwrights, and technicians found themselves unemployed with no prospects.

Then, Roosevelt did something unprecedented with his Works Progress Administration. The massive jobs program employed millions building roads, bridges, and schools across the country. But Roosevelt went further. He included artists.

Harry Hopkins, FDR's advisor and architect of WPA relief programs, put it bluntly: "Hell, they've got to eat just like other people."