Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531556
64 SAG-AFTRA SPECIAL ISSUE 2025 / sagaf tra.org T H E S TAT U E T T E ' S G L OW- U P Prior to its current form, the Screen Actors Guild Annual Award existed in two previous iterations: a gold membership card encased in plastic blocks (this was given to Screen Actors Guild's second president Eddie Cantor in 1962) and a Steuben Glass bowl given to Stan Laurel in 1964. To commission Eddie Cantor's award in 1962, Screen Actors Guild Public Relations Director Buck Harris mailed a special gold membership card once given to Ronald Reagan to I. Magnin & Company, a high-fashion and specialty goods department store that operated a landmark branch at 3240 Wilshire Blvd. Harris included detailed instructions in his letter to the trophy maker, specifying how Reagan's card was to be replicated and that the back of the gold card should read: For Outst anding Achievement In Fostering the Finest Ideals of the Acting Profession and Advancing the Principles of Good Citizenship, The First Screen Actors Guild A nnual Award is Presented to EDDIE CA NTOR November 12, 1962 Due to ill health at the end of his life, the second Screen Actors Guild Annual Award recipient, Stan Laurel, wasn't able to attend the award ceremony at the Beverly Hilton, and the award was accepted by comedian Danny Kaye (who would win his own Annual Award in 1982). Later, however, Charlton Heston and the then-president of the union, Dana Andrews, visited Laurel at his Santa Monica apartment to deliver the honor. No one knows what eventually happened to the glass bowl. After Laurel's death, it was on display in a bank and then vanished. Charlton Heston and Stan Laurel, 1964 The letter from Screen Actors Guild Public Relations Director Buck Harris ordering the first- ever Life Achievement Award for Eddie Cantor. The plastic- encased gold membership card was modeled after the gold card given to former SAG President Ronald Reagan as thanks for his service. Eddie Cantor and SAG President George Chandler, 1962 GENE LESTER GENE LESTER SAG-AFTRA ARCHIVES