Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541667
If This Boardroom Table Could Talk C urrently located at SAG-AFTRA Plaza in the Bella Bruck Conference Room, named for the late character actor and National Board member, the boardroom table has been with the union since 1956. That was the year when Screen Actors Guild moved into its fourth headquarters at 7750 Sunset Boulevard — the first building to be owned by SAG and which was designed by architect Eduardo José Samaniego, a brother of silent movie star Ramón Novarro. The table, purchased from Barker Brothers furniture, which had 15 branches in the greater Los Angeles and Bakersfield area in 1955, is pictured in a 1960 Life magazine story on the 1960 SAG theatrical strike. SAG Executive Secretary Jack Dales and SAG President Ronald Reagan were among those seated. Photos of the table and related new SAG office furniture and decorations were also published in both a 1956 issue of Architectural Digest and Pictorial California and the Pacific for a feature story on Barker Brothers and Screen Actors Guild. ABOVE : In the Bella Bruck Conference Room receiving final results of the SAG-AFTRA merger vote in 2012 are AFTRA National Executive Director Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, seated at computer; AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon and SAG President Ken Howard, seated in center. Standing, from left, SAG Secretary-Treasurer Amy Aquino, SAG National Executive Director David P. White, Deputy National Executive Director & General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG Communications Executive Director Pamela Greenwalt, SAG Governance Executive Director Michelle Bennett and AFTRA L.A. Local President Gabrielle Carteris. BELOW: Labor legend and AFL-CIO President George Meany flew in from Washington, D.C., in May 1956 for the dedication of SAG's Sunset Boulevard headquarters. FUN FACT! The boardroom table was central to the national strike war room in Los Angeles during the 2023 TV/Theatrical/Streaming strike. ABOVE: Then-SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher meets with union staff in the Bella Bruck Conference Room during the 2023 TV/Theatrical/Streaming strike. sagaftra.org | Fall/Winter 2025 | SAG-AFTRA 113