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Variety, the Children's Charity

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"Variety Club" redirects here. For the racehorse, seeVariety Club (horse).

Variety, the Children's Charityis a charitable organization founded inPittsburgh,Pennsylvaniain 1927.

History[edit]

On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved inshow businessset up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". OnChristmas Eve1928, a small baby was left on the steps of the Sheridan Square Film Theatre, owned byJohn H. Harris,with a note reading:

Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine, named after my grandmother. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of showbusiness people and pray to God that you will look after her. Signed, a heartbroken mother.

Since efforts to trace the mother failed, the members of the Variety Club named the child Catherine Variety Sheridan after the location in which she was found, and undertook to fund the child's living expenses and education. Later the club decided to raise funds for other disadvantaged children.[1]

The discovery of the baby inspired theParamount PicturesfilmVariety Girl(1947). In May 1947, a group of members of the Variety Club of New England touredSidney Farber's lab atChildren's Hospital Boston,where Farber studiedchildhood leukemia.Farber, and the group's leader,Bill Koster,ended up founding the Children's Cancer Research Fund in order to raise money and sponsor research into forms of cancer affecting children.

The two men also foundedThe Jimmy Fund,[2]which raises money for theDana–Farber Cancer Institute.

Terminology[edit]

Given its origins in the world of show business, Variety often usescarnivalandcircusterminology. For instance, a local or national chapter of the charity is known as a "tent", and the main board of trustees and others of a particular tent are called the Crew. That is a reference to those who erected the old circus tents or, nowadays, provide the various technical experts to make a film or stage a live production. The chairman of the board is called the Chief Barker, after the man who drummed up customers at the fairground.[citation needed]

Telethons[edit]

In some localities, Variety holds fundraisingtelethonsfor the organisation.

  • Currently,Buffalo, New Yorkholds an annual Variety telethon for theWomen's and Children's Hospitalin March. The telethon has run continuously each year since 1962. The organizers claimed that this was the longest running locally produced telethon in the world,[citation needed]though theWHAS Crusade for Childrenand theGreen BayCerebral Palsy telethon onWBAY-TVboth began their runs before the Buffalo Variety telethon. EntertainerClint Holmesco-hosts the telethon; from 1994 to 2012,Art "Mr. Food" Ginsburgwas also a co-host. From 1963 to 2019,WKBW-TVcarried the telethon; it returns to its inaugural home ofWGRZin 2020 with a prime time showing, with a second telethon onWBBZ-TVthe following day.[3]
  • CHAN-DTinVancouverholds an annualShow of Heartstelethon every year, usually the second weekend of February, for the Variety organisation inBritish Columbia;what previously featured live acts among the stories and pleas to donate, the telethon now features pre-recorded concerts as entertainment, in similar fashion topledge driveson mostPBSstations.
  • CKND-TVWinnipegpresented their own annualShow of Heartsevery spring, through the early-2000s (decade).[citation needed]
  • KIRO-TVin Seattle held an annual Variety Club Telethon from 1969-1989. The last telethon took place in 1989, and the Pacific Northwest chapter closed down in 1992.
  • The Iowa Chapter of Variety has held an annual Variety Telethon since 1975. Celebrating its 44th year in 2018, the telethon is Variety – the Children's Charity of Iowa's largest fundraiser.

Variety in UK[edit]

Variety was started in the UK in 1949 with a dinner at theSavoy Hotelattended by film moguls, agents and celebrities, all eager to freely donate their time and talent to help raise funds for children. The Club's annual get-together provided a popular meeting place for England's entertainment industry.

Variety Club of Great Britain Awards[edit]

The Variety Club Showbiz Awards was one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the showbiz calendar. A list of celebrities, industry stalwarts and kingpins, as well as personalities from the fields of film, TV, comedy, theatre, Sports, pop and classical music.[4]Made by hand, in sterling silver, these awards have been presented to some of the biggest showbiz celebrities.[5]

Previous award winners include[6]Audrey Hepburn,Leslie Caron,Laurence Olivier,Alan Bates,[7]Alec Guinness,The Beatles,Maggie Smith,Anthony Hopkins,Phil Collins,Elaine Paige,Keira Knightley,Peter O'Toole,Jeremy Irons,Jude Law,Sean Connery,James McAvoy,Kenneth Brannagh,Ricky Gervais,Muhammad Ali,[8]Michael Caine,Stephen Fry,John Hurt,Alan Carr,Michael Parkinson,Helen Mirren,Ben Kingsley,Andrew Lloyd Webber,Bonnie Tyler,[9]Tom Jones,Kylie Minogue,Culture Club,Lisa Stansfield,Spandau Ballet,Judi Dench,Daniel Radcliffe,Katherine Jenkins,Sophie Ellis-Bextor,andEwan McGregor.[10][11]

Categories:[12]

  • Show Business Personality
  • Best Film Actor
  • Best Film Actress
  • Best Stage Actor
  • Best Stage Actress
  • Most Promising Newcomers
  • Television Personality
  • Independent Television Personality
  • Comedy Awards
  • Musical Theatre
  • Radio Personality
  • Best Recording Artist of the Year
  • Special Awards
  • Outstanding Contribution To Showbusiness

The Bash[edit]

In Australia (and previously in New Zealand) a popular fund-raising method is the 'Variety Bash' - a motoring event travelling through remote outback areas in old cars often 'themed' and crewed by entrants dressed as appropriate to the car's theme. The Bash is not a race or a rally but a drive through the outback with your 'mates'. The concept was originally an idea of Australian businessman and philanthropist Dick Smithwho with businessmanJohn Singletonorganized the first Bash fromBourke, outback New South WalestoBurketown, far north Queenslandin 1985. Since that time, events have been held annually through Variety Australia, raising millions of dollars annually.

Countries with chapters[edit]

To date the organization has grown to include 41 chapters (or "tents" as they are termed by the organization) in 15 countries worldwide, including:

References[edit]

  1. ^"Our History".Variety Club. Archived fromthe originalon 14 November 2011.Retrieved6 September2011.
  2. ^Mukherjee, Siddhartha(16 November 2010).The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.Simon & Schuster. pp. 95–96.ISBN978-1-4391-0795-9.Retrieved6 September2011.
  3. ^Herbeck, Dan (3 November 2019)."Variety Club Telethon expanding, leaving Channel 7".The Buffalo News.Retrieved6 October2020.
  4. ^"VarietyClubGB".YouTube.23 July 2009.Retrieved26 May2021.
  5. ^"Designer and Makers".Retrieved14 June2021.
  6. ^Marshall, Anne (1994).Guinness Book of Winners.Guinness.ISBN978-0-85112-791-0.Retrieved5 August2021.
  7. ^Thomson, Robert,ed. (2003-12-29)."Sir Alan Bates: Actor who came to prominence in kitchen sink dramas and went on to bring brooding intensity to the works of Chekhov and Hardy".The Times.ISSN0140-0460.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-12-29.Retrieved2023-12-26.He worked with Storey and Anderson again onLife Class(1974) while other Gray plays includedOtherwise Engaged,for which he won a Variety Club award, its sequel,Simply Disconnected,andMelon.There was another Variety Club award for his part in a revival of Osborne'sA Patriot For Me(1983), which he played at Chichester, in the West End and in Los Angeles.
  8. ^"Variety Moments".Retrieved23 November2021.
  9. ^"The Glasgow Herald".8 February 1984.Retrieved14 June2023.
  10. ^"Variety Club Awards".Retrieved20 May2021.
  11. ^"BBC Press Office Variety Club Awards".Retrieved5 August2021.
  12. ^"BBC Press Office Variety Club Awards".Retrieved5 August2021.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Variety,_the_Children%27s_Charity&oldid=1229648178"