Posted
10:11 AM
by Gene
Show-biz fundraisers are all hubris. It wasn't always thus. The first big one was the great all-soldier revue
This is the Army, which the War Department ASKED Irving Berlin to write on the strength of his WWI revue
Yip, Yip, Yaphank. (This according to
The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin.) It played on Broadway and then toured three years on the fronts, Berlin slogging along, and earned millions for the
Army Emergency Relief. It also had the tremendous distinction of helping to integrate the military.
Hubris kicked in when "celebrities" like Milton Berle and
Dennis James held tacky telethons to raise money for the Disease of the Month. This led to the notorious Muscular Dystrophy tearjerker, whose chief purpose seems to be to
get Jerry Lewis nominated for the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. BOB'S ERADICATION OF HUNGER is a direct descendant, and every bit as morally dubious, the only real purpose to aim praise right at the organizer.
In Ethiopia, do the underfed masses know who the hell BOB GELDOF IS?