Red Allen Chapters 9 - The Jazz Archive

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SEP 22, 1963: It's Miracle Time By BILL LADD, Courier-Journal TV Editor
Torrents of money, floods of love . . . that is the '63 Crusade For Children
THE ANNUAL miracle is about to from you and me.
knew we had listeners and viewers. I
happen. This minute, as you read this Some will come from the clenched hands knew that the people of this area must
over your coffee, the people of of handicapped children themselves. have more feeling of responsi-bility for
Kentuckiana are bringing it to pass. On the stage at Memorial Auditorium, our cause than they had shown.
Thousands of men, women and children the huge tote board wilt record the "I was very heart-sick and bone-weary.
in their homes, their Sunday schools, their extent of our care for those less fortu- "Then, with the morning, a crowd began
churches and on the streets and roads nate than ourselves.
to form. You could feel the change in
are being touched by the magic of the In a few days, when you have mailed the atmosphere backstage. People too
10th annual WHAS Crusade for Children, in your pledge, a group of ministers will tired to move of their own free effort
Within the next few hours, a year of parcel out the money to dedicated groups came alive!
planning and work and 16 1/2 hours of in the two-state area which have worth- Children began to file past, dropping
intensive campai-gning will surge to its while projects but no other source of funds. their savings into our goldfish bowls.
climax.
And even as they hand out the money, People stopped by on their way to
Into glass fishbowls on the stage at men and woman will be planning the church to leave with us concrete evi-
Memorial Auditorium will pour a torrent 11th Crusade.
dence that they believed that which they
of pennies. nickles, dimes, bills and On the stage, the smallest group of any were on their way to hear.
checks to ease the way and improve the of those participating—the performers— "In those last few hours, we more than
lot of handicapped children throughout will marvel at the annual miracle. made our goal.
Kentuckiana.
Through the years, almost every perfor- "That, I sincerely believe, was the finest
The torrent will gush from the gigantic mer who has taken part has wiped away hour I have ever spent in show business."
boots of 100 volunteer fire chiefs, and sweat and tears and tried to express his And that was before the days when 100
from the hands of children.
sensations as the magic began to work. volunteer fire depart-ments took part!
It will flow from the church collection Perhaps none has done it better than When the show ends this after-noon,
plate, and from the pickle jars into Garry Moore, star of very first radio- the cast will move to the footlights and
which barten-ders have been stuffing TV marathon on WHAS.
take a collective bow. If they bow extra
their customers' change.
This is what he said on C.B.S., coast- low, it will be because the bow they take
It will be In the form of checks from to-coast, about the 1954 program: is for you. In these last hours, you are
businessmen and from union treasuries. "We had slaved all night.
the show, and on you rests its success.
It will come from clubs and bowling "There was about $25,000 on the Hurry with that second cup.
leagues, and from lonely old ladies, and scoreboard for about 10 hours of work. I You can still make these exciting hours!
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SEP 23, 1963: Crusade Puts On A Thriller With Cavalry-Style Finish
By DUDLEY SAUNDERS •
WHAS and Channel 11 could have
taught Alfred Hitchcock a thing or two
about suspense yesterday.
The 10th annual WHAS Crusade for
Children was easily the best thriller of
the new television season.
The 18-hour-and-5-minute telethon
was a real nail-biter during the last few
hours when a lot of us - especially the
newcomers - were beginning to wonder
when and if the money was ever going
to arrive.
To those of us who had not seen any of
the previous tele-thons, the suspense
started building about breakfast time
when we realized the Crusade was more
than $200,000 shy of last year's receipts.
Stars Were Worried
It looked to us newcomers that, despite
all the careful plan-ning and hard work
and talent of about 1.200 volunteer workers
at Memorial Auditorium, this year's
venture would fall horribly shy of the
$256,649 collected last. year.
You could almost tell the new people
from the veterans back-stage yesterday
morning. The new people were beginning
to chain-smoke and look forlorn.
The suspense was so great that June
Valli, Johnny John-ston, Henry "Red"
Allen, and Homer and Jethro risked
miss-ing their planes by sticking around
long after they had made their final appearances.
They wanted to see whether
the Crusade would "make it."
But the old pros didn't seem overly
worried. just tired. They knew from
experience that the Crusade is a
suspense show.
"Don't sweat it," the old pros comforted
the likes of me. "'It'll come. It'll come."
And it did, like a snowball turning into
an avalanche, or a truck careening down
Pike's Peak without brakes. By the time
the show went off the air at the steaming,
noisy old audi-torium, the tote board read
$260.-948, well over last year's record.
Jerry Hall, 12, of Clarksville, Ind., with
cash-filled firemen's boots.
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The big "suspense" show also had
some of the elements of a big budget
horse opera, with the cavalry riding to
the rescue in the nick of time.
The cavalry in this case was several
thousand volunteer firemen who started
pouring in about noon, their fire-fighting
boots and flashy helmets over-flowing
with money.
And just as in the horse operas, the
cavalry - firemen sounded their charge
to the rescue - not with trumpets but
blaring sirens. Those sirens probably
sounded as good to the Crusade workers
as the cavalry charge ever sounded to
beleaguered pioneers.
But the firemen weren't alone.
It seemed as though just about every
church, civic group, and Boy Scout
troop in Kentucki-ana showed up, too.
And so did a lot of just plain folks who
canvassed their neighborhoods and kids
who emptied their piggy banks.
A veteran of several previous Crusades
said it for me: "I knew they would come.
But, man, I just wish they wouldn't wait
so long. My heart can't stand it. I knew
they would come, but I was beginning to
be afraid maybe they wouldn't this year."
Ditto!
Incidentally, the Crusade came on
strong Saturday night with a sort of
Jackie Gleason opener — a big singing
and dancing chorus, a quick parade of
stars and real light. timing. Singer Jay
Willoughby set a fast opening pace and
high standard for all the national and
regional talent which followed him.
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