Boxoffice Pro - October 2019
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners
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driving those tents, which helped Variety take off<br />
so many years ago.<br />
This spread to another generation with Jr. Variety.<br />
How did that come together?<br />
My mom and dad introduced me to the Variety<br />
Boys and Girls Club when I was 9. And at about<br />
that age, my oldest son, Jeremy, who’s now 26, and<br />
subsequently his sister, Felicia, who’s now 23, and<br />
our youngest son, Bailey, who’s now 20, I tried to<br />
get each of the kids involved in charity and started<br />
regular trips down to the Boys and Girls Club<br />
with them. And Jeremy, when he was in sixth or<br />
seventh grade, came to me and said, “Dad, I want<br />
to do more than just give away our old clothes and<br />
have you and Mom write checks. What can we do?<br />
What can me and my friends do?” And so Jeremy<br />
and I sat down and wrote up a program that<br />
became Jr. Variety, following the mission statement<br />
and the guidance of what big Variety does. I have<br />
always been involved with Tent 25 out of Southern<br />
California and was involved with International<br />
Variety for a while. We used the mission statement<br />
of Variety and created something that guided these<br />
kids. Jeremy and I started it, and then I brought in<br />
people from the industry, people like Pat Gonzalez<br />
from Paramount. During the nine and a half<br />
years that we had Jr. Variety up and running, Pat<br />
was my constant partner in philanthropy, as she<br />
is with all the philanthropic stuff I do. We put it<br />
into place when Jeremy entered ninth grade. It<br />
was for high school kids from different schools to<br />
come together, learn the basics of philanthropy<br />
and fundraising, and how to give back and make<br />
a difference. Many of these kids came from more<br />
affluent families and [the goal] was to get them in<br />
touch with the real world and let them experience<br />
what I experienced at the Variety Boys and Girls<br />
Club, that feeling of giving back and truly making<br />
a difference and being there to pick other people<br />
up instead of just always being on the receiving<br />
end. And with the industry support and a lot of<br />
support from people at Warner Bros., we were able<br />
to create something that was pretty special that<br />
brought a lot of kids together. I think we raised<br />
about $675,000 in those nine-plus years.<br />
But then my three kids aged out and I was<br />
looking to pass it on. And yes, it does take a decent<br />
OCTOBER <strong>2019</strong><br />
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