Look To The Stars News: Motion Picture & Television Fund

Catherine Zeta Jones and Hugh Jackman Host A Fine Romance

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:30:00 -0000

Catherine Zeta Jones and Hugh Jackman will be hosting the 5th annual event ‘A Fine Romance’, which has previously been held at Sony Centre, California. The ‘A Fine Romance’ event is one of the many charitable events held throughout the year in order to raise money for the Motion Picture & Television Fund. The event is due to take place on 7th November 2009, and celebrates the undeniable love affair between Hollywood and Broadway.

The Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) was first created in 1921 by big stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Conrad Nagel, Milton Sills, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith as well as many others. The MPTF aims to offer assistance to members of the movie and television industry as well as their families. The services that the MPTF offers range from child care support, health care assistance through to help with retirement living.

The ‘A Fine Romance’ event takes its name from the Darcie Denkert book also titled ‘A Fine Romance.’ In this book Denkert explores the relationship between Broadway and Hollywood by examining how a musical such as Pygmalion became a Hollywood blockbuster and re-titled My Fair Lady. In the MPTF event performers are accompanied by a live orchestra under the baton of the Hollywood Bowl’s John Mauceri and perform the songs that have tied both film and stage together for decades.

Previous performers have included Audra McDonald, Dick Van Dyke, Vanessa Williams, Jennifer Hudson, Kristin Chenoweth, Chita Rivera, Shirley MacLaine, Raul Esparza and Jamie Campbell Bower.

This year the event will again be attended by star-studded cast, and some of whom will also perform for their fellow members of the movie and television industry. Performers include Catherine Zeta-Jones and Hugh Jackman, as well as Amy Adams, James Marsden and Neil Patrick Harris.

More info about the event can be found here

Stars Record Public Service Announcement

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:44:27 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Ben Affleck, Dakota Fanning, Eva Mendes, Garth Brooks, Jeremy Piven, Joaquin Phoenix, Morgan Freeman, and Reese Witherspoon have filmed a Public Service Announcement for all Americans, stating that the country’s health care and financial security crisis is about to explode. But if people on both sides of the issue would start a dialogue, the problems are not insurmountable.

The video is part of the American Association of Retired Persons’ (AARP) “Divided We Fail” project, an initiative that has just garnered support from the Entertainment Industry Foundation and the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF).

“We need to build a national conversation around these issues,” said AARP CEO Bill Novelli, who is more than happy with the union. “The entertainment industry is uniquely suited to help us do that.”

It is a view shared by MPTF Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg. “Hollywood can call attention to these problems and help galvanize the public into taking action,” said the producer of Shrek and head of the organization of entertainment industry leaders dedicated to supporting health and human service needs. “[This] is a key first step in solving them.”

The director of the video, Tony Goldwyn, had a very specific message to get across: “People wind up feeling that the two sides are just too far apart; that these problems are so big and complex that we can’t fix them. What we’re saying is, if we all get together and start talking, we can.”

Americans struggling with financial and health care problems are invited to share their stories at www.aarp.org, and their experiences may be used for the Divided We Fail project. The PSA video can also be viewed on the site. The AARP organization is dedicated to enhancing the experience of aging through advocacy, information, and service, with a focus on the needs for health, financial security, giving back to society, family and social connectedness, and joy in life.

Look To The Stars News: Motion Picture & Television Fund

Catherine Zeta Jones and Hugh Jackman Host A Fine Romance

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Stars Record Public Service Announcement

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