Jeffrey Katzenberg’s “The Evening Before” party is getting an organized protest on Saturday night.
Members of SAG and all other Hollywood unions are being called on to picket the party, which raises money for the Motion Picture Fund. They’re calling the protest “Evening Before the Evictions?”
The Fund has announced that it’s closing its long-term care facility at the Motion Picture Home outside Los Angeles by the end of the year. Over 70 residents– who were guaranteed to live out their lives at the hospital–would have to be relocated.
The protest–organized by Saving the Lives of Our Own –is set for 7-10 p.m. on Century Park East in Century City, across from Century Park, where the party will be held. According to a press release, the group will try to explain to guests of the “extravagant” event why they’re upset about the closing and relocation, and ask them why proceeds from the party–and its Oscar sibling, The Night Before–don’t go to saving the nursing home.
Among the co-hosts of the Evening Before are Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Sally Field. People magazine, Sprint, and Target are sponsoring the event, where big stars typically receive huge gift bags, iPods, phones, sneakers, and other loot.
September 18th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
The Motion Picture Home needs to rethink their thoughts of closing the long term facility, what if a resident was one of their family or close friends? To all those attendinn and organizing the event I want to say thank you.
September 19th, 2009 at 6:25 am
We were told at one meeting with the MPTF that it would take $12 million a year to save the facility. At the next meeting, on that same day, we were told that there was no amount of money that would save the facility (the nursing home). It was a fait accompli – it was going and that was it! How can they justify the horror that these elderly feel at the hands of their caregivers? I challenge any one of these stars to go out to the Motion Picture Home and see what they are doing to those people that enabled them to be where they are today. This is an outrage. I will never ever patronize a Tom Hanks film. How could he be so heartless to turn his back on this issue?
September 19th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I hope that those who are attending and supporting this dark chapter of motion picture and television healthcare take a moment to see the protesters tonight.
We’re the ones who are rallying to preserve the continuum of care at the Motion Picture Home. We’re the ones who don’t buy the charade that the MPTF is foisting on the industry. We’re the ones who wonder why a world class nursing home has to close when it has the potential to bring in so much revenue.
SAG is supporting us, the Teamsters are supporting us – so why are you going in to participate in the evictions of these elderly residents? They are dying in strange surroundings that they don’t want any part in. You are participating in the routing of our most elderly and handicapped.
Do your research – http://www.savingthelivesofourown.org
September 19th, 2009 at 10:59 am
It’s not too late for the Motion Picture and Television Fund to find a better way forward. Invest in the hospital. Maintain long term care. Live up to the promise of taking care of our own.
Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Sally Field are all well positioned to do something truly admirable – to follow in the foot steps of Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Lew Wasserman and other industry greats who would never have stood by and watched while the sickest and most frail residents of the Motion Picture and Television Fund campus were pushed out of their beds.
Due diligence is required – take the time – do your homework – don’t believe the spin being advanced by the MPTF PR machine – there is a better way forward.
September 19th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Thanks to Roger for spreading the word. Please, if you care at all about our elderly, join us tonight to bring attention to the pain each of the these nursing home residents and their families are suffering over this eviction.
MPTF, please do the right thing. Reverse the closure decision and let Hollywood’s rank-and-file help you raise funds to keep this historic and vital facility open, now and for the future.
September 19th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Being a sole caregiver to my own 94 yr old mom.
I agree w/ Shelly’s Comments.
These people & their families depended on the MPTVF and paid their dues to do so.
If you have insurance how rude is it when the company says…
Sorry, we are just cutting you off. Bye.
September 20th, 2009 at 8:33 am
How sad. Those big names in entertainment, who were very vocal in their own union’s recent labor negotiations, are going to be complicit in an event that harms workers in two ways. The co-hosts of the Evening Before are turning a blind eye to the fact that the Fund won’t keep the Home open. Second, they are co-hosting an event sponsored by well-known anti -union, anti-worker companies: Sprint and Target. Shameful.
September 21st, 2009 at 9:43 am
Why was my previous comment rejected?
September 21st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Both of my parents were in show business. My father was an officer in the local Musicians Union(47)and a member of the Musicians International Executive Board my whole life. He worked for the betterment of musicians fighting for scale, pension and health and welfare benefits. My mother is a retired singer and has maintained her SAG membership throughout her retirement. She worked in Radio when she was a kid and later on TV shows and in the movies. For years, my mother has been planning on living out the rest of her life at this facility. Many of her friends from “back in the day” have been and are still there. When my dad is gone, she wants to be near her friends and “family” who reside there. People she can relate too, people who have been in the same business as her. She has kept her dues active all these years because it is important to her to support the business. We (her children), were looking forward to her having a safe place to be. AMONG HER OWN… My mother will be 80 on her next birthday. Just when she is about to need it you are closing the facility that will provide the care she needs? What about your promise to take care of your own? Please find a way to save the home…
October 20th, 2009 at 3:50 am
I’m writing my PhD thesis *_*