Larry King to Host Chabad’s 30th-Annual Telethon
The special 30th-anniversary Chabad “To Life” Telethon will air live from Hollywood, Calif., this weekend, bringing together host Larry King and dozens of other celebrities and performers in support of Chabad-Lubavitch of the West Coast’s numerous educational and nonsectarian social service programs.
The three-hour-show – it begins at 8:00 local time Sunday night – will feature live performances and a series of special interviews and flashbacks from the event’s three decades of broadcasts.
“I think it will be the best year so far,” predicted Chaim Marcus, the show’s producer.
Last year’s production brought in more than $7 million, said Marcus. The funds were distributed across more than 200 Chabad Houses across the West Coast, and a host of individual programs, including those supporting children with special needs, meal distributions for needy families, drug and alcohol rehabilitation projects, crisis intervention centers, summer camps, schools and the Jewish website AskMoses.com.
“Because of the economy, I hope people will give even more, because people are counting on us even more,” said Rabbi Chaim Cunin, executive producer of the Telethon.
Cunin’s father, Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin directs Chabad-Lubavitch of the West Coast, and conceived of the Telethon as a way to link the star power of Hollywood with a collective desire among the public to change people’s lives. Since the very first production, the annual event has catapulted in popularity, attracting a slew of celebrities, politicians, athletes and executives as its supporters.
This year’s Telethon is expected to feature appearances from actors Jon Voight, James Caan, Elliot Gould, Howie Mandel, Lou Gossett, Jr., Martin Sheen, Ed Begley, Jr., Bob Saget and Tom Arnold, and NBA champion Jordan Farmar. Slated performers include Broadway legend Mike Burstyn, Chasidic singer Avraham Fried, the M-Generation Jewish boys choir, singer-songwriter Matt Morris and nine-year-old piano prodigy Ethan Bortnick.
As they do every year, a troupe of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries nicknamed “the dancing rabbis” will make an energetic appearance bedecked in black hats and long coats.
Producers Without Televisions
Cunin, who like most of the show’s production staff, does not own a television, said that although the show has its roots in a decidedly religious organization, its mission of helping people of all backgrounds and creeds allows divisions to be put aside.
“You don’t need to be wearing a black hat or even be Jewish to be connected to this vision,” said Cunin. “We include everyone in our mission.”
“It’s mind-boggling what’s been on this show,” said Marcus, referring to appearances and performances by dozens of famous figures over the years. “And it really dovetails will the message of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, to use different mediums to get the light out there.”
This Sunday’s performance will be Bortnick’s third for a Telethon audience.
“I’m Jewish and I like helping,” said Bortnick, who’s been a guest of the Oprah Winfrey Show and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and appeared in his very own National PBS Concert Special.
The prodigy prerecorded songs for the broadcast while in California last week. It was his first time meeting Larry King.
“I played a song called ‘My Zayde’ and [Larry] sat on the bench with me and sang it,” said Bortnick. “He was really nice.”
Publicity for the upcoming broadcast has been hard to miss; banners cover the streetscape of Southern California, and billboards throughout the West Coast and elsewhere in the country urge viewers to tune into KTLA 5, DirectTV’s Jewish Life Television on Channel 366, or online at ToLife.com.
On Wednesday, KTLA’s morning show welcomed Lou Gossett, Jr., his son, Sharone Gossett, and Donna Miller, director of the Chabad Residential Treatment Center, to talk about the son’s successful rehab.
“The bottom line is their philosophy of life,” said the elder Gossett, an Academy Award-winning actor, about Chabad’s hand in his son’s recovery.
“You take care of one another,” he explained. “It’s a continual philosophy that the entire world should really … copy.”
Sharone Gossett, who today is a married father and a chef, said the treatment center helped him find himself again.
“I just got into a space in my life where it was just crazy, unmanageable, and with the help of Chabad, I was able to find myself again and learn who I was,” he said.
The Telethon was born out of tragedy when, in 1980, a devastating fire destroyed the world’s very first Chabad House, established in Westwood in 1969. Three young Jewish men were killed and the entire building was ruined.
Actor Carroll O’Conner, better known as Archie Bunker from “All in the Family,” was aware of Chabad’s work in the community and came by the next morning to offer his assistance and a generous contribution. Weeks later, Chabad launched its very first Telethon, hosted by O’Conner and Jan Murray, raising approximately $1 million dollars to rebuild.
