On June 24, 1965, while on the set of the movie "Frankie and Johnny," Elvis
donated $50,000 to the Motion Picture Relief Fund. Barbara Stanwyck, Frank
Sinatra and Bud Abbott represented the film community and accepted the
contribution.
The Motion Picture Relief Fund was created by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford,
Douglas Fairbanks and D. W. Griffith as a way to help those in the entertainment
industry who had fallen on hard times. They started out simply with a donation
box to collect spare change. Incorporating in 1921, Joseph M. Schenck was the
first president with Mary Pickford as vice president and a board that included
many of the biggest names in Hollywood. Their mission statement "We take care
of our own."
As more requests for assistance came in during the late 1920s, they needed to
find new ways of raising money. They had celebrity events that included balls,
movie premieres, fashion shows and sporting events. By 1932 they had begun a
payroll deduction plan for those in the industry earning over $200 a week. Then
in 1939 they began a popular radio program called "The Screen Guild Show" on
which major performers appeared and would donate their normal salaries to the
fund. They were able to raise over
$5,000,000 during the next 13 years the show was on the air.
In 1940, then-president Jean Hersholt purchased 48 acres of land in Woodland
Hills, California that would become the site of the Motion Picture & Television
Country Home and Hospital. On September 27, 1942 the home was dedicated. In
1948 the hospital was dedicated. Today they continue to expand their services
of health care, retirement care and child care for those working in the various
facets of the entertainment industry and their dependants....still "taking care
of their own."