ENTERTAINMENT

STEVE HARTZ

Staff Writer

T

>-C)

he letter pinned to the
little girl read: "Please
take care of my baby.
Her name is Catherine. I can
no longer take care of her. I
have eight others. My hus-
band is out of work . . . I have
always heard of the goodness
of show business, and I pray to
God that you will look out for
her."
Catherine Variety
Sheridan, just a few weeks
old, was abandoned in a Pit-
tsburgh theater by her
mother on December 24,
1928. Ushering at the
theater that day was a
young college student nam-
ed Gene Kelly who dreamed
of becoming a big star.
Catherine's situation
became the inspiration and
motivation for what has
become the largest chil-
dren's charity in the world.
Today, the 62-year-old
Catherine resides in Arl-
ington, Va., and has a new
identity. Her name is Joan
Mrlik, and she has been
married to retired naval offi-
cer Michael Mrlik for 33
years. She has three chil-
dren and two grandchildren.
"The magnitude and the
generosity among the mem-
bers are just overwhelm-
ing," she said. "They're
totally unselfish, spending
so much of their free time
and never looking for
thanks."
The Variety Club of
Detroit, one of 60 tents
(chapters) worldwide, was
established in 1932, made up
of local theater exhibitors
and movie distributors. In
the early 1980s, its member-
ship expanded to a "variety"
of business and industry
sources.
"Now the only restriction
we have is that you have to
love children and want to
help them," said Jerry
Walters, a board member of
Detroit's Variety Club.
Instead of president, vice
president, treasurer and sec-
retary, the Variety Club's
executive board members
are referred to in show busi-
ness terms: chief barker (I.
Burt Meisel), first assistant
chief barker (Sanford A.
Klein), second assistant
chief barker (Jack Metzel),
dough guy (Victor Hurwitz)
and property master (Don
Kramer).
Its new executive director
is Honey Friedman, a former
development director for
Sinai Hospital. Friedman
joined Variety four months
ago.
"It's been challenging to

TRAIGHT
110
HE

For 62 years, the Variety
Club of Detroit has been
providing handicapped and
underprivileged children
with a heartful of love,

Milt London, Bruce Rosen, Burt Meisel, Les Lee Roland and Dee Shapiro.

keep the activities going.
I've been pretty much glued
to the desk since I've been
here," she said.
The Detroit tent has grown
from 11 members in 1932 to
350 members today. Seventy
percent of its members are
Jewish.
Each year, the Detroit
Variety Club presents its An-
nual Celebrity Ball, with all
proceeds benefitting local
handicapped and under-
privileged children.
This year's ball will take
place 7 p.m. May 5 at the
Westin Hotel in the
Renaissance Center. The
formal affair features a per-
formance by musical writers
Betty Comden and Adolph
Green. Also appearing are
Katharine Buffaloe, the
Broadway star of Phantom of
the Opera, and former
Detroiter Sal Viviano, star
of the recent Broadway pro-
duction Romance/Romance.
This is Variety's ninth
celebrity ball and its most
successful fund-raiser. The
first celebrity ball took place
in 1981, when Variety Club
member Alan Teitel thought
up the idea to organize the
show-business-type fund-
raiser. Joan Collins, Red
Buttons and Rita Moreno
are just a few of the
celebrities who have ap-
peared at the balls.
The Variety Club's
Myoelectric Center in
Detroit, founded in 1980,
helps children who have lost
or been born without limbs
overcome their physical
challenges. After evalua-
tions, patients are usually fit-
ted with one of three pro-
stheses: passive (the "look" of
a hand, but it is nonfunc-
tional); mechanical or
electronic.
Club's
Variety
The
Cardiology Center is
located in Children's
Hospital in Detroit. It was
established in 1986. Chil-
dren who have a family his-
tory of heart problems are
referred to the preventive
cardiology clinic.
Three years ago, the
Detroit Variety Club flew in
from Romania then-10-year-
old Calin Suteu.. This
summer, Suteu will return
to Children's Hospital for
the third time.
"He's got a heart condi-
tion, and we take care of
him," Meisel said.
"Romanian. doctors couldn't
treat Cedin, and we had a
specialist in Detroit. So,
when we brought him here
three years ago for the first
time, Calin only knew two
words of English . John
Wayne.
"We arranged to put a

GOING PLACES

WEEK OF
MAY4-MAY10

JEWISH EVENTS

JEWISH ENSEMBLE
THEATRE

6600 W. Maple Road,
West Bloomfield, May
Festival of Staged
Readings: Murder in the
Junkyard, Naim, The
Soulful Scream of a
Native Son and Streets of
Brass; Hearts of Gold, 8
p.m. Wednesdays in the
Jewish Community
Center's Maple-Drake
Building, 8 p.m.
Thursdays at JCC's
Jimmy Prentis Morris
building, admission,
788-2900.

SPECIAL EVENTS

BERKLEY ICE
ARENA

Robina Rd., between
Greenfield and Coolidge,
Berkley Ice Show:
"Contrasts," through
May 6, admission,
546-2460.

NOVI FUERST
AUDITORIUM

Michigan Classic Ballet
Company's "The Seasons
of Spring," Giselle, 7:30
p.m. May 5 and 3 p.m.
May 6, admission,
661-2430.
OCC
Oakland Community
College, Royal Oak
campus, 10th
Anniversary of the
Detroit Dance Collective,
8 p.m. May 4-5,
admission, 544-4900.

THEATER

HILBERRY THEATRE

Wayne State University,
Detroit, Uncle Vanya,
through May 19; A
Chorus of Disapproval,
through May 12,
admission, 577-2972.

BIRMINGHAM
THEATRE
Wait Until Dark, through

May 6, admission,
644-3533.

MEADOW BROOK

Oakland University,
Rochester, Dracula,
through May 20,
admission, 377-3300.

ATTIC THEATRE

7339 3rd Avenue at W.
Grand Blvd., Detroit,
Coda through May 20,
admission, 875-8284.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

79