Goal of Unbroken Chain Not Met : Millions Join Hands in Concern for Poor

Millions of Americans--celebrities and suburbanites, politicians and passers-by--joined hands and sang songs for 15 minutes Sunday in a largely symbolic celebration of their concern for the nation’s impoverished.

Organizers of Hands Across America failed to realize their vision of an unbroken chain of humanity stretching from New York City to Long Beach, as there were reports of gaps throughout the 4,125-mile route--not only, as predicted, in the blazing hot desert of the Southwest, but also in cities.

Similarly, original goals of $100 million in donations had been scaled back by half even before the demonstration began at noon (PDT). Organizers refused to estimate how many people participated and how much money was raised. Five and a half million people were needed to create a perfect transcontinental chain, and the large, unfilled stretches indicated far fewer took part--despite the waiving last week of an obligatory donation of $10 or more.

Promoters Satisfied

The promoters nonetheless declared themselves satisfied, saying that Hands Across America--the latest in a series of gala philanthropic events promoted around celebrities, sponsored by corporations and designed for widespread participation by common folk--succeeded because of attention it focused on America’s homeless and hungry.

“This is just the beginning,” Ken Kragen, an entertainment entrepreneur who organized the spectacle, said in New York City’s Battery Park, where the line began. “When today is over, roll up your sleeves and go out to work in your community. We have to move from the big event to the person on the street.”

There were no significant problems reported. A participant suffered a broken ankle in an accident involving an automobile in Arizona, and several people were said to have been momentarily overcome by heat.

At the Queen Mary in Long Beach, the western terminus of the 16-state route, confusion marred the day for many participants. Tickets purchased well in advance for prices ranging from $10 to $35 proved meaningless, and participants who sought directions to their place in line were frustrated.

“I’m very disappointed,” Harold Powers of Bell said. “It was very disorganized. You would ask somebody what to do and nobody knew. They’d send you from one end of the line to the other.”

Powers and his wife, Elaine, had arrived almost six hours early, intending to eat breakfast aboard the Queen Mary before finding their place in line. In the last-minute chaos, they were squeezed out of the queue. “The ticket was useless,” he said.

The singing of three songs--”We are the World,” “Hands Across America” and “America the Beautiful”--was drowned out by the overhead drone of a dozen news helicopters. Booths and banners set up by Coca Cola, a major sponsor of the event, were highly visible, and some participants among the 6,500 people gathered in Long Beach thought the affair smacked of commercialism.

Marty Rogol, an organizer, said confusion was inevitable and warned reporters not to “nit-pick.” He said: “We created an event that is unheralded in human history. There is no way that everybody will do everything right the first time. We controlled the event as well as any event could be controlled.”

Elsewhere in Southern California, there were gaps in the line evident in East Los Angeles and other less-affluent neighborhoods. In one block, organizers unsuccessfully solicited residents to descend from their porches and join the singing line. At least two sections of Orange County had long breaks in the line, and Palm Springs encountered exceptionally sparse participation. News photographers reported gaps of as long as five miles in the Mojave Desert.

Scattered reports from elsewhere in the nation indicated participation had run below expectations in several states, and there were numerous gaps in both rural and urban sections of the route.

Beginning of Line

At New York’s Battery Park, there was no shortage of participants. Lines began forming two hours before the event, weather was balmy and a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed--even some of the city’s reputedly cynical beat cops joined hands and sang.

“Something like this shows you how people can get together,” said Ray (Big Ray) Angelic, 52, of New York’s Queens borough. “Hitler did it. Kadafi did it. Jesus did it. And Mohammed did it. People want to believe in something. They need someone to follow.”

First in line was 6-year-old Amy Sherwood and her mother, Jean. The Sherwoods appear in the Hands Across America music video, and were living in a shelter for the homeless when it was taped. They now reside in a Brooklyn apartment.

“This gives us hope,” Sherwood said. “We came out of the dark. We (are) in the light today.”

The Sherwoods were joined by Kragen, Lily Tomlin, Harry Belafonte, Mayor Ed Koch, Gov. Mario Cuomo and Yoko Ono, who called the event “a magical moment. And as magical as it seems,” the widow of John Lennon said, “this is just a beginning.”

Despite the celebrities stationed across the country, Kragen said the event should not be judged by its abundance of show business personalities.

Called a Real Attempt

“This is not a Hollywood stunt,” he said. “This is a real attempt to help people.”

At some spots, it took unusual steps to keep the line intact. Hands Across America officials said 20 milk cows filled a gap in Frederick, Maryland, and in New Jersey another was bridged by a passing bus driver. At least three marriages were performed along the route.

The most-watched participant was President Reagan. He had decided to participate Thursday night, after enduring criticism for a remark to schoolchildren that any hunger in America was only the result of ignorance about available relief programs.

Dressed in light blue slacks and sports shirt, and referring to a song sheet, Reagan and the First Lady sang on the front portico of the White House as they held hands with children of guests. Security was heavy. A large white screen was erected in front of the portico, blocking Reagan from the view of those standing in the line across the avenue in Lafayette Park.

In the park were members of coalitions whose advocacy for the poor has placed them at odds with the Reagan Administration, and they held up signs bitingly directed at the President’s domestic budget-cutting policies. The signs read: “Let Them Eat Symbols,” “Reagan, You’re Out of Line,” and “Put Your Hand in Your Wallet, Ron.”

From the nation’s capital, the line cut northwest to Pennsylvania, where in Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium it ran through spectators at a baseball game between the Pirates and Cincinnati Reds. Plans had been laid for the line to traverse the diamond itself, joined by ballplayers.

Pete Rose Objects

But the players and game officials, including Reds Player-Manager Pete Rose, the superstar who had been a much-promoted Hands Across America co-chairman, balked at the 30-minute delay. Rose said he feared it might disrupt the rhythm of his pitcher.

In Chicago, candy store clerks passed out samples in one of several displays of good feeling found along the route.

The line dipped south through Missouri and Kentucky and into Tennessee, where the precise mid-point was reached in the small town of Ripley (population 6,366.) It turned right in Memphis, crossed the Mississippi and headed west through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Across the southwest, vast gaps were reported, as expected. Helicopters, hot air balloons and miles of donated ropes were employed in an attempt to maintain continuity. The line entered California in Blythe, where Sen. Alan Cranston, running for reelection, held hands with Bo Derek.

Symbolism was rife, ranging from genuinely poignant moments of togetherness to pathetic little reminders of the transience of the good-will display. At the intersection of 1st and Spring streets in Los Angeles, across from City Hall, where Mayor Tom Bradley took part, smiling participants sang while street people repaired to the shade of a large magnolia tree nearby, where they watched. A few ventured closer for a look at a black Rolls-Royce convertible parked in a red zone by a late arrival to the line.

Hobo Rattled

Similarly, photographers swarmed a hobo who happened to wander along 6th Street just before the event commenced. He became so rattled that his cart tipped and his belongings fell to the street.

“All these pretty, pretty women everywhere, and all these nice-looking people down here today,” James Griffin, a homeless man who sleeps in a 6th Street park, told a reporter. “There’s never been anything like it before. They usually drive by in their cars and look, but now they’re right here. It is really something.”

Griffin was genuinely thrilled by it all, and took his place in line along with the collection of fellow street people and better-dressed visitors.

The identity of who would stand at the West Coast end of the line had been withheld by organizers in an effort to create mystery. It turned out to be Bill Jones, an out-of-work telephone solicitor, his wife and five children.

“I think this is incredible,” the 34-year-old Jones said as photographers and reporters jostled about him. “I just hope that it goes on from here. I wish everybody would get into the spirit of helping. There are many people worse off than we are. What this shows is that we’re all family.”