Back-Yard Benefit : Children’s 5th Annual Show Generates $42 to Assist Equestrian Program for Disabled Youths

At 10:10 on the morning of July 4, Blair Anderson faced 19 of her peers, their parents and a phalanx of home-video cameras to sing a song about wonderful days.

It was the fifth annual benefit show organized by Blair, now 8, in her Chatsworth back yard. Every year she has donated the proceeds to a charity chosen from a list suggested by her parents, Adrienne (she’s the one accompanying Blair on the electronic piano) and Steven (he’s running one of the cameras).

The $42 earned from the $1 admission fee this year will go to an equestrian program for disabled children, run by the Helen Woodward Animal Center near San Diego.

“For kids who have never walked before, they teach them what it feels like to sit up,” Blair said, explaining her choice.

This year, as in years past, a troupe of children--a few in costumes, many wearing makeup or hats, one sporting a star-spangled Band-Aid--displayed their talents to giggling children and admiring adults. The repertoire, finalized Monday, featured skits heavy on out-of-sync lip-syncing and not-quite rhythmic dancing.

Daniel Stone, 6, mimed to a recording of “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini,” fingering the lapels of his white sports shirt when he reached the refrain “that she wore to the beach. . . . “

Later, his dad, Ron, joked to other parents, “He’s got the potential for Chippendale’s,” the male exotic dance club.

A brother-sister duet began poorly when Seth Shulman, 6, turned his back to the audience and smiled at his reflection in the Andersons’ patio doors. But as the music’s volume rose and sister Yael’s lips pursed, Seth broke into a wild running dance, drawing applause from the audience and a grin from Yael.

Their mother, Rivi Shulman, rated the performance a vast improvement over two years ago, when Seth spent weeks memorizing lyrics to “Pirates of the Caribbean,” then refused to budge from his seat. Last year, Seth dressed elaborately as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but froze when it was his turn to dance and sing to the theme song for the popular cartoon characters.

“My husband had to do it for him,” Shulman said.

So important is the event to the youngsters involved, that participants practiced their routines right up to the last minute. One dad, Bruce Udelf, was even sent rushing back to Simi Valley to retrieve the forgotten cassette recording essential to the modern dance of his daughter, Kimberly, 7, and her 8-year-old friend, Jill Daher.

“Can’t you just sing it?” begged mother Audrey Udelf.

“Oh, no!” the girls shouted in unison.

For the parents, Blair’s benefit is a chance to get antsy children out of the house, compare how much their offspring have changed year to year and discuss home-improvement projects.

“It’s something to do,” said Arlene Stone, Daniel and Karen’s mom. “What else do people do on the Fourth of July in the morning, anyway?”