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A School That Has Something to Smile About

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Jeff Valdez wants everyone to get something straight. It’s the pronunciation of his name. You would think that folks in Los Angeles, where 40% of the people are Latino, would know by now that Valdez rhymes with fez. Yet, he says, he keeps running into people who call him “Val-deez.”

“Like I’m an oil spill,” he mutters.

The audience laughed. Jeff Valdez is a pro with a pro’s polished delivery. The show wasn’t 2 minutes old, yet Valdez and the comics who would follow probably knew they’d be a hit. This audience was eager. These people had paid their 10 bucks and they were there to have a good time. The comics must have known that they would be rewarded with laughter, which was a good thing, because they wouldn’t be rewarded with money.

Even if you keep up with philanthropic events in the society pages, chances are you missed “Noche de Risas.” That’s Spanish for “Night of Smiles.” This fund-raiser last week at Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn in Studio City didn’t attract rich folks in black tie or inspire corporations to buy a block of tickets.

After all, it wasn’t like anybody was trying to cure a disease this night. It was just a matter of Oxnard Street Elementary School in North Hollywood trying to figure out a way to buy a few microscopes.

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On the other hand, who’s to say that one of Lourdes Knapp’s fifth-graders won’t someday find the cure for cancer? Or perhaps one of Elizabeth Teicher’s kindergartners?

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If it were not for Knapp or Teicher, there would have been no night of smiles. And there would have been no night of smiles if not for Jeff Valdez either. In corporate boardrooms across America, in the halls of Congress and in groups such as the National Science Foundation, there is a great deal of concern about how America, once the world’s leader in science education, has now fallen behind other economic powers. At Oxnard, it was just a matter of a teacher identifying a need--and others pitching in with their unique talents.

It was Knapp, Teicher says, who one day said that Oxnard sure could use some microscopes.

Teicher took this as a challenge. At Oxnard, she is known as “Mother Mooch” for her ability to persuade people to become involved in this North Hollywood school that serves a student body that is more than 92% Latino, mostly immigrants. Teicher has recruited the neighborhood service station and Hollywood personalities to help out at the school.

This time, Teicher says, she read a newspaper article about “Comedy Compadres,” the Latino-oriented showcase on KTLA produced by somebody named Jeff Valdez. She reached Valdez by phone.

Serendipity was at work. When Teicher made her pitch, Valdez remembered how, as a child growing up in the projects of Pueblo, Colo., his dream was to be a scientist.

“I begged and screamed and cried and kicked to get a chemistry set,” he recalled. And it worked. His parents, who worked hard just to put food on the table, “scrimped and saved” enough to buy the set, which included a low-power microscope. He still displays that old microscope on a bookshelf in his home.

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Valdez was quick to offer his services, but Teicher’s work wasn’t through. She shopped around for a site and got a bargain rate at the Holiday Inn. And Richard Palezyan, the proprietor of King’s Flowers and Balloons, provided the decor for free.

Meanwhile, Valdez recruited fellow comics Rudy Moreno, Larry Omaha, Johnny Sanchez and Rick Najera.

The tickets were sold mostly to teachers and staff. The audience was a mix of Latinos and Anglos. The humor was heavily ethnic and a tad racy. Valdez warned the parents of an 11-year-old in the front row that their daughter would be about 14 when they left. The girl’s relentless laughter served as a running gag throughout the night.

It would be nice to repeat the funniest gags. But in these sensitive days, I have learned that much of what was said there cannot be said here.

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A funny thing happened when Elizabeth Teicher caught up with me Wednesday. I had called her to find out how much money the event raised. When she returned my call, I was on another line with a reader who was expounding on a favorite topic, The Trouble With Schools Today.

The problem with schools, the reader told me, isn’t a lack of money. It’s mismanagement and teachers who lack dedication.

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It was nice, then, to hear from Mother Mooch. “Noche de Risas,” she said, raised nearly $1,000. Last weekend, she bought a dozen microscopes for Oxnard Elementary.

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