Another Big Night for Jerry’s Kids

It’s almost Labor Day, so what time is it?

It’s Jerry Lewis Time.

The 26th annual Jerry Lewis Pre-Telethon Extravaganza on Saturday will be the opening event in the traditional fund-raising weekend.

“This dinner is the most fun and there will be a band that everybody can dance to,” said Jann Carl of TV’s “Entertainment Tonight,” party co-chairwoman and an emcee for both events for six years.

The event’s auctions will include a private screening of a first-run movie, a TV series walk-on and a baseball bat autographed by Mark McGwire.

The $125-a-person party and the telethon raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn., which combats neuromuscular diseases. In Southern California, the association helps 6,000 families with 20 support groups and weeklong camperships.

This year the telethon will air on KCAL-TV from 6 p.m. Sept. 5 to 5 p.m. Sept. 6.

The L.A. district office has information at (310) 450-9032.

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Although summer doesn’t end officially until Sept. 23, the Los Angeles Opera’s Sept. 8 premiere will be the opening act for the city’s autumn season.

The 1999-2000 lineup will begin with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves singing opposite tenor Placido Domingo in Camille Saint-Saens’ “Samson et Dalila.”

“We are indebted to our opening night chair, Wendy Stark Morrissey, who is creating an exciting event celebrating the opulence and grandeur of this legendary story,” said Peter Hemmings, the opera’s general director.

Morrissey is the Los Angeles editor of Vanity Fair magazine.

After the performance, ticketholders will dine alfresco on the Music Center Plaza of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Tickets are available by calling (213) 972-7581.

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The White Memorial Medical Center’s Gala ’99 fund-raiser is intended to help the hospital open its Child Care Learning Center in East L.A. next summer.

State Assembly Speaker Antonio R. Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and Maria Contreras-Sweet, secretary of the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, will be honored at the dinner and auction Sept. 26 at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Tickets and information can be obtained by calling (323) 260-5739.

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Friends of the Family raised $145,000 at the third annual “Families Matter Benefit and Celebration” held by the Directors Guild of America on Aug. 17.

The 27-year-old family resource center is based in Van Nuys.

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“Give It Up for . . . “ will report regularly on selected SoCal benefits, honors and activities--both planned and completed. Please send detailed information to “Give It . . . ,” Southern California Living, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or fax to (213) 237-4888. Photographs also may be sent but cannot be returned.