High Concept of This Group: Helping Kids

It makes sense to Maureen Arthur-Ruben that most people in Los Angeles know nothing about Variety International--The Children’s Charity.

A pet charity of the film distribution and exhibition industry, Variety has, for the most part, remained what Arthur-Ruben calls “Hollywood’s best kept secret.” That’s because the group’s board of directors prefers to spend money on the children rather than on expensive ad campaigns, she said.

Still, as Variety celebrates its 75th anniversary, Arthur-Ruben, who is a onetime president of Variety--The Children’s Charity of Southern California, thinks it is sad that more people aren’t aware of the role Variety plays in supporting some of Southern California’s best-known nonprofit groups.

“This is a big glitzy arena that we live in,” said Arthur-Ruben, an actress who played Peg in the brief 1984 sitcom “Empire” and appeared in numerous films, including 1967’s “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” “We get used to seeing the premieres and stars and reports of the amount of money ‘Spider-Man’ is making.

“The other part is: There are many children in our community that are living under the poverty level, kids that need things like coats and shoes and supplies for school.”

In Southern California, Variety supports many long-established organizations, but also gives smaller grants to various causes.

Last year it awarded 15 grants, provided funding for 20 individual scholarships and donated several vehicles to various groups. Total value: about $1 million.

The Boys & Girls Club in Boyle Heights received the largest grant last year. Variety, which founded the club 53 years ago, contributed $103,000 to support the club’s operating budget and scholarship program.

Brave Kids, a San Francisco-based organization that provides support to families with children suffering from chronic and life-threatening illnesses, is set to open two resource centers in Los Angeles. Variety gave the group $100,000 last year.

Wonder of Reading, a Westside nonprofit organization that refurbishes and restocks public school libraries, received $85,000.

And Variety used $115,000 to supply several organizations, including A Place Called Home, with “Sunshine Coaches,” 12- to 15-passenger vans used to transport children from South-Central Los Angeles to various events.

“There are a lot of people out there that need help, and we try to give it to them,” said Clark Woods, chairman of the board of directors of Variety of Southern California. “We can’t help everyone, but we don’t give a lot of no’s.”

Arthur-Ruben said her experience with Variety reminds her that there will always be someone in need.

“In the beginning, when you start this work, you think you’ll help the children and that would be it,” she said.

“The larger reality is: There are always children everywhere that need some kind of help.”

Variety Club, not affiliated with the trade journal, was founded in Pittsburgh in 1927 as a social club for entertainment executives. The men would get together to smoke, drink and play cards.

Their focus changed from social to philanthropic in 1928, said Jay Cooper, executive director of Variety--The Children’s Charity of the United States.

As the story goes, a mother abandoned her baby at the Sheridan Square Theatre on Christmas Eve. She pinned a note to the baby’s clothing, asking that the show business people take care of her child, because she and her husband could barely afford to care for their eight other children.

The police couldn’t find the child’s mother, so club members, including the theater’s owner, decided to underwrite the girl’s care and education, Cooper said.

“The members sent in so much stuff that it was just too much for this one little girl,” Cooper said, “Instead of just giving it back, they said, ‘Look, there are other kids out there that need help,’ and Variety was started.”

Last year the international group--with 51 chapters in 13 countries from England to South Africa--doled out $57 million. The Southern California group raised about $1.3 million. It operates on a $140,000 annual budget, and employs one full-time staffer and two part-timers.

From 85% to 90% of the money raised goes directly to the slew of nonprofit groups that Variety supports, Executive Director Maria Schmidt said.

Each of the 51 chapters is responsible for raising its own budget to support local projects.

While Variety has grown significantly over the years, it has kept close to its entertainment industry roots. Chapters are called tents, like a circus big-top. (The Southern California group is Tent 25.) And tent presidents are called chief barkers.

The Southland tent faded into obscurity in the 1980s. Many of the group’s board members had retired from their entertainment industry jobs, and Tent 25 no longer had its Hollywood “in.”

Organization members say Arthur-Ruben revived the group 10 years ago when she and Monty Hall (of “Let’s Make a Deal” fame) wrote letters to major film distribution companies, asking them to recommend representatives to sit on the club’s board of directors.

One of those appointed was Woods, who initiated the sale and distribution of golden heart pins in movie theaters.

Since 1991, pin sales have been Variety’s chief revenue source, said Woods, vice president of general sales at Paramount Pictures.

“We always called ourselves ‘the heart of show business,’ and I felt we had to get back closely aligned with the industry that bore us,” Arthur-Ruben said.

“There’s so much to do here that ... you kind of think it will never get done, but you have to keep going on,” she said.

“We can’t do everything, but some of it does get done.”