A concert for an earlier deluge

May 12, 1927: Horrified by the mounting toll of Mississippi River floods, musicians and entertainers held a relief concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Will Hays, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, proclaimed it “the greatest aggregation of film and stage talent ever assembled,” with such big names of the day as Lucille La Verne, the Duncan sisters, Eddie Cantor, Alice Gentle and Rosita Moreno. More than 10,000 tickets were sold for $1 to $2 to a “who’s who of Los Angeles elites,” and world boxing champion Jack Dempsey made an appearance, The Times said.

“It was a moment for the city to shine,” the paper reported, and was “reminiscent of the old war days ... when Los Angeles was the first to respond to the emergency, no matter how great.” The newspaper called the event “a signal to the rest of the nation that America’s fourth-largest city had passed the quota assigned to it by the American Red Cross,” raising more than $230,000 citywide -- $2.6 million in today’s dollars.