Curtain Falls for Motion Picture Home (Unless Miracle Occurs)

The Motion Picture Home is closing, according to the LA Times, which is sad news not only for the residents and their families, but also for devotees of Hollywood history.  Started in 1940 by Jean Hersholt (of the Humanitarian Award given out at the Oscars,  which usually leaves home viewers wondering "who he?"), the Woodland Hills hospital and nursing home has been a refuge for older members of the entertainment industry.

Movie historians have turned the place into one-stop shopping for interviews with actors, directors and crew members from the Golden Age. If only the Home got residuals!  While the motto "we take care of our own", sounds great, in real (not reel) life,  the show biz community isn't breaking their backs to fund the place.  Instead of writing huge checks, they throw a party:

But even modern-day Hollywood's biggest names couldn't script a happy ending for the hospital and home. DreamWorks Animation SKG chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, filmmaker Steven Spielberg and stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Reese Witherspoon each year host an annual pre-Oscar fundraiser bash at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the home.

The tickets are around $25,000 for four, which is  powder-room change.  Corporate underwriters, like Target, boost the take,  which means " Target takes care of old performers".

Rather than run individual rinky-dink foundations, why aren't these fat cats writing fat checks to keep this place going?   Or maybe the A-list could donate their residual checks to the place in perp?  Marc Wanamaker, film historian, agrees.

Nikki Finke is scathing on the closure, as are her readers, one of whom has an all-too-plausible take:

As soon as they shut down the hospital they will probably sell the acreage for a wonderful price, so these “philanthropists” no longer have to help out the “fund".

Kill the baby, strike the blond, and send donations here.