Danny Thomas Fulfills His Father's Wish: Raise
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“‘Whose birthday is it?’” I asked the nurse. “‘Oh, it’s not a birthday party,’ she said. arlo Thomas ‘It’s an off-chemo party.’ “I had never seen anything like this. All The Lebanese-American these little children were celebrating one child’s turn for the better, with their parents and grandparents standing Megastar Behind by with tears in their eyes. If this child could make it, maybe their beloved child St. Jude Children's would, too. “In that moment, I breathed in what my father had been holding in his Research Hospital heart for so many years. I had walked into a place where hope lived. A place families had traveled to from all over ebanese-American, father-daughter TV stars Danny and the country, terrified, carrying death L Marlo Thomas are among the most famous Americans of sentences for their babies. And I knew that my father’s spirit would always all time. Yet, they are perhaps most remembered for their leading roles at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. live there.” Actress, author, feminist, humanitarian recognition from the president of the he was gone, she wanted the and philanthropist Marlo Thomas has country that had opened its arms to hospital administration received numerous awards, including them when they first arrived here.” to know she and her I had walked into a Grammy, four Emmys and a Golden siblings would a place where Globe. But in 2014, when United States Prime time TV superstars Marlo be there to hope lived. President Barack Obama awarded her Thomas and her father Danny were support the the Presidential Medal of Freedom, household names throughout America institution “And I fell in love the highest honor an American civilian for decades. But it was Danny’s work to if they were with this wonderful can receive, tears swelled in her eyes. establish St. Jude Children’s Research needed, she place,” said Thomas. President Obama quoted her father Hospital and Marlo’s to sustain it for recently told “These children have Danny Thomas, saying, “There are two which, many say, they will always be HOME. changed my life. types of people in the world: givers and remembered. In their little faces, takers. The takers sometimes eat better, “When I got to I have seen such but the givers always sleep better.” Marlo has been the hospital the driveway, courage, strength and spokesperson since 1991 and today with the 15-foot compassion, and an serves as St. Jude’s national outreach statue of St. Jude unbelievable capacity director. She heads the fundraising standing tall at the for joy in the face of There are two types of efforts of a hospital established mainly entrance, I sat in such adversity. with the support of her father and the the car, immobilized. people in the world: givers Lebanese-American community. Today I didn’t want to go “I’ve gotten to know and takers. The takers she is known as “the heart of St. Jude.” inside. The sadness was them and their families, sometimes eat better, but the all too fresh. just as my father had. I’ve givers always sleep better. Shortly after Danny Thomas died in been to their graduations 1991, Marlo visited the hospital her “But I pulled myself together and their weddings, and “At that moment, I couldn’t help father established – St. Jude Children’s and went in. In the lobby, a even their funerals. I have but think about my father and my Research Hospital in Memphis, party was going on. There was held a dying child in my immigrant Lebanese grandparents, Tennessee. Even though her father told ice cream and cake. Confetti. arms and said 'goodbye.' I and how proud they would be that his children the work of the hospital Balloons. Happy little children never thought I could bear their granddaughter was receiving this would not be their burden to carry after running around in party hats. such a thing. But I have.” 182 Magazine - THE VOICE OF THE DIASPORA Magazine - THE VOICE OF THE DIASPORA 183 Born into American television But that didn’t sit well with my dad. '70s, where discussions focused on royalty; becoming her own woman He constantly warned me how difficult reproductive rights, equal pay and other Practically every American with a the business was. But he knew I wasn’t issues of importance to women. television in the 1950s and ‘60s saw listening.” Danny Thomas’ shows Make Room for Beyond her iconic TV role, Marlo Daddy and The Danny Thomas Show. Still, Marlo did as her father wished became a major player in her own He was also a regular on the talk show and went to college, something neither right. She became a TV megastar, circuit and an acclaimed comedian of her parents did. “Getting my degree performed on and off Broadway from in nightclubs for most of his 60-year meant everything to them,” she said. 1974 until 2016 – so far, and was the career. And he distinguished himself as second woman ever, after Lucille Ball, to a producer. The day she graduated from the produce her own TV series. University of Southern California as an Legendary star Bob Hope told The English teacher, she handed her father From 1996 to 2002, Thomas played New York Times Danny Thomas was the diploma and said, “This is for you, Jennifer Aniston’s mother on the TV “one of the giants” of the entertainment Dad. Now I’m going to New York to series Friends. She is also a best-selling Marlo and Danny Thomas visiting industry. study acting.” author of six books, with the book and a patient at St. Jude Hospital Photos from the private collection of Marlo Thomas album sets Free to Be … You and Me and “My father used to take me to work with Free to Be … a Family being cultural him when I was little – to movie sets game-changers. devoted to his family. Daddy genuinely In serious moments, their father would and TV studios – and I fell head-over- enjoyed the company of his children. He talk about what had driven him to build As her father did, A new generation of was big on hugging and kissing and he St. Jude. “Those stories always led back heels in love with what he was doing,” A passionate feminist, Thomas joined Marlo vowed to be said Thomas. women who dreamed of Gloria Steinem, Letty Cottin Pogrebin could be very emotional,” Marlo said. to his own childhood, as the son of “a proud beggar being “somebody,” not just and Patricia Carbine in 1973 to found Lebanese immigrants in Toledo, Ohio “Sometimes he went overboard,” she – a place where no one ever went to a for the sickest of “As I got older, it really began to look “somebody’s wife.” the Ms. Foundation for Women with children.” like I would pursue the mission to “build women’s collective recalled. “When I was at USC and I got a doctor. His mother gave birth at HOME the same career. After a successful stage debut, Thomas power to realize a nation of justice for 3.8 average, he was so proud, he took my to all 10 of her babies with nothing but became That Girl (in an ABC all.” She attributes her feminism to her report card on The Tonight Show and her sister and a lot of hot water. sitcom of that name) to a new mother, who gave up her singing career boasted to Johnny Carson, 'This is my generation of women who to be a wife and mother. Thomas felt kid – 3.8!” I have to talk to her through “He witnessed firsthand the inequity dreamed of being “somebody,” her mother sacrificed too much. “She an interpreter!' And then there was the of poor healthcare and he never forgot not just “somebody’s wife.” It gave her whole life to us,” Thomas told time he told Carson (and the rest of it – the sight of little white coffins being told the story of Ann Marie, Barbara Walters in a 1992 Lifetime America) I had just gotten my first bra. carried to the cathedral at the end of the one of the first female TV interview. “I’m guilty about it. I feel we The audience howled. I was afraid to go street. Children in his neighborhood characters who was single, could have made it on half her life.” to school for a week. died of things like influenza and living alone and pursuing appendicitis. her career. Not one to rest on her laurels, at 79, “But what I remember most about Thomas designed and launched a my father was his soul-deep decency. “That’s what inspired him to create From the very first episode clothing line in 2017 that was sold on I constantly saw his compassion on a hospital for the sickest of children in 1966, the show tapped “Home Shopping Network.” With a nod display in so many settings. – where moms and dads and into what was just becoming to That Girl, she named her collection desperately ill kids would travel to the women’s movement. It That Woman. “I remember once riding in the car from around the world, and where led the way for other strong with him when I was around 7 or 8. no family would pay for their child’s female TV protagonists that Remembering Danny Thomas We passed a bunch of boys beating up treatment. followed. through Marlo’s eyes on another little boy. Dad slammed on Danny Thomas’s father came from the brakes and got out of the car.