The Israel Emergency Fund telethon Sunday night, which raised close to $3.5 million as a result of a broadcast that lasted until 1:30 a.m. Monday morning on WPIX-TV, Channel 11, was bringing in some 10,000 contributions and $1 million an hour at its peak, officials of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York found today in processing the flood of pledges phoned in.
More than $3.25 million was already on the total board when the show went off the air. The volunteer telephone crew from UJA’s Young Leadership Division recorded tens of thousands of dollars more before exhaustion forced the shutting down of the telephones. Additional pledges have been phoned to the switchboard at the UJA of Greater New York’s headquarters since then.
The show was hosted by Herschel Bernardi and Virginia Graham. More than two dozen stars and celebrities took part. The telethon was produced in five days by Michael Krauss and Walter Hamilton.
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