Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia will be a guest of honor at the benefit production, “Night of Stars,” to be presented at the Yankee Stadium on Thursday evening by the amusement division of the United Jewish Appeal to raise funds for German-Jewish relief, it was announced yesterday by Louis K. Sidney, chairman of the program committee.
“No cause is more urgent or appealing than that of the unhappy refugees from Nazi Germany,” the Mayor declared, in expressing his sympathy with the non-sectarian effort of the amusement world to aid the exiles from the Reich. “It is good to have the ‘Night of Stars’ for these people who live in the darkness of a great political and moral disaster.
“I learn with interest, but without surprise,” the Mayor added, “that many of the most distinguished figures of the theatre are giving their services for this extraordinary occasion.”
The performance will culminate New York City’s effort to raise $1,200,000 for the United Jewish Appeal for the relief and rehabilitation of German Jews. Nathan Straus Jr., I. Edwin Goldwasser and Ira M. Younker are co-chairmen of the drive, and Mrs. Roger W. Straus is chairman of the women’s division.
A new feature of the show, announced by Mr. Sidney, will be “The Parade of Great American Composers,” in which writers of popular songs will conduct the orchestra in their favorite numbers. Among participants will be Richard Rodgers, Harry Von Tilzer, Johnny Green, Lou Brown, Arthur Schwartz, Ray Henderson, James Rosamond Johnson, Harold Arlen, Lou Alter, W. C. Handy, Dana Suesse, Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Sigmund Romberg and George Gershwin.
Goerge Jessel will be master of ceremonies of the show and will also preside over “George Jessel’s Round Table,” which will contain forty-five other stars, including Jack Pearl, George Sidney, Major Edward Bowes, Arthur Tracy, Peggy Taylor, Harry Hershfield, Ed Lowry, Primo Carnero, Gertrude Niesen and Kate Smith. The Fokine Ballet will present its “Prince Igor” dance.
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