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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 22
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Captain takes ‘Planet’ party to both coasts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To celebrate its 13th annual Xmas Party fund-raiser, eco nonprofit Captain Planet Foundation will throw a bi-coastal bash next month.
First up, will be an event at the Jules Verne Film Festival at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles where Ted Turner will be honored for his environmental work. A screening of an episode of “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” for 3,000 kids (the educational ecological ‘toon conceived by the CNN founder was originally broadcast on his TBS and Cartoon Network channels) will be followed by a reunion of the notable voice talent behind the cartoon. Green-minded celebs, including Ed Begley Jr., Jessica Capshaw, Sally Kirkland, Malcolm McDowell, Buzz Aldrin, LeVar Burton and possibly Martin Sheen will be in attendance.
The two coast fund-raiser has been in the works since January.
Explained tireless Captain Planet Foundation special projects senior director K.P. Hendry to Buzz this week: “I’m good at thinking these things up, but the problem is then I have to make it actually happen!”
On Dec. 14, the fund-raising moves back here to the Tabernacle downtown where Turner, his daughter and co-chair Laura Turner Seydel and others will help host this year’s “Visionary Voyages” -themed Xmas Party with headlining world music rock act Kan ‘Nal.
The Denver-based group is so green, they had to be convinced to leave their bio- diesel bus parked at home,
Explains Hendry: “I didn’t want them getting stuck in ice while coming across the country from Denver. They finally agreed to fly.”
Many longtime Atlanta supporters of the foundation already have purchased VIP tickets to events on both coasts. An added perk for the participants?
They’re also invited to a posh private cocktail party being thrown atop “Grease” director Randal Kleiser’s palatial Runyon Canyon Ranch home, where guests will have an envious view of Hollywood and Los Angeles below.
In its 13th year, how big is the Captain Planet Foundation’s Xmas Party? Well, when she discovered a conflict on her calendar, even Turner’s former spouse Jane Fonda graciously moved her 70th birthday bash (a pricey benefit for her G-CAPP charity) to Dec. 13 so she could support both causes.
Explained Hendry: “We should all be so lucky to have such good rapport with our exes. It’s like what Ted has said all these years. ‘If you work together, you can accomplish anything.’”
or additional info and tickets: www.xmasparty.org
Hawks’ Turkey Day tipped off to kids
Before celebrating the holiday with their friends and family this week, members of the Atlanta Hawks organization, including Tyronn Lue, Josh Smith and Zaza Pachulia, partnered with the Children’s Restoration Network to throw a turkey dinner for in-need kids. The event at Hudson Grill this week featured players and coaches serving up Thanksgiving meals with all the trimmings to children from area group homes. After joining the kids for dinner, the Hawks distributed gift bags and signed autographs. We’re told that the equally civic-minded Hudson Grille hooked the Hawks up with all of the food for the event, as well as the use of the restaurant and staff.
Munchkins merit new Hollywood star
Almost 70 years after “The Wizard of Oz” premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a few of the film’s Munchkins — including Georgian Karl Slover — made a grand entrance there this week to receive a collective star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Seven of the surviving actors who played the inhabitants of Munchkinland in the 1939 classic attended the ceremony, arriving in a horse-drawn carriage and trailed by a marching band. A yellow carpet, resembling the film’s yellow brick road, led them to the stage. One tap-danced, and another sang. “We love you; you have touched our hearts,” former Munchkin Mickey Carroll, 88, told the crowd. Carroll was joined by former Munchkin colleagues Slover, Ruth Duccini, Jerry Maren, Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, and Clarence Swensen. “I’m as proud today as my mother would have been,” said Joey Luft, the son of Judy Garland. Garland, who played the movie’s wide-eyed orphan, Dorothy Gale, died of a drug overdose in 1969. Slover was one of more than 100 adults and children who were recruited for “Oz” to play the natives of what author L. Frank Baum called Munchkin Country in his 1900 book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” They only made $125 a week while filming, followed by decades of recognition.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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