Sergio Franchi - Philanthropy and Benefit Concerts

Philanthropy and Benefit Concerts

Very early in his American career, Sergio Franchi possessed the star power to be in demand as a draw for major charity and benefit shows. (His 1962 debut concerts in Boston were organized to benefit The Home For Italian Children in Jamaica Plain.) During his dual-billing cabaret show with Barbra Streisand at the Eden Roc Hotel, they were both recruited for the American Cancer Society Benefit (MC, Bob Hope) at the Paramount Theater in Palm Beach, Florida on March 17, 1963. Along with other stars, they performed before a capacity audience at what was called "the highlight of the season." In 1965, Franchi (with Itzhak Perlman, Richard Tucker, & Vivienne della Chiesa) performed at Madison Square Garden—raising $150,000 for the annual "Music Under the Stars" benefiting the American-Israeli Cultural Foundation. Later that year Sergio Franchi joined MC Jack Benny and other stars (John Browning, concert pianist; Yoel Sharr, Israeli comedian; and Phyllis Curtin, Metropolitan Opera star) for a United Nations Delegates Concert on September 10. Then, in 1967, New York City's WDNT held their annual fundraising (more than $125,000 anticipated) show, "13 Stars for Channel 13." Franchi joined Itzak Perlman, Shirley Verrett, & Buffy Sainte-Marie in the event hosted by Tony Randall. Some notable benefits at which Franchi performed during the 1970s include Milwaukee's "Fight for Sight" benefit hosted by Bob Hope at Philharmonic Hall (1971); and a star-filled Easter Seals telethon from Las Vegas at the enormous Sahara Hotel convention hall in 1972 (Raised a million dollars: Franchi performed and made a personal donation) On June 3, 1984, Franchi was a featured performer at the "7th Annual Lions Sight & Hearing Telethon" on New Orleans' WGNO-TV. In October 1979 while performing in Ohio, Franchi visited the Villa Serena Seniors and sang a program for them.

Perhaps Franchi's largest fund-raising benefit of all (a political event), in 1982 he single-handedly raised over $600,000 during a three-day concert tour of Massachusetts on behalf of the re-election campaign of Governor King. Again the Franchi-fete was referred to as "the social event of the season." But Franchi also responded to smaller local requests. In 1982 he performed at the Pawcatuck VFW in Stonington, CT to benefit the Jimmy Fund; and performed in 1985 to raise funds to place a fountain in Garibaldi Square in New London, CT. He also donated time to help the group find a suitable fountain for the site. In 1987 Sergio Franchi and his sister, Dana Valery, performed at the Pierre Hotel in NYC to support research for the Scleroderma Society. In later life, Franchi donated prints of some of his watercolors for charitable sales. When (in 1988) asked about his up-coming performance at Ninigret Park to benefit the Rhode Island chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Franchi stated; "When you've been as fortunate as I have, you have to do something for other people." Franchi cancelled a paid performance to assist the charity, and the show was expected to net over $100,000 for the MDA.

Though extremely proud to have become an American citizen on October 13, 1972, Franchi was a strong supporter of his Italian heritage. He became active very early with the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), and regularly performed in benefit of the Boys' Towns of Italy and the Girls' Towns of Italy. The first Boys' Town facility was founded in Civitavecchia, Italy in 1945 by Irish Monseigneur John Patrick Carroll-Abbing... as a result of seeing the plight of Italy's destitute children after WWII. Subsequent facilities have been built by Americans of all faiths through benefit activities. As of 1977 these Towns organizations had assisted more than 200,000 children by building nurseries and day-care centers in poverty-stricken areas of Southern Italy; and by building facilities to house, school, and give vocational training to orphaned and abandoned children.

Sergio Franchi was recruited (while visiting back in Italy) to perform possibly his first Boys' Towns Benefit Concert at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco on May 4, 1963. Other highlights of Franchi's support for these children's organizations include a 1967 sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. When Sergio Franchi performed for a benefit at the Civic Auditorium in Chicago, the Italian-American organizing committee arranged for Mayor Richard J. Daley and Governor Richard B. Ogilvie to proclaim May 13, 1969 as "Boys Towns of Italy Day." As part of the 1970 celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of Boys' Towns of Italy, Franchi performed in benefits at New York's Philharmonic Hall, and at New Orleans' Municipal Auditorium. Sergio Franchi again performed in New Orleans for a Boys' Towns Benefit with Dana Valery in 1974. In 1975 he drew a full house of 2,300 in Milwaukee at the Performing Arts Center to benefit Boys' Towns of Italy. In Pittsburgh, Franchi performed benefits in 1975 and 1977 at Heinz Hall in support of Boys' Towns. More Benefit performances in New Orleans for the 30th Anniversary Benefit (1975) at the Theater for the Performing Arts; and for a Boys' Towns Benefit Gala on November 4, 1977. Franchi performed in New York at the Waldorf Hotel on March 17, 1980 on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the founding of Boys' Towns of Italy. But many of these children's benefits throughout his career were in local concert halls. (Larry King likes to tell a funny story about how he was recruited by a local organizer to MC one of these Franchi Boys' Towns benefits.)