I can get them for you, Mark, no problem.. Guy is friendly, will be sending me chips to sell for him. He comes from Pembroke Pines, FL.
That Variety Club is a real interesting, heartening story. Everyone should do a Google search on it.
This is from one of my auctions for a crest and seal chip "I am the Barker", the logo for the club:
TOUCHING STORY OF THE ORIGINS OF FAMOUS VARIETY CLUB, ITS CHARITY AND THE BARKER: The full story is here . Here are excerpts:"Variety - The Children’s Charity is a non-profit organization, chartered by the State of Pennsylvania on October 22, 1928, for the purpose of aiding physically, mentally and socially disadvantaged and special needs children in all corners of the world.
"October 10, 1927, was the date for Variety’s opening curtain. On this day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a group of eleven men, all close friends, decided to organize a social club where they could relax after work. For this purpose, a small room was rented in the William Penn Hotel. A decision to call the organization the Variety Club was appropriately made since the members encompassed various phases of show business.
"There was no intention of expanding, no thought of asking in additional members. There were no lofty objectives or commitments to an ideal. The cogent force for its existence was friendship. Had it not been for the intervention of fate on Christmas Eve of 1928, Variety International might not exist today. A one month old baby was abandoned that day and left on a seat in the Sheridan Square Theatre with a note pinned to her dress which reads as follows:
"Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of show business and pray to God that you will look out for her."
(signed) ‘A Heartbroken Mother’"When all efforts by the police and local newspapers failed to locate the parents, the club members, who included the theatre owner John H. Harris, who subsequently became Variety International’s first President, decided that the club could act as eleven “godfathers” and underwrite the infant’s support and education.
"The child was named Catherine Variety Sheridan, her middle name for the club and her last name for the theatre. The “godfathers” found a new interest in life and were proud that a distraught mother had entrusted her child to show people. The ensuing publicity put the Variety Club of Pittsburgh on the front pages of newspapers across the nation. Other men in show business wanted to help. They asked if they could join and soon the club room was too small.
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"The nomenclature adopted for the then Club and elective offices stems from the first banquet held by the original Variety Club of Pittsburgh in 1928, when it was one year old. Expecting some 35 persons to attend, they rented a small room in the William Penn Hotel. A few days before the event, it became evident there would be 75 or 80 in attendance. But the only other room available that day was the three story high ballroom which held 1,100 persons. So the Variety guests would not be lost in their surroundings, the Club erected a circus Tent in the ballroom and added circus acts and side shows, peanuts and pink lemonade.
"A Pittsburgh newspaper artist, designing the front cover of the menu, made a sketch depicting a typical mustachioed circus barker wearing a red frock coat, plaid vest and high silk hat. The drawing became the official insignia of the then Club and the circus titles were officially adopted by the membership.
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"Today, the organization embraces Tents (Chapters) in 11 countries and has raised more than one point eight billion dollars ($1,800,000,000) since its inception to support the ever increasing numbers of special needs children. The vernacular of the circus is still employed in the Variety structure with the clubs called “Tents” and the members “Barkers” ever since the first fundraising affair in Pittsburgh used the circus motif.
"Its membership has been drawn from the many-faceted world of entertainment, including top echelon creative talent and business executives from the amusement, business and communications world. It includes representatives of sports, carnival, music, recording and all other related leisure industries – stars, directors, and producers of stage, screen, radio and television – who carry on the show business tradition of bringing happiness to audiences through their God-given talents. But membership is not limited to those in the entertainment world; it is open to all who share Variety’s objectives."
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