CORE VIRTUES
  • Home
  • Our Approach
    • Program Overview
    • Why Stories?
    • Implementation
    • The Morning Gathering
    • Suggested Book Lists >
      • Year One Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Two Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Three Suggested Booklists
      • PDF Book Lists
    • Digging Deeper
    • Telling our Stories >
      • Blog Archives >
        • 2018 Blog Archives
        • 2019 Blog Archives
        • 2020 Blog Archives
        • 2021 Blog Archives
        • 2022 Blog Archives
        • 2023 Blog Archives
  • About Us
    • A Little History
    • Mission
    • Board and Staff >
      • Mary Beth Klee
    • Core Virtues Schools
    • Our First Champion >
      • The Portsmouth Declaration
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
  • Virtue of the Month
    • Virtue Cycle Definitions
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
  • Cycle of Virtues
    • Year 1
    • Year 2
    • Year 3
  • Heroes-Lives to Learn From
    • September Heroes
    • October Heroes
    • November Heroes
    • December Heroes
    • January Heroes
    • February Heroes
    • March Heroes
    • April Heroes
    • May Heroes
    • June Heroes
  • Holidays
    • Labor Day
    • Veteran's / Memorial Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Martin Luther King Jr
    • President's Day
    • Black History Month
    • Saint Patrick's Day
    • Women's History Month
    • Passover
    • Easter
    • Ramadan
    • Immigrant Heritage Month
  • Poetry
  • Core Knowledge Connections
    • Kindergarten
    • First Grade
    • Second Grade
    • Third Grade
    • Fourth Grade
    • Fifth Grade
    • Sixth Grade
  • Links
  • Anthologies
  • Chapter Books
  • Parent Teacher Bibliography
  • Schools of Faith
    • Saint of the Month >
      • January Saints
      • February Saints
      • March Saints
    • Jewish Schools
    • Christian Schools
    • Islamic Schools
    • Eastern Faith Traditions
  • Grade Level Goals
    • Kindergarten Goals
    • First Grade Goals
    • Second Grade Goals
    • Third Grade Goals
    • Fourth Grade Goals
    • Fifth Grade Goals
    • Sixth Grade Goals
  • Store
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Our Approach
    • Program Overview
    • Why Stories?
    • Implementation
    • The Morning Gathering
    • Suggested Book Lists >
      • Year One Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Two Suggested Book Lists
      • Year Three Suggested Booklists
      • PDF Book Lists
    • Digging Deeper
    • Telling our Stories >
      • Blog Archives >
        • 2018 Blog Archives
        • 2019 Blog Archives
        • 2020 Blog Archives
        • 2021 Blog Archives
        • 2022 Blog Archives
        • 2023 Blog Archives
  • About Us
    • A Little History
    • Mission
    • Board and Staff >
      • Mary Beth Klee
    • Core Virtues Schools
    • Our First Champion >
      • The Portsmouth Declaration
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
  • Virtue of the Month
    • Virtue Cycle Definitions
    • September
    • October
    • November
    • December
    • January
    • February
    • March
    • April
    • May
    • June
  • Cycle of Virtues
    • Year 1
    • Year 2
    • Year 3
  • Heroes-Lives to Learn From
    • September Heroes
    • October Heroes
    • November Heroes
    • December Heroes
    • January Heroes
    • February Heroes
    • March Heroes
    • April Heroes
    • May Heroes
    • June Heroes
  • Holidays
    • Labor Day
    • Veteran's / Memorial Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Martin Luther King Jr
    • President's Day
    • Black History Month
    • Saint Patrick's Day
    • Women's History Month
    • Passover
    • Easter
    • Ramadan
    • Immigrant Heritage Month
  • Poetry
  • Core Knowledge Connections
    • Kindergarten
    • First Grade
    • Second Grade
    • Third Grade
    • Fourth Grade
    • Fifth Grade
    • Sixth Grade
  • Links
  • Anthologies
  • Chapter Books
  • Parent Teacher Bibliography
  • Schools of Faith
    • Saint of the Month >
      • January Saints
      • February Saints
      • March Saints
    • Jewish Schools
    • Christian Schools
    • Islamic Schools
    • Eastern Faith Traditions
  • Grade Level Goals
    • Kindergarten Goals
    • First Grade Goals
    • Second Grade Goals
    • Third Grade Goals
    • Fourth Grade Goals
    • Fifth Grade Goals
    • Sixth Grade Goals
  • Store
  • Privacy Policy

Telling Our Stories

Danny Thomas: Heroism and Humor

6/1/2020

1 Comment

 
What is it about humor, laughter, and wit that we human beings just crave? The word “humor” even derives from the root word “human.” Initially, “humor” referred to the body fluids (blood, bile, etc) that were considered the human essence. But by the eighteenth century, “humor” was associated with the comedic, the funny—as if recognizing that what
makes us laugh is indeed part of our life blood.

Maybe that’s why, during this time of dire straits, we are glued to our Seinfeld and Office re-runs, or all eleven seasons of Frasier. That’s why Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman will have Everlasting Life on You Tube. Humor, when well done, is based on keen observation of the human condition, and willingness to poke fun at our shortcomings. We laugh because suddenly our pretensions are exposed in ridiculous ways. Think of Lucille Ball stuffing every last piece of candy from the assembly line into her mouth so as not to be exposed as an inefficient employee.

Comedy, at its best, is a noble profession because it puts our human strutting in humble perspective, and if only for a moment, makes us take ourselves less seriously. We all need that. We’re even suspicious of those who lack a sense of humor, since that trait goes hand in hand with a grim and titanic ego. “Deadly serious” is an apt phrase, describing a mortal flaw, a killer of the human spirit.
Picture
So, are comedians therefore heroes? Exemplars of superhuman traits? Not always, maybe not even usually. But my thoughts—because of various commercials I’ve been watching between re-runs—are on one humorous hero in particular: Danny Thomas, founder of St. Jude’s Research Hospital for Children. Millennials may not have heard of the Funny Man who made Americans laugh from the 1940s through the 1980s. Born of Lebanese parents as Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz in Toledo, Ohio, he was one of ten children and grew up in a poor, but close-knit immigrant neighborhood. The ambitious young man had a gift for humor and longed to be a star of stage and screen.

Archives

June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018

Picture
But what an unlikely star. First, there was his name – nearly unpronounceable to his American pals. So, he Americanized it to “Danny Thomas” by adopting one name from each of his brothers. Then there was his nose, the caricature feature that cartoonists loved to mock.
Though urged by studio execs to “get rid of the schnoz,” he declined and decided to take his chances. He went on to become a renowned nightclub entertainer and a TV star. The series Make Room for Daddy and then The Danny Thomas Show brightened two decades, as he made us laugh at ourselves. And yet relatively early in his career, Danny provided his most lasting legacy, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. That was hugely heroic.

In the 1950s, Thomas, though famous, was not rolling in dough. He was raising a young family of his own, but his philanthropy sprang from two sources: his humility and his heart. He never considered his success in show biz as truly his own. He knew his desired path was a long shot, and when it looked like he might have to leave show business to get a steady job, Thomas, a devout Catholic, prayed to St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. “If you allow me success in this life path, I will build you a shrine,” he promised. And then “what about a hospital to save  kids, whose future is threatened in the very dawn of life?”
 
St. Jude came through for Danny and Danny came through for St. Jude. The research hospital in Memphis, TN broke ground in 1962, when Thomas himself could not afford to endow it. Instead, in 1957 he mobilized the Lebanese and Syrian immigrant community that he grew up with to work on its behalf. ALSAC, the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, came into being as a way of expressing gratitude to a land that had given them such opportunity. But Thomas didn’t stop there. He enlisted every funny man he knew (and he knew them all: Milton Berle, George Burns, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, and Sammy Davis Jr.) to host benefits for the new project. Soon a sprawling campus of medical energy sprang from the ground. Scared young children and their parents would arrive to receive new treatment and new hope.

Today St. Jude’s thrives and its mission is simple: to find cures for childhood diseases (mostly cancer) and save children. They’ve been spectacularly successful, recognized internationally as a major center of research and treatment. The overall childhood cancer survival rate in 1962 was 20%. Thanks to research at St. Jude's and elsewhere, today’s survival rate is over 80%. St. Jude’s itself has a 94% survival rate, which is up from 4% in 1962. Not only do physicians and staff attend to the young patients, but family travel, stay, and meals are all paid for at St. Jude’s. No family receives a bill. “Because all a family should worry about,” at this time they tell us “is helping their child live.”

Thomas wanted to make people laugh, lighten the heavy burden of life with a funny bit that left people howling and clamoring for more. “Did you kill ‘em?” is the classic question to a comedian. “I murdered 'em!” comes the reply from a successful comic. But deathly imagery is only a way of signaling momentary relief from the burden of life. Make Room for Danny! Ultimately, this Hollywood star used his gifts and fame not for himself, but to give children hope. His work ensured that the young would enjoy the burden and adventure of life, and that their laughter would live on. Seems to me that’s heroic, wise, and exemplary.

Mary Beth Klee

The Core Virtues Foundation is unaffiliated with St. Jude’s Research Hospital, but congratulates Marlo Thomas on continuing her father’s work and urges generous readers to read about their efforts at https://www.stjude.org/.

1 Comment

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home

About us

Resources

Contact

NEWSLETTER

Core Virtues Foundation Copyright © 2018