Kentucky Fried Cash

A stock gag line of young comedians is that they would like to host a fund-raising telethon, but by the time they got into the business "all the diseases were taken." Not quite. There is still the financial anemia that attacks many U.S. institutions, including political parties. The Democrats, for example, are heading into the 1972 campaign carrying a debt of $9.3 million. In hopes of easing that burden, the party this weekend will stage the most ambitious telethon ever put on the screen.

Broadcast live from Hollywood, Miami Beach and Las Vegas, with various taped inserts, the 23-hour extravaganza will be the equivalent of a whole season of half-hour specials, or 46 shows featuring more than 170 name performers (among them: Henry Fonda, Shirley MacLaine, Andy Williams, Dionne Warwicke, Henry Mancini, Robert Goulet, Milton Berle and Sally Kellerman). The only commercials will be soft-sell pitches for the party: "If you're up at this hour and can't sleep because you're worried about your oil-depletion allowance, this program is not for you." The organizers hope to have 10,000 volunteers manning phones in 35 cities to collect donations. Arrangements have been made with two credit-card companies to allow their 51 million card holders to charge their contributions.

The show will be produced by Hollywood TV Veteran Bob Banner. But the real force behind the show is John Brown, the 38-year-old Louisville entrepreneur who parlayed Colonel Sanders' Kentucky Fried Chicken into a multimillion-dollar fortune. To win party support, Brown has even offered to guarantee two-thirds of the show's $1.5 million cost, in the event that everybody goes to bed early Saturday night. Brown says that his main motive is to save the two-party system by pulling the Democrats out of hock. Beyond that, he admits he has a hankering to run for the Senate from Kentucky.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.