November 16, 2005
The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute mourn
the loss of supporter and broadcaster, Ralph Edwards
The staff and the extended family of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and its fundraising arm, the Jimmy Fund, mourn the loss of broadcasting pioneer, Ralph Edwards. Edwards was instrumental in launching the Jimmy Fund in 1948.
As host of the top-rated "Truth or Consequences" audience-participation show in the 1940s, Edwards used his popularity to promote several charitable efforts. In the spring of 1948, he was approached by George Swartz, of the Variety Club of New England, a social and giving organization connected with the entertainment industry, with a request to help support the work of Sidney Farber, M.D., a pediatric cancer specialist in Boston. Farber was testing a drug to treat childhood leukemia, a disease that was uniformly fatal at that time and many people were not aware that children even got cancer.
"Ralph couldn't have known when he agreed to help what a huge impact the organization he helped to launch would have on the fight against cancer," says Mike Andrews, chairman of the Jimmy Fund. "But his first broadcast for Dr. Farber began a fundraising effort that now raises over $45 million every year for cancer research and care."
Edwards did a live radio broadcast (which can be heard at www.jimmyfund.org) from the bedside of a 12-year-old cancer patient, who was dubbed "Jimmy" to preserve his anonymity. The Saturday night broadcast started with Edwards speaking before a live studio audience in Hollywood and then cutting to the Children's Hospital room of Jimmy. The theme of the broadcast was to get donations to buy a television set for this baseball fan stricken with cancer so that he could watch his beloved Boston Braves from his bed.
As the two chatted coast-to-coast, members of the Boston Braves baseball team filed into the room on cue with autographed balls, bats, and jerseys for Jimmy. Once the group had assembled, a piano was rolled in and Jimmy led a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Cutting back to the studio, Edwards concluded the broadcast with an emotional appeal to his listeners for them to help get Jimmy his TV set.
The response was immediate. Nearby listeners dropped off donations minutes after Edwards went off the air. Within a week, more than $20,000 was raised. Communities throughout New England held fundraisers for the cause, governors of all six New England states declared Jimmy Fund days, and within a year a phenomenal $231,485.51 was collected (approximately $1.7 million in today's dollars).
Within four years, more than $1 million had been raised and the Jimmy Fund Clinic was built. Since its beginnings in 1948, the Jimmy Fund has raised more than $400 million and helped to fund one of the greatest medical success stories of the past 50 years — the improvement in cure rates for childhood cancers, from less than 10 percent to greater than 70 percent and as high as 90 percent for some forms of the disease. The charity helped build Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which is now recognized as one of the world's leaders in cancer care and research for both adult and childhood cancers.
"Edwards came to visit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute — what ultimately grew out of that broadcast — about 20 years ago," says Andrews," and was overwhelmed by what he had helped create. I know he took a lot of personal pride from being there to help get Dr. Farber's work off the ground."
Listen to the 1948 radio broadcast with "Jimmy"
To learn more about the Jimmy Fund today, visit www.jimmyfund.org.
NOTE: Historical Ralph Edwards, "Jimmy" photos and audio of the original 1948 Edwards/Jimmy Fund broadcast available upon request.
