MPTF Mission

"To enrich the lives of people in our Southern California entertainment community by continuously evolving to meet their health and human services needs. We are dedicated to offering programs and charitable services which are provided with compassion and respect for the dignity of the whole person."

As our community grows, so does the demand for our services.

Today, in keeping with our tradition, a contemporary group of talented and dedicated entertainment leaders is working through the MPTF Foundation to carry our vision of caring for individuals within our community well into the future.

MPTF Information Line (800) 876-8320

MPTF History

Celebrating 89 Years of Caring for the Entertainment Community

A heartfelt inspiration of entertainment industry visionaries, the Motion Picture & Television Fund began with a simple coin box in Hollywood where industry workers would deposit spare change for their fellow colleagues. Right from the start, our mission has been "We Take Care of Our Own."

The Motion Picture & Television Fund was created by such industry luminaries as Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith, who realized the need for reaching out to those in the entertainment industry who fell upon hard times. In 1921, the Motion Picture Relief Fund (MPRF) was incorporated with Joseph M. Schenck as first president, Mary Pickford as vice president and the Reverend Neal Dodd (who portrayed ministers in more than 300 films) as administrator, each with a benevolent spirit intent on providing assistance to those in the motion picture industry who were in need.

The originial Board of Trustees included many of the biggest names in Hollywood such as Harold Lloyd, Douglas Fairbanks, Mae Murray, William S. Hart, Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse L. Lasky, Charles Christie, Robert Fairbanks, Donald Crisp, Frank Woods, Fred Beetson, Hal Roach, Rupert Hughes, Rob Wagner, Ewell D. Moore, Irving Thalberg, Wedgewood Nowell and Alfred A. Cohn.

An acting couple received the first disbursement of assistance. The husband, a character actor for 37 years, and his wife, who was a chorus girl, had both appeared in movies for eight years. The husband became partially paralyzed and was unable to work. MPRF not only paid their $40 hotel bill, but also arranged rent for an apartment and work for the wife with Famous Players-Lasky and Realart.

The advent of talkies in the late twenties brought many changes to the film industry. While talkies launched many new careers, hundreds of actors, directors and writers who had not foreseen the change to the industry or their livelihood, became unemployed. MPRF came to their aid. As more requests for assistance were made, celebrity-packed benefits were held. Celebrity balls, benefit movie premieres, polo matches, fashion shows and card parties were all means of raising funds for MPRF with talent provided by the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Will Rogers and many other stars. These events raised thousands of dollars in aid, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the demand for assistance. Other methods of fundraising were needed.

Hollywood's big studio era during the 1930s sparked an idea. In 1932, Mary Pickford spearheaded the Payroll Pledge Program, a payroll deduction plan for those earning over $200 a week. Studio workers were asked to pledge one-half of one percent of their earnings to MPRF. In 1938, MPRF increased participation in the Payroll Pledge Program by including talent groups, unions and producer representatives. SAG greatly improved this effort by ruling for compulsory contributions by its Class A members.

Then-President Jean Hersholt was seeking an opportunity to supplement the income produced through Payroll Pledge. Jules Stein came up with the idea to have major movie stars appear on a new radio program, "The Screen Guild Show," whereby they would donate their normal salaries to MPRF. Members of the Directors and Writers Guilds also contributed their services to the program.

Sponsored by Gulf Oil, "The Screen Guild Show" made its premiere over 61 CBS stations in 1939. The first program starred such greats as Jack Benny, Judy Garland and Joan Crawford. "The Screen Guild Show" quickly became one of the most popular programs on network radio, raising $5.3 million for MPRF during its 13-year run. Every major star participated at least once: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Natalie Wood, Bob Hope, Betty Grable, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Tyrone Power, and the list goes on.

In 1940, Jean Hersholt found the property for the future Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital. They immediately sold seven acres to offset the costs for the first building of the Country House, designed by architect William Pereira. Mary Pickford and Jean Hersholt dug the first shovelfuls of earth. On September 27, 1942, three thousand members of the film community gathered in Woodland Hills for its dedication.

What started out as the Motion Picture Relief Fund has flourished into a comprehensive service organization which operates six outpatient health centers throughout the greater Los Angeles area; a children's center; a retirement community, health plans and much, much more.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund mission remains the same: to protect and preserve the health and quality of life of those who devote so much of their lives to a career in the entertainment industry. And so we turn to members and friends of the industry to help fulfill this mission by Taking Care of Our Own. Great vision is powerless without passion. Donations, large and small, are vital to MPTF's ability to provide services to industry members today, and make dreams of tomorrow a reality.

MPTF Information Line (800) 876-8320

How Does the Motion Picture &Television Fund Work For You?

• As a primary resource for care and services, exclusively for the union and non-union entertainment community.
• As a healthcare provider of choice, with a health plan tailored to the California entertainment industry.
• By providing child care, structured to be progressive for your child and convenient for you.
• By offering counseling, referrals, information and financial assistance for those who need it.
• By offering leading-edge retirement living, with an emphasis on dignity and quality.
  

You may think of us as the actor's retirement home, but we are also so much more. We take care of the entertainment family with a safety net of services that are available whenever you need them! MPTF services are available to active industry members and their families. Eligibility varies so call for more information.

• MPTF is unique as a national model of integrated health and human services and that there is no other such organization dedicated to taking care of a single industry.
• MPTF has six health centers located in Southern California.
• There is an active retirement community whose members enjoy a high quality of life, while living with their peers in an atmosphere of dignity.
• MPTF provides emergency financial assistance to help pay for things like rent, car payments, insurance premiums and utilities.
• MPTF can help with estate and financial planning, even if you are far away from retirement.
• MPTF is able to do all of these things thanks to a long legacy of support from members of the industry family through programs like payroll pledge, employee giving campaigns and major gifts.

MPTF Information Line (800) 876-8320