One likes to imagine comedian Gilda Radner up there in heaven, smiling. She would surely be pleased at the success of a gala named after her. Invoking the spirit of the comedienne who died in 1989 of ovarian cancer at the age of 42, the Gilda Gala is put on by the Cancer Support Community of Los Angeles.
This year’s fundraising event –the fifth– was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City on Saturday night, October 19, where guests began the evening with a festive cocktail hour outdoors before moving into the ballroom for the gala dinner.
CSCLA is the evolution of an organization founded 37 years ago by Dr. Harold and Harriet Benjamin, then called The Wellness Community, which joined forces with Radner’s Gilda’s Club. Its overriding goal is to make cancer patients feel that they are not alone by providing emotional and medical support.
“Gilda’s warmth and humor infuses the organization to this day and is why we named the gala in her honor,” said Julia Forth, CEO of the non-profit, before turning the reins over to emcee Alonzo Bodden, who mixed his trademark brand of humor with seriousness. “Thursday it was autism, today it’s cancer and tomorrow it’s psoriasis,” he noted, before also joking about the sunscreen in the gift bag.
Annette Stanton, PhD was given the Innovation Award for her work as a professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at UCLA. Her research has identified factors that can either aid or hinder psychological and physical health in people undergoing chronically stressful experiences, including dealing with cancer. She shared that she began this advocacy in 1980 when her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died within months, after she felt he did not receive the proper care.
“Adversity creates opportunity,” she said. “Accepting support from others and finding places to express emotion tends to work better. Accepting professional help is a sign of strength.”
Los Angeles television personality Jillian Barberie broke down in tears as she presented the Wellness Legacy honor to Bedford Breast Center in Beverly Hills. She cried when she talked about the four female doctors there who saved her life after she was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago and underwent a double mastectomy.
Doctors Cassileth, Memsic, Richardson and Killeen lauded her bravery and for lightening the burden of going through the process. The doctors said the medical aspect is only one piece and it’s important to educate, comfort and shepherd people through a very scary time. They also thanked CSCLA for all it does in this regard.
Ken Jeong’s co-star in “Crazy Rich Asians,” Awkwafina, presented him with the Community Champion honor and introduced a video with well-known faces including Rob Riggle, Jenny McCarthy, Robin Thicke and Dr. Drew Pinsky lauding his work supporting the mission of CSCLA. There were also clips of Jeong in his breakout hit “The Hangover,” as well as his current stint as a judge on Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” a musical competition format Jeong brought to the United States from Korea.
Jeong, whom many people know is also a doctor spoke movingly about his wife Tran’s breast cancer diagnosis more than a decade ago, while she was nursing their twins. She is cancer-free.
“I didn’t want to get emotional but this is really personal,” he said. “Her diagnosis was triple-negative breast cancer. We couldn’t have made it through without some of the people in this room including our oncologist, Dr. Chow.”
“I love that this is equal parts comedy and community, like Gilda,” he said in closing.
The festivities then moved to another part of the hotel for a standup comedy after-show which Jeong participated in, along with Jenny Yang, Chris Bryant and Tamer Kattan.
To go from tears to laughter was the most fitting way to end the evening.
