As modern parents, a dollar doesn’t go very far. It might buy a piece of candy, half a kid’s meal or a small toy, if you are lucky. But, this summer it can buy entertainment, sanity and hope. All at the same time.
For nine weeks starting in June, participating Regal Cinemas, United Artists and Edwards Theatres will offer selected G or PG rated movies for only a dollar every Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10 a.m. A portion of proceeds from the Summer Movie Express will be donated to the Will Rogers Institute.
Named after the legendary actor, humanitarian and philanthropist, the charity started out as a hospital for tuberculosis-stricken Vaudevillians. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, tuberculosis (TB) was as familiar to vaudevillians as the cold dressing rooms, drafty theatres and damp hotels that prorogated the disease. In 1927, the National Vaudeville Artists (NVA) founded a lodge at Saranac Lake, New York, as a convalescent home for performers afflicted with TB. The mission of the hospital was to treat TB patients as welcome and wanted friends, not outcasts.
Today, the Will Rogers Institute funds four acclaimed research hospitals and nine fellowships across the United States and is located in Los Angeles. The Institute is making strides every day in understanding, treating, and curing pulmonary diseases and disorders. Dr. Edward Crandall, Will Rogers Institute Medical Advisor, states:
"There are 25 million people in the United States who are known to suffer from a lung disorder. The Institute allows our research scientists to study how the lung works at its most basic levels. What we learn results in new treatment for very serious lung diseases and ultimately provides better health care for everybody."
From our beginnings as a lodge for entertainers with tuberculosis, to the modern-day organization striving to help individuals and families through health, education and research, the Institute continues to embrace and enhance Will Rogers' humanitarian spirit.
It always perpetuates the tradition of families enjoying a few hours of Hollywood magic. Residents in North County San Diego (Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside) can enjoy the following movie schedule:
6/26 – 10:00 a.m. – LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS
6/27 – 10:00 a.m. – YOGI BEAR
7/03 – 10:00 a.m. – CATS & DOGS: REVENGE
7/04 – 10:00 a.m. – HUGO
7/10 – 10:00 a.m. – ADVENTURES OF TIN TIN
7/11 – 10:00 a.m. – PUSS IN BOOTS
7/17 – 10:00 a.m. – KUNG FU PANDA 2
7/18 – 10:00 a.m. – RANGO
7/24 – 10:00 a.m. – RIO
7/25 – 10:00 a.m. – SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME
7/31 – 10:00 a.m. – CHIMPANZEE
8/01 – 10:00 a.m. – HOODWINKED TOO
8/07 – 10:00 a.m. – ARTHUR CHRISTMAS
8/08 – 10:00 a.m. – SMURFS
And as the summer sun peaks in the sky, parents can sit in the cool enclosure of the theatre and entertain their children for a small fee. Allowing themselves the ability to breathe a little easier, as well as thousands of pulmonary patients across the nation. Will Rogers might have once said, “Being a hero is about the shortest-lived profession on earth.” However, the Will Rogers Institute and the Summer Movie Express are proof that true visionary heroism lives on.
