By Daily Press staff
A group of local doctors is silently raising money for sick individuals in one of the poorest nations on the planet.
The second annual Silent Movie Extravaganza on Valentine’s weekend will feature the comedy-romance “Girl Shy” starring Harold Lloyd, the “King of Daredevil Comedy,” as a benefit for the Santa Monica-based Lighthouse Medical Mission Team’s trip to Sierra Leone in March.
“Girl Shy” is being made available by the Harold Lloyd Trust. Lloyd ranked in popularity with two other famous silent film comedians of the 1920s — Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
The evening will include appearances by actresses Patricia Heaton of the television series “Everybody Loves Raymond” and Nancy Travis of “Becker,” and by Mark Steines, the co-host of “Entertainment Tonight.” An oral auction will feature a Mexican cruise. Live orchestral accompaniment for the movie will be led by Robert Israel.
The event will help the all-volunteer medical team make its seventh annual visit to West Africa under the direction of Dr. Robert Hamilton, a Santa Monica pediatrician. Hamilton expects the largest team ever — close to 50 doctors, nurses and helpers — to make the trip in late March to Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has appeared in some rankings as the poorest country in the world and was racked by a civil war from 1991 to 2002. During last year’s trip, the Lighthouse Medical Mission Team helped care for approximately 3,500 patients in a week-long clinic in the capital of Freetown and during a visit to Enema in Eastern Sierra Leone. Many of the people in those areas wouldn’t otherwise get treatment if it weren’t for the medical team, Hamilton said.
The benefit is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, in the newly refurbished historic Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave.
Tickets are $50 and advanced reservations are needed. Call (310) 264-2100
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 5, 2005. Read the original PDF.