Danny Thomas’ ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Has a Hollywood/Fundraising Connection That Still Shines 50 Years Later

By Abny Santicola

The renowned research and treatment center, which cares for children from around the world at no cost to their families, was built on the hopes of a struggling entertainer, and it continues to hitch its awareness- and fundraising wagon to the hottest Hollywood stars of any given decade.

The son of Lebanese immigrants, Danny Thomas was trying to make it in “the biz” in the early 1950s. In a now-famous bargain, he vowed to build a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus if the patron saint of lost causes would guide him in his career.