Lifetime Achievement Award 1996

At seven RED BUTTONS was singing for pennies on the sidewalks of Manhattan's lower east side. He had red hair, blue eyes and a green sweater. He was a standout. At 16 he landed a big job, an entertaining bellhop at a tavern called the Ryan's. Dinty Moore, the then famous orchestra leader, saw the red hair and the buttons on the uniform, and dubbed him Red Buttons. After that he played the Catskills for $1.50 per week plus room and board. He worked with Robert Alda whose wife was pregnant with a boy who would be named Alan. Button often asks audiences, "What became of that boy" He got roles on Broadway but his real fame came when he starred in Moss Hart's "Winged Victory."

He was in the Army Air Corp at the time and did the Broadway show, followed by the motion picture. He then joined Mickey Rooney's outfits and entertained troops the rest of the war. He starred in one Broadway show after another, one movie after another. His television series, THE RED BUTTONS SHOW ran for three years. He won an Emmy, followed by an Oscar for the film, SAYONARA. He ranged from A MIDNIGHT SUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM to HARLOW, STAGECOACH and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE. In 1995 he was starring in BUTTONS ON BROADWAY.

He has participated in numerous charitable causes. He has been honored by the New York and California Friar's clubs, the City of Hope, the Eddie Cantor Foundation, and the Israel Cancer Research Fund.

We honored him with a Gold Angel for the laughter he has brought millions, for turning serious in his help for others, for the ingratiating smile, for the person that seven-year-old became.

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