Variety – the Children's Charity South Australia

The grotto and wishing well were formally dedicated on Sunday, April 9, 1961, in a ceremony arranged by Disneyland's entertainment director, Tommy Walker.

25 young boys and girls from 25 nations and members of Variety Clubs International were invited to the ceremony, and they heard Walt Disney give this dedication speech.

Wishing long has been a favorite subject of mine.

Wishes have come true for many of the characters in my motion pictures, and for me too.

Down through the ages, people have used different symbols to wish for things.

Sometimes they looked at the stars and other times the symbol was something else, very often wishing wells.

Variety Clubs International is known throughout the world as the heart of show business.

Its work helping needy children is carried out through many charities in many lands.

That's a lot of accreditation I have somehow amassed in this life.

Or like, I forgot I volunteered and was on the board of the Variety Club, international children's charity.

And I like ran an event that generated, you know, $100,000 or whatever it is, even if it's like 5,000, that's a big deal.

And it's so... putting it all down and then really getting a clear black and white picture of your awesomeness and then go to your boss and say, ah, so how I told my boss, and then I will stop talking because I want to hear from you guys that how it will be interesting.

We did a trade show here called Focus on Video.

We brought star- we did galas of old stars, uh, older stars, I should say, and then tri- the money went to the Variety Club and, uh, Canadian Film Center and a couple of hospitals in town.

That is Salah Bashir in conversation about a book that he wrote, a memoir.

Uh, two years ago, he and I sat down for a conversation, but I knew Salah Bashir from the whole gala circuit.

And when that didn't happen, I then had to reinvent myself.

And so I had a great successful career at Variety Village and Variety the Children's Charity.

And then again, I should have listened to my early self, and I didn't, and I ran for politics again.

Well, every time they pull you back in, so it's like the Godfather 3, you were pulled back into politics.

So we'll have a look at that this afternoon.

If you're a horsepower enthusiast, maybe you love cars and motorbikes of all descriptions, you wanna help Variety - the Children's Charity, you can do so this Saturday.

It is Horsepower for Hope.

So we'll meet the genius behind that this afternoon.

... where we got 75,000 for Little Heroes.

Amazing.

Uh, and this year we were approached by, um, Variety to-

Mm