Celebrities Stage Benefit To Fund Animal Rights

Well-known artists gathered last night in Sanders Theater to read poems and sing about bears, elephants and crocodiles at a benefit performance for one of the nation's oldest animal rights organizations.

Proceeds from the concert will go to the Fund for Animals, which was founded in 1967 by Cleveland Amory '39, author of Who Killed Society? and the recent bestseller The Cat Who Came for Christmas.

"The Fund for Animals is often called 'the voice for the voiceless,'" said Amory in an interview. "[These performers have] put a new meaning to that."

For almost two hours, the performers read pieces ranging from humorous short poems by Ogden Nash to serious works like "The Buck in the Snow" by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

The performance marked the first independent production of the newly-formed Athens Street Company, which presents poetry in theatrical settings.

Members of the company, including Stockard Channing '65, Fran Lebowitz and James Taylor, were joined by guest performers such as Brooke Shields and Reynolds Price, who read a poem that he had written for the occasion.

The first half of the performance ended with the Flanders and Swann song "The Hippopotamus," with the audience singing along on the chorus of "Mud, mud, glorious mud..."

Shields read the short poem "Lizards" by D.H. Lawrence, and Channing gave arendition of Stevie Smith's "O Pug!" As part of atrio, Taylor sang "Bears" by Michael O'Donoghue.After several opening lines, the group sangvariations of the word "Bears" repeatedly forseveral minutes.

"I think mixing the humor with the sadness is agood idea," said Amory.

The Fund for Animals benefit was organized byKathryn Walker, one of the founding members of theAthens Street Company. Approximately 750 peoplepaid from $10 to $200 to attend the performance,which was followed by a reception.

The Fund for Animals works against cruelty to,and exploitation of, animals. In a recent lawsuit,the group won the cancellation of the hunting ofblack bears in California