| John
Wells and Daniel Petrie, Jr., President and Vice President of the
WGAw, have been named to the Entertainment Industry Advisory Board
of Rx Laughter, a first-of- its-kind UCLA Medical Center research
project studying the healing benefits of laughter.
During the five-year study, which focuses on ill children and adolescents
with depressed immune systems, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer
Center will try to determine if laughter can help reduce pain, and
prevent and treat diseases.
Board members include children and grandchildren of Charlie Chaplin,
Buster Keaton, Harpo Marx, W.C. Fields and Lou Costello. In addition,
Bob Carroll, Jr., and Madelyn Pugh Davis, writers of I Love Lucy,
the founder of Action for Children's Television and the presidents
of the ATAS, the WB Television Network, the Children's Television
Workshop, the DGA and the WGAw are serving on the board. Comedy
Central is underwriting the first phase of the project. The project
is being spearheaded by former television network executive Sherry
Dunay Hilber.
If a positive biological response to laughter is found, the cartoons,
TV shows and films could be incorporated into the care of ill children
during procedures such as blood draws and chemotherapy to alleviate
stress and fear.
Find out more by visiting www.rxlaughter.org.
Bob Carroll, Jr., Madelyn Pugh Davis
and dialysis
patient Tony Serrano
Photo by Scott Roeben
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