ACT for Multiple Sclerosis is hosting its first live event since the pandemic shut everything down. ‘Marx on Marx Cabaret’ stars Bill Marx, pianist / composer; and Gregg Marx, Emmy award-winning actor / cabaret singer. This very special fundraiser will be held on Sunday, July 25, 2021 at Bellatrix at the Classic Club, at 75-200 Classic Club Blvd, Palm Desert, CA 92211. Individual Tickets at $150 each include hosted cocktails and appetizers; live performance followed by buffet dinner, and a tax-deductible donation, per IRS guidelines. Cocktails start at 4 PM; Performance starts at 5:15, followed by buffet dinner around 6:15. VIP tables of 8 in the front row go for $1,500. Tickets are available online at ACTforMS.org or by calling the office at 760-773-9806 and leaving a message. The non-profit ID number for ACT for MS is 33-0880635. You may also mail a check made out to ACT for MS to ACT For MS, 73710 Fred Waring Dr. #118, Palm Desert, CA 92260.
Bill Marx, son of Harpo Marx and Gregg Marx, grandson of Gummo Marx, will perform songs from The Great American Songbook. They will also engage in unique anecdotes about the famous family of vaudevillians and film stars.
Pianist and composer Bill Marx attended Juilliard School of Music for composing. He has a full repertoire of compositions for theatre, ballet, chamber music, symphonies, TV and film scores. He has also toured with many jazz artists. Once Bill moved to the Coachella Valley in 1993, he started playing at local clubs and restaurants. Bill Marx started the Jazz It Up summer series for ACT for MS in 2008. He has been on the Board of Directors since the org’s founding.
Gregg Marx recently moved to Palm Springs from the Los Angeles area. He is an Emmy Award winning TV actor (Days of Our Lives, As the World Turns, Doogie Howser, MD and more). As a singer, Gregg has appeared in some of the most celebrated cabaret venues in the country, including the world-famous Hollywood Cinegrill, Herb Alpert’s Vibrato, Catalina Jazz Club and The Gardenia in Los Angeles, The Rrazz Room at The Nikko in San Francisco and The Metropolitan Room in New York, thrilling audiences from coast to coast with his interpretations of classics from The Great American Songbook.
Bill and Gregg are thrilled to be able to perform together for a wonderful cause, and to introduce Gregg Marx to the Coachella Valley.
ACT for MS provides assistance for Coachella Valley residents living with Multiple Sclerosis, helping clients live stronger longer. Founded in 1999 by well-known local journalist and TV host Gloria Greer after daughter Norma was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the organization offers free programs which enhance clients’ quality of life. Programs offered free include strength training and massage; mobility aids such as wheelchairs, walkers and scooters; adaptive yoga; aquatics; wellness education; peer support activities and electric bill assistance for low income clients during the hot summer months. Quarterly luncheons and a resource center round out the free programs. All funds raised are spent here in the Coachella Valley. In order to become a client of ACT for MS, clients must have a letter from their neurologist and reside in the Coachella Valley. The pandemic shut down gyms for extended months, so ACT for MS clients are in dire need of receiving more workouts and massages to help them get back to where they were physically before the pandemic closed everything.
Multiple Sclerosis is an unpredictable and incurable disease of the central nervous system in which the insulating, protective covering (myelin) surrounding the nerves is destroyed or damaged, resulting in interference with the brain signals to the muscles.
ACT for MS has one full time employee and an active board:
Anne Pope, President
Linda Williamson, Vice President
Penny Mason, Secretary
Ann Greer, Treasurer
Andy Clark
Richard DeSantis
Norma Greer Fishkind
Jo Ann Horwitz
Suz Hunt
Nelda Linsk
Bill Marx
George Turner
