Back in 2011, a 12-year-old film critic named Jackson Murphy (aka "Lights Camera Jackson") appeared on our show "Ebert Presents At The Movies." We called him the Kid Critic and we loved presenting him. He was knowledgeable, passionate about the movies, wrote his own copy, and was always on time and professional on the set. Jackson just turned 19 (Happy Birthday, Jackson!) and is still doing good work. He will be raising funds for Parkinson's research on Tuesday, August 8th, by performing a most unorthodox feat. He will be sitting in all 2,740 chairs non-stop at the Regal Colonie Center Stadium 13 & RPX Theater in Albany, New York, as part of the LCJ Chairathon 2017. The funds raised by this event will go to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
“I have a close family member who’s fighting Parkinson’s right now, so she’s my inspiration for this,” Jackson said. “Plus, I’ve always been a big fan of Mr. Fox and how he has lived and worked with Parkinson’s disease.”
LCJ Chairathon 2017 will be streamed LIVE on multiple platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Murphy began training for the event months ago and will be sitting for no more than two seconds in every chair at the multiplex. He's asking viewers to donate a penny per chair ($27.40), though donations of all sizes are appreciated.
This event is a labor of love for the Emmy-winning film critic/entertainment reporter, who has contributed to numerous media outlets besides ours including WGNA-FM, Animation Scoop, CT Style, The Morning Show (Australia), Teen Kids News, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Weekend Today, The Nate Berkus Show, Fox and Friends, and The Early Show.
To make a donation, click here.
To watch Jackson give a demonstration of his Chairathon training, and also to watch him as the "Kid Critic" talking about 3D on Ebert Presents At The Movies, look below.
Chaz is the CEO of several Ebert enterprises, including the President of The Ebert Company Ltd, and of Ebert Digital LLC, Publisher of RogerEbert.com, President of Ebert Productions and Chairman of the Board of The Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation, and Co-Founder and Producer of Ebertfest, the film festival now in its 18th year.
