Planned Parenthood's New LA Facility Named For Mike and Corky Hale Stoller, 4/24

The Stoller-Filer Health Center, the newest Planned Parenthood Los Angeles facility, to be located at 11722 South Wilmington Avenue, Compton, CA 90059, will celebrate its Grand Opening on Tuesday, April 24, 2012, Sue Dunlap, President of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles announced today. "The new health center will be named after the renowned Jazz Pianist, Harpist and Singer, Corky Hale Stoller and her Grammy Award winning husband, Mike Stoller of Leiber & Stoller fame, along with the late Compton Civic Leader, Maxcy Dean Filer, who was affectionately known as 'Mr. Compton,'" Dunlap said.

Dunlap continued, "It is with great pride we are opening a second facility for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles with the very generous financial support of Corky Hale Stoller and Mike Stoller, whom, in partnership with us, also helped us to build our state-of-the-art Dorothy Hecht Health Center located on South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, which opened in 2005 and currently serves 2,000 women monthly."

The Grand Opening of the new Stoller-Filer Health Center will be attended by members of the Stoller and Filer families, along with celebrities, VIPs and political leaders. The Stoller-Filer Health Center, which will serve the Watts/Willbrook Community, was made possible through the financial support of generous donors, including: Mike Stoller and Corky Hale Stoller, Anita Hirsh, Linda and Gary Nathanson, Beezie Daly and Artie Southam, Shonda Rhimes, and The Morris S. Smith Foundation, Sterling Franklin, Trustee.

The Stoller-Filer Health Center will be Planned Parenthood Los Angeles' 19th health center and will provide a full range of reproductive health care-including life-saving cancer screenings, contraception, STD testing and treatment. Currently, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles provides care to over 120,000 women, men and teens each year, serving every member of the community being served, regardless of insurance coverage. This new health center in South Los Angeles will help address many of the lingering health disparities that the community faces, including STD and teen pregnancy rates that exceed the County average.

Above and beyond being a major philanthropist and political activist, in the world of entertainment Corky Hale Stoller is a renowned theatrical producer and Jazz Pianist, Harpist and Singer who has performed at The White House with Tony Bennett, soloed with Barbra Streisand in Central Park and at the Hollywood Bowl, and performed with Björk on her MTV Special in London. Hale has also appeared with George Michael at London's Royal Albert Hall and Washington, D.C.'s RFK Stadium. She has played harp for Liberace (on his television show and at Madison Square Garden) and Judy Collins, piano for Billie Holiday, Mel Tormé and Peggy Lee, and sung with the bands of Harry James, Ray Anthony and Jerry Gray. She has also appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Mike Stoller is one-half of the legendary multiple Grammy Award winning songwriting team of Leiber & Stoller. Over the course of a 61 year partnership, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller created enduring classics in a variety of genres including Rhythm & Blues, Pop, Country, Jazz, Cabaret, and-perhaps most notably-Rock & Roll. Their song catalog includes indelible hits like: Elvis Presley: "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Loving You," "Love Me," "Treat Me Nice," "Don't," "(You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care," "Bossa Nova Baby," "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," "Trouble;" Peggy Lee: "Is That All There Is?, "I'm A Woman;" The Coasters: "Searchin'," "Young Blood," "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown," "Along Came Jones," "Poison Ivy" and "Little Egypt;" Ben E. King: "Stand By Me," "I (Who Have Nothing);" The Drifters: "There Goes My Baby," "Dance With Me" and "On Broadway;" La Vern Baker: "Saved;" Ruth Brown: "Lucky Lips;" The Clovers: "Love Potion # 9;" Jay and the Americans: "Only In America;" Chuck Jackson: "I Keep Forgettin';" Willa Mae "Big Mama" Thornton: "Hound Dog;" Wilbert Harrison: "Kansas City;" The Drifters: "Fools Fall In Love;" Dion: "Ruby Baby;" and Edith Piaf: "L'Homme à la Moto." In March of 1995, "Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller" opened on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre. Comprised of 39 Leiber and Stoller songs, the show was nominated for seven Tony Awards. "Smokey Joe's Café" remained at the Virginia Theatre for over five years, becoming the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history, which it still is to this day. The show also played London's West End for two years, and has toured around the world.

The late Maxcy Dean Filer was affectionately known as "Mr. Compton" for his tireless promotion of the city he called home for almost 60 years. He is remembered as a civic leader who preserved, after 48 attempts to pass the state bar exam, in his quest to become a lawyer. He passed the state bar in 1991, thereafter opening a solo law practice. Filer once served as a former President of the Compton Branch of the NAACP. He was a flag-bearer for the NAACP's Southern California delegation to the 1963 March on Washington, at which the late Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech. During his lifetime, Filer encouraged talented African Americans to become political leaders. He was a champion for equal rights for minorities and advocate for the underprivileged. He promoted peace during the Watts riots in 1965. He worked for racial harmony and organized voter-registration drives. He earned his law degree from the now-defunct Van Norman Law School in 1966. Local supporters encouraged Filer to run for a seat on Compton's City Council; he was elected in 1976. Maxcy Dean Filer passed away in his sleep on January 15, 2011 at the age of 80.

Photo credit: Christopher Barr Photography