More than a house: there's no people like show people, as evidenced in these nine decades of generosity.

1920s

In 1921, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and others create the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and the timing couldn't have been better. Before decade's end, the industry is struck by one of its most wrenching evolutions: the shift from silent to sound film. The change brings plenty of opportunity but also unemployment for those unable to make the switch.

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1930s

In 1932, as the Depression the counravages try, the movie industry institutes a necessary mandate, the payroll deduction plan in which workers are asked to donate .5% of their …