RTP goes on with Natal dos Hospitals. “It’s more important than ever”, defend historical figures | Television

RTP will keep the tradition alive and guarantee the transmission of the Christmas Hospitals in December 2020. The official source of the public station confirmed to the PUBLIC that a “safe model suitable for the pandemic situation” is being studied. Broadcasts are already planned from the Alcoitão hospital and the RTP studios in Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada and Funchal. The same source of the public station admits that the tradition and the weight of the program played an important role in the decision to keep the broadcast, considering that the situation of isolation and suffering in which many families find themselves worked as an additional motivation to carry on the program. Program.

The Christmas of the Hospitals dates back to 1944: the first edition – which had a platform like an improvised stage – was held at the now extinct Hospital de Arroios, in Praça do Chile. The initiative of the News diary it would count on the collaboration of RTP since 1958, in a format that has lasted for 76 years and is, even today, the leader of the public. At the age of 17, Júlio Isidro took over the reins of a program that, in the early 1960s, was beginning to make itself known.

“Were you nervous about the first show I presented? As you might have guessed, there wasn’t exactly an excess of ease “, he concludes amidst laughter. Júlio Isidro is the record-breaking presenter of the gala. He presented 56 gala evenings of Christmas Hospitals, missing only one edition in the several decades in which was on the small screen. In the old days, formalism marked the ceremonies in a markedly Catholic Portugal: “At that first gala ‘I wore a tie’, but I was very well supported by my colleagues. I remember reading a psalm for add a religious touch, I recorded that part. “

Hundreds of artists performed for the sick, trying to cheer up a Christmas that, for many, was inevitably spent away from family. Doctors, nurses and patients gathered in the auditorium to watch the show. The hospital has “stopped”. Despite the duty of “public service” fulfilled and the gratification for the affection of the sick, the presenter does not hide the fact that some issues had a strong emotional weight. “I remember the emotions I felt so much. In pediatrics it was very difficult for me to see children suffer. I also did Christmas at the IPO, once again very complicated. Even more to the idea that the people in front of me, in general, have a definite life span, ”he explains.

“I went home and said I would never go there again”

Júlio Isidro shared the stage several times with Simone de Oliveira, one of the most present artists at the ceremony. Unlike the host, the singer doesn’t have her first gala or the number of times she joined the show on the tip of her tongue. “I don’t remember, dear. I started singing in 1957 at the age of 19, so I started [a participar no Natal dos Hospitais] from there. I have an elephant’s memory, but not so much, ”he jokes.

Like the conductor, he sadly remembers the passage in the pediatric wards, but retains a story that marks him today: “It was a joy for the sick and we were all happy. We did well, we made people happy. One day we went to do the program in a hospital with children with cancer. Each child’s parents took a toy attached to a bag so that we could cast lots and give. I went to get a beautiful doll and gave it to a girl: wasn’t it that the girl’s parents had brought the doll? That day I went home and said I would never go there again [a hospitais de crianças]. It marked me for the rest of my life ”, recalls the artist.

This story is confirmed by Eládio Clímaco, former host of the Games Borderless and one of the best known faces of Hospitals Christmas. There have been countless invitations to participate in the program, passing through various health care institutions throughout their careers. “The whole art scene took place at the Natal dos Hospitals,” he begins by saying, losing track of the number of times he has participated in the program over the years. “The charisma was to bring the whole world of entertainment together, it was an honor to be called the artists, as well as for us presenters. The fact that we were able to be with the audience, that there was no distance from the artists was very important, ”he believes.

In 75 years, what has been the main change in the program? “He’s making the Christmas Hospitals a show with fixed pins, something that wasn’t the Christmas idea. There were no fixed pins, it was everyone who participated in a good one, without first digits. We were all the same. Perhaps it is a strange twist that the program has given. Now, looking at who is presenting, there are two well known regular presenters. I don’t see interactions between people, but it can be my impression, ”he considers.

The program is “more important than ever”

In 2020, the year marked by the covid-19 pandemic, the verdict is unanimous: the Christmas of hospitals is “more important than ever”. Eládio Clímaco recalls that the program is characterized by “affection” and “solidarity”, which this year will reach even more people. “It’s not just for hospital patients. This confinement is a collective hospital. There are tens of millions of Portuguese who are hospitalized right now, like billions all over the world. It is giving a word of hope to others, ”he says.

Simone de Oliveira also defends the implementation of a program “in the possible ways”, leaving a warning to RTP. “If you invite me to sing, I’m sure I will,” he concludes.

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