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Ghost of Labor Days Past: Jerry Lewis telethon

Ava Lawson |

Remember when this was Labor day programming - aaaallllll weeekend long?

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by Anonymousreply 47September 6, 2020 3:49 AM

A maudlin mash-up of "Crippled kids" and Vegas. It was so depressing and the fact that it ushered in the new school year made it even worse!

by Anonymousreply 1September 5, 2020 2:12 PM

All that money and still no cure.

by Anonymousreply 2September 5, 2020 2:20 PM

[quote]All that money and still no cure.

There's more money in treatments making ills "manageable" rather than curing them.

by Anonymousreply 3September 5, 2020 2:23 PM

Was that the telethon where they used to incessantly sing that earworm song, "Look at us we're walking / Look at us we're talking"?

by Anonymousreply 4September 5, 2020 2:25 PM

I just remember being mildly disturbed by Jerry Lewis towards the end of the weekend, when he'd gone without sleep for nearly 48 hours, and would have wild mood swings and act bizarrely. I was a little kid back then, and entertainment icons always acted in a certain, prescribed manner on TV. It was a little unsettling to see this supposedly important showbiz figure to get pissed off, go on crying jags, and ramble incoherently. But it was also riveting.

I also remember seeing the famous scene when Frank Sinatra brought Dean Martin out for a Lewis and Martin reunion. I knew who Dean Martin was, and I knew who Jerry Lewis was, but I had no idea until much later that they'd formed a legendary team in the 50's and early 60's...but I gathered from the goings-on that it was a big deal that these two were on stage together.

Hey, say what you will about Jerry Lewis, but you gotta respect the commitment he had to this cause.

by Anonymousreply 5September 5, 2020 2:26 PM

Of course I was a neurotic grade school kid back then. I just knew that every ache, itch ,pain or weird feeling my body got was the beginnings of MD. Those telethons did me no good

by Anonymousreply 6September 5, 2020 2:33 PM

In its heyday, it was a HUGE deal. They had a lot of A list stars show up. It's where Frank Sinatra reunited Jerry and Dean after years of estrangement. The loss of a lot the old A list talent really hurt it though.

Always amazed that people complained about this telethon so much, but nothing was said about the Cerebal Palsy telethon where they would actually make the poor kids walk around the stage at the end to get more money.

by Anonymousreply 7September 5, 2020 2:47 PM

I hated this telethon and I hated Jerry Lewis for exploiting sick kids to keep his celebrity profile high.

Lewis was an all-around asshole.

by Anonymousreply 8September 5, 2020 2:52 PM

^Same. Even as a kid I was embarrassed for him and his schlocky telethon. OP's vid is cringe inducing.

by Anonymousreply 9September 5, 2020 3:33 PM

What has a million legs but can't walk?

by Anonymousreply 10September 5, 2020 3:48 PM

I always hated Jerry Lewis. As a child, I found him creepy.

by Anonymousreply 11September 5, 2020 3:57 PM

My mom watched it every year. She'd get pissed when my sister and I told her Jerry probably spent the money on booze and hookers.

by Anonymousreply 12September 5, 2020 3:59 PM

It was a big deal in my childhood home, so it was a dig deal for me too. I remember it being exciting calling to pledge some small amount because it meant we were doing something good for disabled kids and we were also a part of this media event.

So I was more or less onboard, but still there were troubling feelings I had to sublimate. Like, why was this supposed to be entertaining? And then there was “Lewis” himself. I knew my parents loved him, so I had to as well, but I found his behavior deeply embarassing and cringeworthy at times, even as a tween.

Looking back on it, it’s really shocking that the Jerry Lewis Telethon was a thing at all.

by Anonymousreply 13September 5, 2020 4:06 PM

R12, Out of work actors were paid to be in the audience at least the last several years. Always wondered exactly how much money raised went to helping the poor, sick kids.

by Anonymousreply 14September 5, 2020 4:16 PM

As others have said, it was a huge deal back in the day. We did like the fact that when it was on, it gave you something to watch all night on a Sunday night because back in those days, all the stations would sign off after midnight.

by Anonymousreply 15September 5, 2020 4:25 PM

R19, Telethons that lasted for hours were another Boomer tradition Millenials might not understand.

by Anonymousreply 16September 5, 2020 4:28 PM

What I remember most of all was Jerry’s awful singing of “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

by Anonymousreply 17September 5, 2020 4:34 PM

Hey, it preserved Connie's Mrs. Anna for the history books!

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by Anonymousreply 18September 5, 2020 4:37 PM

When you said Connie at first I thought you meant Connie Stevens.

by Anonymousreply 19September 5, 2020 4:48 PM

I can see its appeal in the 60s, 70s and 80s. We certainly watched it when I was a kid, but never wall to wall.

When there were only a few stations in town you watched a bit here and there and also checked in to see the numbers.

But it went on probably ten years too long. Once cable was in there, and most of the big name old timey Vegas kind of entertainers shuffled from this mortal coil, it was hard to sustain what had been.

by Anonymousreply 22September 5, 2020 9:41 PM

When I was a kid I’d watch the celebs shitty performances and laugh my ass off.

by Anonymousreply 23September 5, 2020 9:42 PM

I donated money to them once and they kept sending me flyers every year with my name misspelled. Do you expect me to believe they couldn’t afford a fucking proofreader?

by Anonymousreply 24September 5, 2020 9:58 PM

I collected money around my neighborhood one year and then forgot to send it in. I kept it for years. Pretty sure I spent it to skip school one day and buy records.

Eventually did send it (plus interest) many years later.

by Anonymousreply 25September 5, 2020 10:00 PM

My uncle was a pediatrician who practiced in the 60s through the 80s. He always scoffed at those telethons, claiming that he had tried numerous times to elicit help from Jerry's organization on behalf of MD patients and was ignored or refused in every case. He was convinced it was more or less a scam.

by Anonymousreply 26September 5, 2020 10:40 PM

Oops, sorry, didn't see you R21

by Anonymousreply 28September 5, 2020 11:07 PM

[quote] Eventually did send it (plus interest) many years later.

Things the meme was literally invented for.

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by Anonymousreply 29September 5, 2020 11:48 PM

It always pissed me off that it interrupted my regular tv programming

by Anonymousreply 30September 5, 2020 11:55 PM

Like what, reruns of Barnaby Jones?

It was syndicated, it was never on a major network.

by Anonymousreply 31September 6, 2020 12:05 AM

It was on my NBC affiliate, wise-assed owl.

by Anonymousreply 32September 6, 2020 12:08 AM

R32, did you grow up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area? It was always on the NBC affiliate there also.

by Anonymousreply 33September 6, 2020 12:17 AM

Maybe this is the reason I still don't like Labor Day weekend!

by Anonymousreply 34September 6, 2020 12:21 AM

Jerry was able to pull in some real A-List acts. But to fill all that time, he'd basically take all comers. This one, in particular, horrified me as a young impressionable gayling.

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by Anonymousreply 35September 6, 2020 12:22 AM

R29 I did!

I collected like 20 bucks and eventually sent them $50. But it was about 15 years later when I had my first real office job. LOL

by Anonymousreply 37September 6, 2020 12:26 AM

I've shared this story before - I had two cousins with Duchenne MD (the worst form for boys) and an aunt who had ALS. All I can say is the MDA helped them all with medical care, equipment, etc. Jerry Lewis may have been an asshole but his fundraising did a lot of good for a lot of people.

by Anonymousreply 38September 6, 2020 12:32 AM

Loved the old Lewis and Martin movies. Our house had the telethon on all weekend. It was like a count down to the 1st horrible day back to school.

by Anonymousreply 39September 6, 2020 12:43 AM

I was completely passionate about that damn telethon for a number of years running. I'd watch as much as I could and towards the end beg my mom to make a donation (she never did).

I don't know why I got so wrapped up in it. I certainly wasn't motivated enough to save up for a donation myself.

The funny thing is, I knew on some level that Lewis was a complete ass -- but I still hung in there.

That was indeed horrifying and offensive R35. She needed to have a bucket of cold water dumped over her and then slapped in the face. Hard. But then it was some wicked parent that pushed her into it.

by Anonymousreply 40September 6, 2020 1:00 AM

You're right, r35. Lena Zavaroni had a pushy stage mom behind her. She appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson several times and performed at the telethon two years in a row, if I recall (again, to my horror). Sadly, but not surprisingly, she led a troubled life and died relatively young.

by Anonymousreply 41September 6, 2020 1:32 AM

Too bad Eddie Murphy never appeared on the telethon.

by Anonymousreply 43September 6, 2020 2:22 AM

Where else could you see Maureen McGovern, Lola Falana, and Shields and Yarnell every year?! (Actually, I think Maureen McGovern has one of the great voices of all time; the other two are schlock.)

by Anonymousreply 44September 6, 2020 2:28 AM

It was kind of a happening, r40 — so weirdly different from what tv was usually like. It was live, it was blabby, it had that schmaltzy vaudevilley feel to it.

by Anonymousreply 45September 6, 2020 3:33 AM

Got I used to hate those fucking telethons.

by Anonymousreply 46September 6, 2020 3:35 AM

I remember that year with Helen Lawson.

The last year she was allowed on the telethon. Or in that state.

by Anonymousreply 47September 6, 2020 3:49 AM

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