Jerry Lewis out at MDA and telethon

[trfogey]

Not an ALS-specific topic, but one of interest to all families touched by ALS or MD.

For the first time in 45 years, Jerry Lewis will not be pleading for donations in front of a camera Labor Day weekend after he was abruptly dismissed as the host of the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.'s telethon, an event that drew attention to the childhood disease and in its heyday was an annual television highlight.

The group said the 85-year-old legendary comedian would not appear on this year's telethon, and would no longer serve as its national chairman, a position he held for nearly 60 years. The telethons have raised nearly $2.5 billion, the MDA said.

The announcement and the mysterious circumstances surrounding Lewis' departure provoked an outcry from comedians and other performers, who still widely revere him for his groundbreaking routines and public service.

Read the rest --> Jerry Lewis ousted as MDA telethon host - latimes.com

Official MDA announcement --> Jerry Lewis Completes Run as MDA National Chairman

 

[Ms. Pie]

He deserves a rest. God bless Jerry.

 

[joni51]

I saw that on the news, he will be missed, and always remembered for all that he has done.

 

[brooksea]

When I got the news release from the MDA i my email, I thought, where is the rest of the story?

Thanks, Allen. Seems they could have done what was suggested at the end of the LA Times article. It will be interesting to see how much money will be raised this year.

 

[Will]

I never liked Jerry as an actor, but he is a Saint as a advocate for Neuro-Muscular disease.

All best wishes to him!

 

[HelenL]

Those telethons used to drive me crazy when I was a kid, it seemed it was the ONLY thing on the entire weekend! He's done so much good with these, I also wonder if his health (or mental health) is part of what's going on here.

Reading this made me think of Dick Clarks' New Years' Eve show.... after his stroke, he was sort of propped up and talking, while handing the reins over to someone younger. They should have sent Jerry Lewis out with a party, not like this.

 

[trfogey]

CJ,

f you go to news dot g o o g l e dot com and type "Jerry Lewis" in the search box, you'll find all kinds of speculation about this week's events. I found this headline for one of the articles especially especially ironic -- "Jerry Lewis Loses Custody of 'His Kids,' Gets Booted from MDA Telethon".

And for everyone -- if you wait until Monday (Labor Day) to tune in, you will have missed it. The six-hour minithon will air on Sunday night only, live from 6 pm to midnight Eastern time. That's right -- one whole hour of prime time on the West Coast.

My predictions:

• The minithon will have a few musical acts, a few film clips about MDA families, and lots of guys in suits handing checks to the new co-hosts.
  
• Clear Channel Communications will be announced as a new corporate sponsor of MDA.
  
• The actual national part of the show will be about 4 to 4.5 hours, mostly taken up by men in suits handing over checks.
  
• The tympani and tote board will be kept to two or three times per hour, probably every $10 million or so.
  
• The minithon will not make their "one dollar more than last year" goal. The bad economy will be blamed.

Bonus prediction: Scotty McCreery will sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the end of the minithon.

 

[brooksea]

Ha! Allen, I had to look up two things from your post! LOL Can you guess?

Well, I'll go ahead and tell you:

tympani and Scotty McCreery.

We had already gotten that "bad economy" speech when they stopped the grants for equipment, what? almost two years ago.

 

[trfogey]

1) For all these years, they've played the big drumroll on the tympani (kettle drum) whenever the tote board rolled over another million, followed by the first few bars of "What the World Needs Now".

2) One of the new co-hosts for the minithon is the executive producer for American Idol and Scotty McCreery is this year's American Idol winner. AmIdol p*mps their folks out all over the place -- why not the telethon? Now that Jerry's gone, somebody's got to sing the song.

3) Last week, Jerry Lewis gave an interview where he dumped on reality TV in general and two reality shows in particular -- American Idol and The Biggest Loser. Guess which shows his two replacement co-hosts work for? Think it might have had something to do with his abrupt departure from both MDA and the telethon?

4) For those of you who are tempted to flame me for being less than enthusiastic about American Idol, both Clay Aiken and Scotty grew up and lived less than ten miles from my humble abode, while Fantasia Barrino (AmIdol, season 3) grew up about a hundred miles away. We know them very well here because our local media keeps us apprised of every belch, fart, and scratch (and DUI arrest, divorce/custody, coming out of the closet, drug arrest, etc.) coming from American Idol. If I recall correctly, one of our local malls was the site of yet another of the seemingly endless AmIdol candidate auditions within the past month. Do the Triangle region a a favor and grow some winners of your own to obsess over.

 

[brooksea]

You've got talent (cough) in your neck of the woods!

We'll see what talent the MDA has selected will do for "Jerry's Kids." Oh, that reminds me. What are they going to say now? Whose "kids" are all the MDA umbrella diseases going to be, as in what celebrity? Will Jerry allow them to continue using his name? I hope they've made some sort of deal with him to use his name or this will be a major disaster, publicity wise. Kinda like starting over for the MDA.

 

[HelenL]

Reminds me of the marketing wizards who came out with "New Coke"! Or the guy at M&M's who wouldn't put their product into a certain little movie called "E.T.", so Reeses Pieces got in instead! Geniuses!

 

[Zaphoon]

How in the world do you replace an icon like Jerry Lewis?

In my opinion, it's simply not possible.

Shame on MDA for this! Let's see how much moolah they raise without him!