End of the line for the MDA Telethon

MDA is ending the Labor Day Telethon that Jerry Lewis made famous.

Not a big surprise. Lewis left after 2010 but for a few years before he kind of looked like some sick guy they wheeled out, slapped with make-up, and put on stage for his aging fan base. Not that he didn't do a lot of good work, but when you watched you could just see that he was one of the last survivors of an earlier age.

I remember as a kid how you would have it on TV, just in the background, to see what stars might be coming out and well just because there was zero else on TV. New TV shows would not be on until "Premiere Week" the next seek and there was no Sunday Night Football. IIRC the whole thing started because a local channel needed a way to fill the air time.

I manned phones for it in Rochester for 2 or three years, I forget exactly. A few notes:

We had the last shift, last 2-3 hours of the show. For volunteer groups this was the prized time to have because you got more air time to be seen in the background and if you sat at an aisle phone the local anchorman or infobabe might chat it up with you on or off air.

I got to do the "WELCOME BACK" bump. Made an idiot of myself because after I did it the anchor not director said, "Great delivery, now do it again looking at the camera and not me!" Remember how they said Reagan did well in TV debates because he was used to looking at cameras and not people? Well it is not natural to do.

Most of the pledges came in during the local breakaways. People wanted to see Jerry in Vegas (Sahara?) and the phones would be dead. During a break they would pick up. I was lucky because I worked on phones at work and could easily take all the info fast and smooth.

When Jerry would sing that "Walk With Me" song at the end of the Vegas part, before the last break, the phones would go crazy. All the ringing you heard on TV was real. We were warned it would happen, but it still was amazing.

Sometimes the local tote board had an odd number at the end. $650,501 for example. Jerry always wanted $1 over last years number as a goal. The odd number meant they made it locally and that the count room stopped the updates. I can see that because there were runners picking up tickets as fast as we wrote them to get the tote.

Finally, believe it or not some of our Jaycee members didn't know about the thing! We at meetings talked about who would show as early as May as we needed to give a count and a couple gals said, "what telethon?" I thought it but another guy actually asked, "What country are you from?" How could you reach adulthood not at least hearing about it?

Ironically, I guess, it ends the same time as the Riveara, about the last casino-hotel famous in the same heyday.

How will they raise money without the tele?

Not even sure what this is from.

Quote: Evenbob

How will they raise money without the tele?

Tele is so last century.
Get with the times.
Tons of money raised on the internet these days.

Quote: terapined

Tele is so last century.
Get with the times.
Tons of money raised on the internet these days.

Tons on the internet but MDA always had fundraising all year by various local groups. Question is will some drop out because they don't have the telethon to go on TV with their results? When I worked it several groups showed up to be on TV, from firemen to biker chicks.

Quote: AZDuffman

MDA is ending the Labor Day Telethon that Jerry Lewis made famous.

Not a big surprise. Lewis left after 2010 but for a few years before he kind of looked like some sick guy they wheeled out, slapped with make-up, and put on stage for his aging fan base. Not that he didn't do a lot of good work, but when you watched you could just see that he was one of the last survivors of an earlier age.

I remember as a kid how you would have it on TV, just in the background, to see what stars might be coming out and well just because there was zero else on TV. New TV shows would not be on until "Premiere Week" the next seek and there was no Sunday Night Football. IIRC the whole thing started because a local channel needed a way to fill the air time.

I manned phones for it in Rochester for 2 or three years, I forget exactly. A few notes:

We had the last shift, last 2-3 hours of the show. For volunteer groups this was the prized time to have because you got more air time to be seen in the background and if you sat at an aisle phone the local anchorman or infobabe might chat it up with you on or off air.

I got to do the "WELCOME BACK" bump. Made an idiot of myself because after I did it the anchor not director said, "Great delivery, now do it again looking at the camera and not me!" Remember how they said Reagan did well in TV debates because he was used to looking at cameras and not people? Well it is not natural to do.

Most of the pledges came in during the local breakaways. People wanted to see Jerry in Vegas (Sahara?) and the phones would be dead. During a break they would pick up. I was lucky because I worked on phones at work and could easily take all the info fast and smooth.

When Jerry would sing that "Walk With Me" song at the end of the Vegas part, before the last break, the phones would go crazy. All the ringing you heard on TV was real. We were warned it would happen, but it still was amazing.

Sometimes the local tote board had an odd number at the end. $650,501 for example. Jerry always wanted $1 over last years number as a goal. The odd number meant they made it locally and that the count room stopped the updates. I can see that because there were runners picking up tickets as fast as we wrote them to get the tote.

Finally, believe it or not some of our Jaycee members didn't know about the thing! We at meetings talked about who would show as early as May as we needed to give a count and a couple gals said, "what telethon?" I thought it but another guy actually asked, "What country are you from?" How could you reach adulthood not at least hearing about it?

Ironically, I guess, it ends the same time as the Riveara, about the last casino-hotel famous in the same heyday.

Thanks for this AZDuffman! Very interesting...

I heard on our local radio news, that the MDA was thinking it could do better with the internet like the ALS folks did with the "Ice Bucket Challenge". I have to think they are dreaming. The $100 million raised for ALS really is a lightning strike. I can't see it being repeated anytime soon.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I heard on our local radio news, that the MDA was thinking it could do better with the internet like the ALS folks did with the "Ice Bucket Challenge". I have to think they are dreaming. The $100 million raised for ALS really is a lightning strike. I can't see it being repeated anytime soon.

I think MDA is missing the bigger picture. A lot of what they raised was not from the telethon but groups that raised money to give a check on TV. Like the biker chicks I was talking about. You could see they liked going down there, waiting in the green room, then going onstage and on camera to hand the check to the host. I have to figure most groups had some leaders who liked this idea. Get their 15 minutes of fame 1 minute at a time over 15 years.

It will be gradual. But say in three years the biker chicks try to decide what good they are going to do this year. They get to saying how fun it was to go on TV to give the check but that is no more, so one says, "Why don't we do something for the animal shelter this year?" And that is that.

Quote: rxwine

Not even sure what this is from.

It is a still from the 1955 Martin and Lewis film, Artists and Models. Jerry played a comic book geek. The sketcher is Dorothy Malone, who later landed a dramatic role in Peyton Place. Shirley MacLaine also co-starred.

photo from : doctormacro.com

Quote: AZDuffman

I think MDA is missing the bigger picture. A lot of what they raised was not from the telethon but groups that raised money to give a check on TV. Like the biker chicks I was talking about. You could see they liked going down there, waiting in the green room, then going onstage and on camera to hand the check to the host. I have to figure most groups had some leaders who liked this idea. Get their 15 minutes of fame 1 minute at a time over 15 years.

It will be gradual. But say in three years the biker chicks try to decide what good they are going to do this year. They get to saying how fun it was to go on TV to give the check but that is no more, so one says, "Why don't we do something for the animal shelter this year?" And that is that.

But with more people cutting the cord and getting rid of TV... whose the audience for the biker chicks 15 minutes of fame?

Quote: TheCesspit

But with more people cutting the cord and getting rid of TV... whose the audience for the biker chicks 15 minutes of fame?

True it is nowhere near as viewed as before, just saying a motivation is gone.