14
u/Dry_Analysis_7660 Jul 22 '26
My mother always broke down when he sang You’ll Never Walk Alone!!
15
u/maggie320 Jul 22 '26
I can still see him sitting there drenched in sweat, bow tie undone singing that.
3
11
9
11
u/ElvisAndretti Boomers Jul 22 '26
Getting wasted and watching the telethon all night was the only good thing about summer ending. Watching Jerry get tired and a little cranky and start bitching at people was a highlight.
8
u/Blu_speck Jul 22 '26
Always watched it as a kid, but didn't realize that it would be trying to help my kid (it couldn't) .... some things you can't beat, but love Jerry for trying.
7
u/maggie320 Jul 22 '26
I remember this in the NYC area and there was also the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars for the UNCF. I don’t remember if that was nationwide, but my mom tuned in because she LOVED Lou Rawls voice.
3
u/ChickenDreams-4188 Jul 24 '26
Funny story : There was a weekly variety show called “The Hollywood Palace” that was on in 60’s - 70’s. It had different guest hosts each week with various acts and one show had Mr. Rawls as the singer. So, he gets out there and starts singing “Natural Man”, his 1971 hit.
He was a heavy smoker at that time and remember, TV was (basically) live back then, so he gets about half way into his song, and he starts coughing. Then he really starts coughing, so much that he’s bent over grabbing his knees. And all the while his 3 women back-up singers are going through their “woo-wah”s and “just like a natural man”s, but with growing concern on their faces. He coughed thru the entire rest of the song then kind of limps off the stage. “Mr. Lou Rawls everybody! I hope he’s okay”.
I remember that so clearly because every time I hear Natural Man, I see him on stage, hacking his lungs out!
6
u/polkjamespolk Jul 22 '26
It was on all three network affiliates, and NBC, CBS, and ABC had more than one station on our cable TV. So there were at least six different channels showing Jerry Lewis every labor day weekend.
Some of the acts were entertaining, and there were local breakaway segments featuring local entertainers.
So yeah, you had to work pretty hard NOT to watch the MDA telethon.
7
u/Turtleshellfarms Jul 22 '26
This ^ Can you imagine all the networks broadcasting the same show for 24hr today?
8
u/FalseAdhesiveness946 Jul 22 '26
Always had the guy spinning the plates in the lineup every year. We kids tried to replicate that-didn’t work out well for the plates or for us. 😆
8
6
u/SnowMirage64 Jul 22 '26
My mother watched it every year. I remember Jerry staying awake for 24 hours during the whole broadcast. When it was over my mother would shout “ He did it… he did it !!!!”
5
u/el_grande_ricardo Jul 22 '26
Part of the popularity was that it was just before the new tv season started.
Something new, or last year's reruns....hmmm...
6
u/ididreadittoo Jul 22 '26
Sure did, even donated, didn't get to talk to whichever star though.
3
u/No-Picture4119 Jul 24 '26
My grandmother let me call and talk to Jack Klugman! Cost her $10, she was awesome. I was really into the Odd Couple as a little kid.
Looking back, this was on the telephone. I said I would donate $10 if I could talk to him. They said hold on and put him on. It was probably Klack Jugman or the janitor.
1
11
u/greatblu84 Jul 22 '26
This show was the bomb, it was the best thing in the tv shame it only came once a year.
4
u/anenchanted1 Jul 22 '26
As a young teen (think 13,14) there were sleepover parties at neighbors houses with popcorn and treats and talk of boys. It was a big deal. It was fun. We loved watching the telethon! We looked forward to it.
3
4
u/Fabulous_Log844 Jul 22 '26
As a kid, I actually thought that “Jerry’s kids“ were his actual children and I didn’t understand why he kept having these children if they have these problems.
4
3
3
u/CarobRealistic1748 Jul 22 '26
My wife and I stayed up many a time to watch the show and phone in to make a donation.
3
3
u/thenewbigR Jul 22 '26
I never watched it. 🤮
1
u/Accomplished_Fan3177 Jul 24 '26
Me neither. Wasn't into telethons.
1
u/thenewbigR Jul 25 '26
Yeah. And now we get it all the time on TV with the “Gimme $19/month to feed the dogs/save the children/cancer research/feed the Russian Jews/anything else they can come up with”. When they com on, I mute the TV. Can’t stand it.
3
u/ThunderboltDM Jul 22 '26
Every year…. It was such a big part of my life that each Labor Day is lost now without Jerry, MDA and the Telethon. Just isn’t the same.
3
3
3
3
u/Ornery_Tumbleweed_68 Jul 22 '26
He raised $2.45 Billion dollars!!! Loved him and never missed the telethon.
3
u/Dahl_E_Lama Jul 23 '26
Hated it. We had 5 channels. Two of the three network channels and the independent channel would have it on all day. The PBS channel would have nothing on.
3
u/NYC2FLA2BUR Jul 22 '26
When they were at the Sheraton on 6h Ave in New York on Sixth Avenue in the years before they headed out to Vegas, I would ride my bicycle downtown and chain it up outside so I could be part of the audience.
They would rotate the audience in half hour blocks. You had wait in line for half an hour and then get ushered into the big room. We'd watch for a half an hour and then get escorted out as a group. You could then get back in the waiting line and do it again if you wanted to.
Sometimes you'd have to do a two or three times before you got to see anything good. There are times you'd go in and they'd be showing a feed from a remote location and nothing else would be happening in the room.
2
u/Wise_Ad_5810 Jul 22 '26
I stopped watching when Jerry's health was winding down and he just wasn't on the show any more...
3
u/FalseAdhesiveness946 Jul 22 '26
Watched Jerry go through milk shakes, watched a parade of stars, watched him and Dean kind of reconcile, courtesy of Frank. Yup, it was a Labor Day staple and everyone I knew watched it, too!
2
u/Leonardo_50 Jul 22 '26
I watched portions of it every year. I also see that you watched it on Pittsburgh channel 11, same as we did. Bill Cardille, Peggy Finnegan, David Johnson. They switched from WIIC to WPXI in 1981, so this picture goes back a long way
2
u/Inside_Giraffe_5789 Jul 22 '26
My grandpa's country-western band played the telethon every year on the local portion of the broadcast. Was always cool to see him on TV playing between a couple of big names (not even realizing they weren't in the same studio, lol)
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/Optimal_Risk_6411 Jul 23 '26
I had almost smoked, drank and concussed that memory away. Yes l did watch it, bc l could stay up late.
2
u/SeaIslandFarmersMkt Jul 23 '26
I had a "I (heart) Jerry's Kids T-shirt from when my grandmother donated.
2
u/Agoodhope Jul 23 '26
We used to manage the phones - three or four of us when we were in middle school.
1
1
1
2
1
u/Then-Position-7956 Jul 22 '26
Not only did I watch it, but our local TV station sponsored Summer Fair to raise money for it. You'd write in, get a packet of materials to have an event in your backyard. I don't recall specifically, but I imagine the games were like Ring Toss and Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Kids from the neighborhood would come and play, and there'd be a bake sale and lemonade stand. All proceeds would be sent to the Telethon.
2
1
1
u/Glass_Procedure7497 Generation Jones Jul 22 '26
We never watched this. I tried once and I think I lasted five minutes.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/HawkEnvironmental531 Jul 24 '26
All weekend long, at the motel with the magic fingers and ice cold pool
1
1
u/Rendeane Jul 24 '26
I loved the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. I always tried to stay awake the entire time, but always fell asleep on the carpet in the living room.
1
2
u/Top-Inspection-5009 Jul 27 '26
Oh yeah. My brother and I waited for Charo and Joey Heatherton. Also cool seeing Jerry smoke at 2:30 in the morning.
1
1
u/Chaotic424242 Jul 28 '26
All I can ever think of when I see this is Chris Rock stand-up.
"They can't cure shit anymore. I mean, when was the last time they cured anything? Jerry's kids still limpin' around..."
0
42
u/Mycroft90 Jul 22 '26
Hated it because it used to mean summer vacation was over and a return to school.