Jerry’s work
Jerry Lewis’ dedicated charity work is a rare legacy
For decades, the Labor Day weekend has been a time for reconnecting with family and friends for what is likely to be the last backyard barbecue of the year. For more than four decades, one of the most beloved Labor Day rituals was tuning into the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon hosted by the late comedian and actor Jerry Lewis.
Mr. Lewis, who died two weeks ago at 91, began hosting the MDA telethon in 1966. The haul that first Labor Day weekend was a little over $1 million, which was considered quite substantial at the time. The MDA has credited Mr. Lewis with raising between $1 billion and $2 billion for research for the disease by the time he hosted his last telethon in 2010. That is an astonishing achievement — the case of an entertainer who stuck with a cause for decades and gave it his all.
In the beginning as the fame and popularity of the telethon grew, Mr. Lewis was able to reel in many of his showbiz pals from Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson to Sammy Davis Jr. and Carol Burnett. Top talent from the worlds of music, comedy and Broadway followed their Hollywood brethren and participated. Many showed up to perform live in the wee hours immediately after doing sets in Vegas or Los Angeles while others volunteered to answer phones or just schmooze with Jerry on the air about anything that occurred to the comic at the moment.
It was not always comfortable television. Mr. Lewis was often mercurial because of back pain and could be quite cutting in ways that the audience wasn’t always in on the joke. Almost everyone chain-smoked in those early days, so the set would often look like a smoky nightclub. Sometimes, something unexpected would happen. In 1976, Frank Sinatra performed. He then invited “an old friend” to join him on stage. It was Dean Martin, Mr. Lewis’ estranged comedy and movie partner and someone he hadn’t spoken to since the mid-1950s. The two men embraced and had some awkward banter that eventually led to the re-establishment of their friendship.
Mr. Lewis’ career was multifaceted. It’s often forgotten that he was an accomplished film director who mastered many technical aspects of moviemaking and taught film at the University of Southern California, where his students included Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas. Some of his lectures formed the basis of a well-read book called “The Total Filmmaker.” With his death, there have been the inevitable debates: Does it matter if the artist was not an easy or kind person? Or should we trust the art? Was Mr. Lewis a clown of the caliber of Keaton or Laurel? Or was he more on a par with the Three Stooges? Are the French right? (Mr. Lewis has long been lauded in France.) Or will the New York and L.A. cocktail party types have the last word?
Mr. Lewis last participated in the much-shortened MDA telethon as a guest in 2014. He continued to support it from afar after that. The MDA no longer airs a telethon at all and relies on other ways to raise funds. Still, as this Labor Day weekend runs its course, we have reason to be thankful for the late Jerry Lewis and the cause he dedicated much of his professional time to helping. In their own way, both the telethon and Mr. Lewis were pure Americana.