Note To Ted About His Uncle Jer -

Jerry invited me to the Telethon in 1971 and asked me to bring my camera. At the end of the show, as he acknowledged the crew that came every year to help in any way they could, he thanked me, and announced to the world that your mom and I were getting married! It was the first Sally had heard about it. Marylou wasn’t there, so I’m not sure how she reacted, but I dropped my camera – then fought like hell to keep shooting until the credits had rolled and JL had winked and smiled down at me, before he was mobbed by the crew and half of New York City it seemed. It was the first of many times in the 40 plus years of our friendship, and nearly as many Telethons, that he had me all choked up. JL was Best Man at our wedding. Some of my proudest days were having you and Elayna and Sally and ML at the Telethon to share the laughs and the tears. With all the wonderful memories, the friends we saw every year, it’s almost too sad to talk about, to realize it’s over. It will never be forgotten – certainly not by Jerry’s Kids, and for sure, not by me …

Jerry Lewis is my son’s “Uncle Jer.” Ted posted a bunch of hilarious “bloopers” from “Telethons past” on Facebook yesterday. I just saw them and realized for maybe the hundredth time in the past couple of weeks why I’m feeling so down. For almost 40 years, I’ve enjoyed a week’s reunion this time of year with my best friend, with his TV crew and guests preparing and televising the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon.

Couple of things you may not have picked up on over the years: Jerry Lewis invented the Telethon; first couple of years on radio, then on television from New York, later from Las Vegas, a couple of years from LA, then back to Las Vegas. For fifty years!

Jerry paid the first doctor who ever worked on Muscular Dystrophy – neuromuscular diseases, including Lou Gehrig Disease – out of his own pocket. There was no Muscular Dystrophy Association when Jerry hired a doctor in New Jersey to help find a cure for a disease that kills mostly children – “Jerry’s Kids,” they called themselves.

Jerry enlisted doctors, built hospitals, courted corporations, entertainers, and television station owners – and, not insignificantly, a loyal audience of multiple millions of Americans who watched the twenty-hour live broadcast every Labor Day. The “Jerry Lewis Telethon” – as it was called for years – was the variety show of all time. It was an American event – families getting together to watch and help find cures for some of Jerry’s Kids and add years to the lives of thousands of others.

TV stations in almost every city in America were part of “The Love Network.” Largely the same group of volunteers showed up every year, along with the biggest stars. They gave their time and their hearts to help MDA, Jerry’s Kids, and their fearless leader. Nothing like the Telethon existed before or has existed since Jerry Lewis gave his time, talents, and total dedication to finding a cure for Muscular Dystrophy.

I was – I still am – one of the luckiest people on the planet, to have watched the Telethon almost from the beginning; to have worked with and still have Jerry Lewis as my best friend; to have raised a healthy son and seen him marry the next-to-the-most beautiful woman in the world!

Did I say I was sad about something?