Perhaps we should just be grateful for the distraction. At a time when our country's economy is such that burning the nation down for the insurance money is starting to be a viable option, folks are talking instead of the ouster of Jerry Lewis from a telethon…and not just any telethon. This was a telethon most of them didn't watch…or if they did, it was so they could chortle at how awful it was or to see Jerry start crying or lashing out at his enemies. This would be a much smaller discussion if we restricted it to those who tuned in, respected the effort for what it was and actually sent in money.
I see all these online petitions and rallying cries to reinstate Jer where he rightly belongs: On our sets on Labor Day weekend, tuxedo-clad in Vegas and introducing Tony Orlando. None that I have seen have mentioned or seemed to care about the real reason the telethon exists. Yes, it's a tradition. Yes, it's often enormously entertaining on at least some level. Yes, Jerry is a legend and pretty much the last relic of a certain generation of performer. All that is great…but the purpose of the telethon is to raise the operating capital for a cause that, and Jerry would be the first and last one to tell you this, does a lot of good for a lot of people. It's not about amusing us from afar as we roast weiners and burgers. It's not about giving Norm Crosby a chance to make his annual appearance on TV. It's not even about upholding custom or honoring Jerry for The Nutty Professor. It's about buying wheelchairs and maybe, someday, finding a cure.
Not that it's really my business but I'm curious about what it was that drove the MDA folks to conclude they couldn't do that as well with Jerry Lewis front and center. I suspect it has something to do with him becoming an even looser cannon than he ever was; of him saying things that seem borderline misogynistic or homophobic; of reports of him alienating crew members as well as big corporate donors. A big money-gathering feature of the telethon was always for the heads of companies to get their on-camera moments with Jerry as they presented large checks. Did anyone notice that in the last few years, those moments largely went away? That the large checks were being presented off-camera or with hosts other than Lewis?
I worked on one telethon years ago. One thing I learned is that its organizers were total and complete slaves to a number. They absolutely, positively had to raise X dollars and all other considerations had to be subordinated to that need. If they didn't reach X, portions of the charity's agenda would be dismantled and a lot of sick kids wouldn't get their leg braces or medical treatment.
Was it a viable option for them to stay the course and keep Jerry hosting? I don't know but I can certainly imagine a scenario where it was not…where the MDA execs reluctantly concluded that if they were going to keep corporate donors giving and going to keep meeting their annual operating nut, they were going to have to reinvent the telethon. They've cut it to six hours. They obviously tried to work out some sort of reduced presence and passing-of-the-torch moment with Jerry. Maybe they were premature or insensitive in how they tried to move him aside…
…but supposing they're right. I mean, just supposing. And maybe the problem isn't that they don't appreciate Jerry for past efforts but that he wants it done his way or not at all. Even those of us who love Jerry in some or all manners are aware of his volatility, his unconcealed anger at those he believes have wronged him, his tendency to just say whatever pops into his mind without the kind of regulator that most other public figures have to filter their verbal output. Perhaps the folks in the MDA offices made the wrong call…but if it was the right call insofar as their fund-raising is concerned, how do you ease out a legend without creating the kind of backlash we're now seeing? More specifically, how do you ease out Jerry Lewis if he doesn't want to go?