Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon

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The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon is an annual telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. It has been held since 1966.

It is always held on Labor Day weekend, starting on the Sunday evening preceding Labor Day and continuing for about 22 hours until late Monday afternoon, syndicated to 190 television stations throughout the US. MDA calls its network of participating stations The Love Network.

1 History
2 How Frances and Katrina Affected the Telethon
3 MDA Telethon Celebrity Participants 1966-2006 (in alphabetical order)
- 3.1 A
- 3.2 B
- 3.3 C
4 External links

[edit] History

The telethon first originated from New York City, then spent much of the 1970s and 1980s in Las Vegas, Nevada, either at the Sahara Hotel or Caesar's Palace. In 1990 the telethon originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles then returned to Las Vegas for much of the 1990s before relocating back to Southern California, first at CBS and then in 2005 in Beverly Hills. In 2006, the telethon returned to Las Vegas at the South Coast. Jerry announced plans for the telethon to return to the South Coast in 2007.

In 1998, MDA's successful landmark all star show became the first to be broadcast on the internet by RealNetworks on the association's website, http://www.mda.org . After the telethon, the site features a special highlights reel of the telethon for that year.

In total, the MDA Telethon has originated from Las Vegas for 23 of the 40 years it has aired. In the past, Jerry Lewis anchored the entire 22-hour broadcast, but for the past decade he only appears for the first five hours and the last five hours of the telecast, allowing others to co-host. Ed McMahon, Lewis' long-time co-host, also follows this trend, having appeared through the entire broadcast in the early going. In recent years, the telethon often takes a two-hour break in the late-night hours for a special, pre-recorded segment (usually a concert), and in the morning hours following, another host and co-host takes over for Jerry (in recent years, talk show host Larry King and comedian Norm Crosby took the honors).

In addition, more Love Network stations over the years have opted not to show the entire telethon, opting to join the show in progress after the 11PM / 10PM local news, or even on Labor Day morning, after the network morning shows. One of these is Chicago's WGN-TV, which, since the 1970s, pre-empted the afternoon segment of the telethon for Chicago Cubs baseball.

[edit] How Frances and Katrina Affected the Telethon

In 2005, it raised $54,921,586, despite the reduced base due to heavy donations to Hurricane Katrina relief. That year, Jerry and his guests also urged viewers to give to The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross, with MDA donating $1 million to The Salvation Army.

The year before, the 2004 telethon raised only $59,398,915, less than what the 2003 telethon raised ($60.5 million) due to the southeast affected by Hurricane Frances.

In 2006, the final tally was $61,013,855 when 5 stations knocked from last year's telecast came back. It was the first time since 2003 that the telethon raised more money than the previous year. Prior to 2004, the last time the final tote was below the previous year was in 1982, when Jerry sat out most of the telethon, due to his heart attack earlier.