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In France, they call him Le Roi de Crazy for his comedy roots, but in the U.S. Jerry Lewis is known these days as the King of Telethons. The actor has hosted an epic television outreach for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) since 1955, when his first 16½-hour...
Lewis is arguably the pioneer of the telethon - an indelibly American tradition that has since been adapted around the world to benefit various charities. But the first telethons managed to do without Lewis' particular brand of boosterism for a good four years after their debut in 1951, when a "television...
Some might say, though, that the telethon isn't as lucrative a money-getting tactic as it once was. In fact, despite typical production goals of keeping costs at 25 cents to 33 cents of every donated dollar, it's hard to know how much donated money to bank on...
While some have called these programs an overly emotional guilt trip, the star power these occasions manage to draw doesn't hurt their cause. Frank Sinatra's performance in the 1976 MDA telethon proved particularly momentous for both the audience and Lewis himself. When Sinatra emerged, he brought Lewis' former...
Modern-day telethons have been distilled down to shorter, albeit star-studded, benefit concerts to respond to specific catastrophes - 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the Indonesian tsunami, Australian bushfires - but none have had as lasting an effect as the MDA telethons, which have raised more than $1 billion to date. And if...