Jerry Lewis fans the world over were taken aback and moved by his display of emotion and mortality at the close of the 2010 MDA Labor Day Telethon.
Among them is Dave Sinker, the Emmy-winning comedy writer, comedian, actor, Second City vet and genius behind the legendary, acclaimed Comedy Shrine outside Chicago.
Dave writes:
It has been so easy for people to belittle this man, to poke fun at him, and to trivialize his work. But for me, Labor Day means Jerry Lewis and this telethon. I remember watching it every year as a kid, glued to my tv set when my friends were outside trying to squeeze in one last ballgame in the last few hours of summer vacation before the start of the new school year.I remember watching it on a black and white tv set.
A parade of real celebrities entertained me. These were television icons, real talent, not reality "talent."
I remember Sinatra reuniting Martin and Lewis. I remember Ed McMahon as his co-host predicting the final donation total. I remember the firefighters, the letter carriers and Seven Eleven executives handing over monster checks ... and my mom sending her usual twenty bucks. And always I recall the playful man-child Jerry with his greasy, jet black, slicked back hair. He never seemed to age.
I've missed the last few years or maybe it's been a decade. The years have flown by faster than those fleeting last hours of Labor Day when I was a kid; the final day of summer.
I caught a glimpse of the telethon this morning. Jerry looked old to me for the first time in my life. He looked every bit of his 84 years. The ten year old boy in me would have thought that by 2010 there would surely be a cure. I think the child in Jerry felt the same way this year. There was more sadness than exhaustion in his eyes at the end of this year's telecast; as he tried to get through the closing number.
It was poignant, it was real, and bitter sweet. Thanks for sharing this video.
