Jerry Lewis to Retire from MDA Telethon

After 45 years, Jerry Lewis is retiring as host of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Labor Day Telethon.

I remember watching this as early as the mid-1970s. Back then you had all the same stars of the day as you would see on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson (the only real host that's ever been on that show. There will never be another Johnny) and Dean Martin's Celebrity Roasts. At any given time on the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon you wouldn't be surprised to see the likes of Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Even Dean Martin appeared after the "Chairman of the Board" got he and Lewis talking again after years of not doing so during one of Sinatra's surprise appearances.

Every year the telethon would beat its own final tally of contributions sent in by the American public. One year would see $25-$30 million dollars. The next year would be $35-$40 million. The year after that would be $45-$50 million and so on. International donations based on regional telecasts would go to local MDA affiliates. 2010's telethon raised almost $60 million for Muscular Dystrophy research.

Lewis has been doing this since 1966 when one local New York television station broadcast the event that raised in excess of $1 million. He ends every telecast with his rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone."